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Two Idealists, Victims of Fate
When I first met Herbert Hoover in the early 40s, he was a grumpy,
disillusioned man. He was sad because the wheel of fortune had tossed him
to the ground. The more I study his life, the more impressive his early
idealism becomes. He made some mistakes, such as signing the Smoot-Hawley
bill, but they did not cause the Depression.
Salvador de Madariaga, whose influence at Oxford in the 30s inspired me
to move from French to Hispanic Studies, was an idealist of a different kind.
He wanted a peaceful world and a united Europe. His efforts at Geneva to
make the League of Nations effective won for him the nickname Don Quixote
de la Manchuria. He founded the College of Europe in Bruges. In
retrospect, he was right, the world was wrong. He tried to make the
Spanish Republic work, but Spain went crazy. I was evacuated on the first
train from Madrid to Valencia after the first siege of Madrid. He followed
a few days later. His life was threatened, mine less so. We met in Geneva;
he was disillusioned, seeing all his efforts lost.
I have been re-reading his memoirs, Morning without Noon. He was
Ambassador to Washington when Hoover was President. He took a strong
dislike to him, and seemed to know little about Hoover the idealist.
Presumably Hoover disliked him. Both were idealists, but in different ways
and of different temperament. Hoover was always stern, while Madariaga was
a lot of fun and excellent company. This is a good example of the
importance of personalities in the chemistry of international affairs.
Ronald Hilton, 12-14-97
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