Robert Woods Bliss to Royall Tyler, July 7, 1951
July 7, 1951
Royall Tyler, Esquire
55 Avenue Foch
Paris XVIo, France
Dear Royall:
In our delight at learning (confidentially) that you are to be President of the “Association” at Strasbourg,With the establishment of the Free Europe College (Collège de l’Europe libre) in Strasbourg, Royall Tyler became president of the college and its French legal entity, the Association de Collège de l’Europe libre, which was set up to manage funds between the U.S. and France, in order to operate and maintain the college. We are indebted to Veronika Durin-Hornyik for providing this information. See Veronika Durin-Hornyik, “The Free University in Exile Inc. and the Collège de l’Europe libre (1951–1958),” in The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare: Cold War Organizations Sponsored by the National Committee for a Free Europe/Free Europe Committee, ed. Katalin Kádár Lynn (Saint Helena, CA: Helena History Press, 2013): 439–514. recently installed and directed by the Free Europe College, we were sunk to know that your plans and your acceptance of the post will prevent your going with us on the proposed yacht trip through the Greek Isles. We are much tempted to postpone our departure to next Spring; on the other hand, if we do not seize the opportunity which is now given to us, we may never again accomplish that long-desired “excursion.” However, now that you are coming over here, we can talk about it when you arrive next month.
This morning Bill called us on the telephone, the first time he had used the telephone since it was installed in their cottage at Duxbury. A letter written immediately after his arrival sounded as if he were really tired and in great need of a rest. However, on the telephone, he was cheerful and apparently delighted to be away from the “grind” in Paris and once more enjoying the peace and quiet of the Duxbury cottage. He reported all the rest of the family in good health and spirits and little RoyallRoyall Tyler (b. 1936), the son of Bettine Tyler and William Royall Tyler. taking America as a matter of course after his long absence.
This is being dictated in a great rush as Mildred and I are leaving in a few minutes for Sunday on Long Island and then three days of business talks in New York. We expect to return the middle of the week and leave again on the 16th for Edgartown (Martha’s Vineyard) where we will be staying at the Colonial InnThe Colonial Inn, a summer inn at Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, built by Thomas Henry Chirgwin in 1911 and enlarged the next year. The inn consisted of a main building, which housed thirty-two rooms and three dining rooms that were capable of feeding four hundred people a day. for four weeks.
Many thanks for your letter of congratulations on the Harvard degree.Robert Woods Bliss received an honorary doctor of arts degree from Harvard University on June 21, 1951. Mildred and I enjoyed our brief stay there, after which we dashed around Nantucket Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod looking for a place to rest, with the afore-mentioned result. We also flew up to Burlington, Vermont to attend Mildred and Warren Austin’s fiftieth wedding anniversaryWarren Robinson Austin (1877–1962), an American politician and statesman who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations between 1946 and 1953. He married Mildred Marie Lucas of St. Albans, Vermont, on June 26, 1901.—a delightful ceremony which was warming to the heart.
Our love to you and Elesina [sic],
As ever yours,
Dictated but not signed by Mr. Bliss.