| Notes |
- His son, Jan, was vice premier (1941-45) of Czechoslovak provisional government in London.
Jan Masaryk (1886–1948)
Anecdote... Early in his career, Jan Masaryk served as Czech ambassador to the United States. At a party he was prevailed upon by the hostess to play the violin. He graciously accepted the invitation and played a Czech nursery song, to rapturous applause from all present. He left the party with a Czech friend, who wanted to know why on earth he had been asked to play the violin. Masaryk explained: "Oh, it's all very simple—don't you see? They have mixed me up with my father; they mixed him up with Paderewski. And they mixed the piano up with the violin."
Biographical Note... son of the founding president of Czechoslovakia. He became foreign minister in London when the Czech government was in exile during World War II. He remained foreign minister after the war but died as a result of a "fall" from a window, not long after the Communist takeover in 1948.
Jan Masaryk died 54 years ago
[11-03-2002] By Pavla Horáková
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Two weeks after the Communist Party took over in Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, the country's Foreign Minister was found dead. His body was found beneath his window in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry building. Jan Masaryk died 54 years ago, on March 10th, 1948 and the question as to whether he ended his own life or was killed by the Communists will probably never be answered. By Pavla Horakova.
Bust of Jan Masaryk, photo CTKJan Masaryk, a diplomat and the longest serving Minister of Foreign Affairs of pre-Communist Czechoslovakia was the son of the first president and founder of Czechoslovakia Tomas Garrigue Masaryk and his American-born wife Charlotte Garrigue. After his secondary studies in Prague, Jan left for the United States where he stayed until 1913. After independent Czechoslovakia was created in 1918, Jan Masaryk entered its diplomatic service. In 1919, he returned to the United States as Czechoslovakia's first charge d'affaires and in 1925, Masaryk was appointed ambassador to Great Britain. In protest against the 1939 Munich Agreement, Masaryk left the diplomatic service and in 1940, he became the foreign minister of the London-based Czechoslovak government in exile. On the eve of the Nazi invasion of Poland, Masaryk spoke out about the situation and the fate of his country on the BBC in London and on September 8, 1939, he started a series of regular radio addresses to the Czechoslovak people. After the war, Jan Masaryk returned to Czechoslovakia, where he served again as a Foreign Minister - in what was known as the National Front government, which included the Communists. Jan Masaryk had to respect the Communists who won the 1946 election but he was wary of their aggression and Soviet expansionism. In 1947 Czechoslovakia agreed to participate in the US-funded Marshall plan - a decision unpalatable for the Soviets. In July 1947, Masaryk and the Communist Prime Minister Klement Gottwald went to Moscow to negotiate. "I left as a minister of a sovereign state but have come back as Stalin's lackey," Jan Masaryk said immediately after his return from the Soviet Union.
Jan Masaryk The events of 1947 gradually led to the Communist takeover in February 1948, when the majority of ministers, Jan Masaryk not included, handed over their resignation to president Benes in the hope that fresh elections would be held. Instead, the president accepted their resignations and a communist government headed by Klement Gottwald was formed. Jan Masaryk retained his post but was not sure whether his decision to stay in a communist government was right, and he even contemplated going into exile. Two weeks after the government was formed, Jan Masaryk met his end on the ground beneath his bathroom window.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit ] Private life
From 1924 until their divorce in 1931, Masaryk was married to Frances Crane Leatherbee. She was an heiress to the Crane plumbing and elevator fortune, the former wife of Robert Leatherbee, a daughter of Charles R. Crane , a U.S. minister to China, and a sister of Richard Teller Crane 2nd, a U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia. By that marriage, he had three stepchildren: Charles Leatherbee, Robert Leatherbee Jr., and Richard Crane Leatherbee.[2] Stepson Charles Leatherbee (Harvard 1929) co-founded the University Players , a summer stock company in Falmouth, Massachusetts , in 1928 with Bretaigne Windust . He married Mary Lee Logan, younger sister of Joshua Logan , who became one of the co-directors of the University Players in 1931.[2]
Masaryk was a skilled amateur pianist. In that capacity, he accompanied Jarmila Novotna in a recital of Czech folk songs issued on 78 RPM records to commemorate the victims of the Nazi eradication of Lidice .[3]
At the time of his death, Masaryk was reportedly planning to marry the American writer Marcia Davenport .
Masaryk was also a Master Mason.
[edit ] References
^ The Kremlin’s Killing Ways - by Ion Mihai Pacepa, National Review Online, November 28, 2006
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1886 - 1948 (61 years)