[1] On 31 October 2005, SWAN activist Charm Tong visited the White House to discuss the Burmese political situation with US president George W. Bush, National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley and other senior US officials.
[2][3] "I am very happy ... to break the silence of what is happening to the people of Burma", she told reporters afterward.
[2] Congressman Tom Lantos, co-founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, predicted that Charm Tong's 50 minutes with Bush "would reverberate around the world".
[2] The Irrawaddy wrote in December of that year that lobbyists were attributing Bush's subsequent "outspokenness on Burma" to "the Charm Tong Effect".
[8] In 2008, she was given a Vital Voices Global Leadership Award in the area of human rights, which was presented to her by Laura Bush.