[3] An Auschwitz survivor, Neumann had previously been married to film producer Henry T. Weinstein, who had directed Marilyn Monroe's final unfinished picture.

At the time, the Carter administration, including its two prominent Polish Americans, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Ed Muskie advised against such aid fearing Soviet reaction.

Solidarity aid was part of Lane Kirkland's internationalist vision for the labor movement and the building of the global consensus on human rights.

After the changes in Eastern Europe, Kirkland became a mentor for many prominent labor leaders who saw him as a visionary and visited him in his office at the George Meany Center.

His best remembered quotation is: If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.On November 13, 1989, Kirkland was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bush.