Tomáš G. Masaryk a Scholar and a Statesman. The Philosophical Background of His Political Views

Although subject to some revisionism since the end of the Cold War (when he was considered one of the "Champions of Liberty"1), the importance of the political thought of Tomáš G. Masaryk (1850–1937), the first president of Czechoslovakia, has been based on two considerations. One was his image as the principal shaper of the democratic culture in inter-war Czechoslovakia, which was unique in East-Central Europe. The other image was as a model of political prudence and sagacity, not only for East-Central Europe but one recognized universally (like that of Václav Havel at the turn of the twentieth century). In the period between World Wars I and II, two leading European intellectuals–Thomas Mann and George Bernard Shaw–were asked on separate occasions, whom they would suggest as the first president of the United States of Europe. Both responded unequivocally that the best candidate was Masaryk.