MAN OF ACTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 27 November 1942, Page 3

MAN OF ACTION

NORWEGIAN PRESIDENT PEN PORTRAIT OF DR. H.9.M8R0 Norway, the night of April 8, 1940: a date no Norwegian will ever forget. Nazi ships stealing into the harbours under false flags; Nazi officers in Norwegian uniforms giving orders; Nazi agents at the telegraph offices; Nazi “commercial travellers” signalling from every Norwegian town; great Nazi transports standing by off the coast, loaded with guns, tanks, cars, provisions; Nazi troops striding up the streets into the squares and parks and public buildings. Bands playing, faces smiling, helmets gleaming—before a stunned and incredulous populace. A knife in the dark—plunged by th e hand of an expert super-killer. Ip that crucial hour one man dominated the life and future of Norway: Carl J. Hambro, President of the Norwegian Parliament. On his sturdy shoulders fell the major burden of decision as he sat with his King and the Government outlining plans—fixing strategy—arranging minutest details.

“The refusal of the degrading German demands was a matter of course to him,” says a colleague writing of that time. “He had been sitting up during the news of the invasion. He was profoundly concerned lest the Germans might succeed in forcing their way to Oslo and there capturing the King, the Parliament and the Government—with the consequence that all the legal authorities of the country would be prevented from functioning.” SAFETY FOR PARLIAMENT He first took steps to get the Parliament away into safety. Then he proposed that the King and all the highest State authorities should leave the capital and transfer themselves to the town of Hamar, some 80 miles up country. These was some hesitation at first—but everyone had to admit the wisdom of this move, and orders were given to have a special train in readiness for Hamar at seven in the morning. From that moment until he left the King safe in England two months later—after weeks of incessant bombing and successful evading of their Nazi foes, the future destiny of the real Norway was largely in the hands ol ! Carl Hambro. To-day. with their gold reserves of 100,000,000 dollars saved, also their 4,000,000 ton merchant marine, and with the King and Ministers still functioning, the Norwegians consider their government-in-exile ‘‘a going concern.” At the time of the German invasion Dr. Hambro had been President of the Norwegian Parliament for 16 years. He was also head of the Conservative Party and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He has represented’Norway at the League of Nations since 1926 and was president of the last League Assembly in 1939. He is now chairman of its Supervisory Committee. VERSATILE STATESMAN But politics is not all, in the story of Dr. Hambro. This great statesman was editor-in-chief of the leading conservative newspaper and of the leading humorous weekly of Norway. He is also one of its favourite detective story writers. In his younger days he was a great mountain climber and football player—first captain of the International Team of the University of Oslo and for some time one of the heads of the National Football League. He has translated some 50 to 60 books from French and English, as well as publishing 15 or 20 of his own.

Dr. Hambro is president of the World League of Norsemen, chairman of the Norwegian-American Foundation, one of the vice-presidents of the Institute for Co-operative Studies of Culture, member of the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament and editor of his own literary and political review called Review of the Week.

As a side line,” says his son modestly, “he has also raised a family of ftv£ children.” He has the reputation as being the most hard-working as well as the most versatile man in public life in his country and its ablest public speaker. Since he went to America he has given hundreds of lectures—especially on problems of world government and the new world order—to which his dry wit and vigorous vocabulary bring a special “salt” and flavour of his own. He is now a resident of Princetown, New Jersey.

Dr. Hambro knows the American people and the people of many countries. He has presided over both national and international political bodies—the latter including foreign ministers and statesmen of 50 nations, representing all shades of political thought. He was a passionate opponent of the appeasement policy of Chamberlain and other European statesmen, and spoke on this so forcibly at the time of the Munich conference and later that he alienated many of his own countrymen—who afterwards were brought tragically to confess that he had been right.

Men of such character (writes Ruth Cranston, in the “Christian Science Monitor”) are fitted by nature and experience to be among the leaders of the world we want.