Hungary's crown guard handed the Holy Crown to the US Army in 1945, it sat in Fort Knox for 33 years, and Carter gave it to a communist government

The Holy Crown of St Stephen is the crown of the Hungarian kings. In 1945 the Hungarian Crown Guard took the regalia west to keep them from the Soviet army. The US 86th Infantry Division recovered them at Mattsee, Austria, on 4 May 1945. The crown was later held at the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky, with most of the US gold reserve. In 1977 President Carter decided to return it, citing improvements in Hungary's human rights record and travel. Many Hungarian-Americans, especially those who had fled after 1956, opposed it. They said it would legitimise the Soviet occupation. On 15 December 1977 Representative Mary Rose Oakar of Ohio wrote to Carter that "deceit and deception" had marked the decision. On 6 January 1978 Secretary of State Cyrus Vance handed the crown to Antal Apró, Speaker of the National Assembly, in Budapest. Hungary's leader János Kádár did not attend, at Hungary's request. The US set the condition that any Hungarian who wished to see the crown could do so. It was shown at the Hungarian National Museum. On 1 January 2000 it moved to the Parliament building, where it is displayed under the dome.