Breakfast with Harriet
by Chad Briggs
Participant of the German Studies Seminar 2008
- Chad Briggs in Brussels
For much of my life I had known about the Fulbright name and program, and had often felt intimidated by its prestige. My first experience studying abroad had come at the age of 11 in France, followed by programs in high school, college and graduate school, all of which collectively pushed me further into the international work that has now become my career. A year spent as a Fulbright professor in Hungary seemed a final step of sorts, one that I began three years ago at Corvinus University in Budapest. But if I had thought that the year was an ending of sorts, I was terribly mistaken. On the contrary, the award led to a new job, a new line of research, and back to Europe as a participant in the German summer seminar program, this year on ‘Science and Society: The Impact of Science in Policy Formation’.
Berlin is a unique city in many ways, and it represents many of the changes (good and bad) that have swept over Europe since I first visited the city in early 1990. In many ways the city is now unrecognizable from that time, and only traces of the wall remain. To attend a seminar program on “science in policy” was incredibly appealing, offering greater exposure to German and European approaches to science-related issues. It was not only the setup of the program itself, the daily briefings and discussions in Berlin and Brussels over subjects from stem cell research to climate change. In all, the two weeks program also covered approaches to genetically-modified food, food safety, nanotechnology, national security, environmental governance, pharmaceuticals, and chemical safety. Whether it was a conversation with MEP Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, or presentation by the EU Joint Research Center, we could not leave the program without strong impressions. Yet the briefings alone did not constitute the entirety of the discussions. Rather, the seminar provided a space for all seventeen grantees to step away from our normal work, to speak to colleagues from different disciplines who would normally never engage each other in day-to-day university life. With the European Cup football championships as a constant backdrop, the most rewarding discussions were often over glasses of Hefe-Weisse and Leffe Blonde in the evenings, whether along the Kastanienallee or the Place de Luxembourg. With so much information and so much to consider, the program at times was a bit overwhelming in scope, but I think left us all with a better understanding of how Germans and Europeans approach issues that Americans often take for granted. The added treasures of seeing Einstein’s house, the Berlin Philharmonic, or the Tempelhof Airport were things that we likely would never have encountered otherwise. The two-week program was run like clockwork, although we realized only due to the hard work of the Fulbright staff in Berlin.
- Participants of the German Studies Seminar
I left Brussels for a month of fieldwork in Bosnia-Herzegovina, then followed an invitation I had received to present at human security conference in Caux, Switzerland. While in Sarajevo I was surprised to learn that Harriet Fulbright would be attending, the wife of the late William Fulbright. My appearance at Caux was almost coincidental, the result of conference planning that decided to address the issue of environment and security, and the fact that one of the conference organizers knew of my work. I had not heard of Initiatives for Change (IofC) previously, including its role in peace and reconciliation between France and Germany at the end of WWII and in the formation of the United Nations. Perhaps it had meant to remain low-key in its approach, finding a neutral ground in Switzerland where potential adversaries could meet and speak freely. The Caux Palace is itself a magnificent building, perched in the mountains overlooking Montreux and the eastern half of Lake Geneva. It had opened as a hotel in 1902 to attract wealthy tourists from Britain and the United States, and was described by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his last novel Tender is the Night.
- Caux Palace
It was a curious experience to meet Harriet Fulbright in this setting. Oddly, I was not intimidated by the heads of state and ambassadors around me, nearly as much as this elegant and soft-spoken woman. This was in no way a reflection on her behavior, which was welcoming to everyone, but rather that this extraordinary woman and her husband had changed so much for so many people in so many ways, including myself. It was even more remarkable, then, to find myself alone at breakfast with Harriet the first morning, at a small table overlooking the French and Swiss Alps. Now the president of the Fulbright Educational Center in Washington, her concern has remained with the ability of people to reach some common ground and shared understanding of their differences. And although I had never met her husband, Harriet’s modesty and interest in others led me to understand better the ethos behind the various worldwide programs associated with or inspired by the Fulbrights. Over bitterly strong Swiss coffee she asked me at length about my work in Bosnia and the recent seminar in Berlin and Brussels, almost seeming to apologize that she had not visited the Fulbright directors there recently enough. What she and so many of the people around us embodied was a genuine concern for how others thought over issues, with the ultimate purpose of improving politics over the belligerent and simplistic reactions that so easily lead to conflict. Or as William Fulbright had written, “The rapprochement of peoples is only possible when differences of culture and outlook are respected and appreciated rather than feared and condemned...”
The night before, she had read to the conference a letter sent to her late husband, from a voter who had long opposed Senator Fulbright’s policies. But, this man had concluded, “History will judge that you were correct, and when future generations stand on the shoulders of those who came before, those on your shoulders will stand a little bit higher.” What had struck me most about becoming a Fulbright grantee was the dense network of alumni around the world, and how participation seemed to many people an immediate confirmation of trust in my abilities and understanding. Harriet simply described this as ‘her family’. In fact, I had arrived in Berlin this past summer from London, where another former Fulbrighter (whom I had met, appropriately enough, two years earlier in Berlin) had arranged for me to address a group of senior government officials and academics from the UK, France and US.
I will shortly be traveling to Washington, DC for follow-up meetings on the Caux conference at the US Institute for Peace, to plan for next year’s meeting with IofC officials and Harriet Fulbright. And the rest of my work in the autumn is intricately linked with the Fulbright program, from further meetings with the JRC in Brussels to a joint project now starting with another grantee from the summer seminar. More ‘family’ relations, indeed.
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Professor Chad Briggs was a participant of the German Studies Seminar 2008 “Science and Society: The Impact of Science on Policy Formation.” He teaches International Relations and Environmental Risk at Lehigh University.
Picture credits: Noah Zerbe and Chad Briggs