Remarks by Robert Strausz-Hupé at His 95th Birthday Celebration

26 March 1998

The late Ambassador Robert Strausz-Hupé, founder of FPRI, made these remarks during his birthday celebration, during which the Trustees of the Foreign Policy Research Institute also announced the establishment of the Annual Robert Strausz-Hupé Lecture.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming.

My thanks also go to the Foreign Policy Research Institute for organizing this gathering, and my dear wife for organizing me to attend it. FPRI remains a voice of reason in these confused times. Even more importantly, FPRI is a beacon of truth. I do hope you will continue to support it.

My friends, I had not expected to live this long, but I will not apologize for doing so.

One of the great satisfactions of old age— perhaps the only one— is that my critics have gone silent, one after another, until only one voice is heard— mine.

Still, I think I have been misunderstood for most of my life:

Many have mistaken me for a sophisticated diplomat. It is not so. I am just the barefoot boy from Newtown Square, calling things the way I see them.
Many have also thought that I really preferred to recreate the Old World of Europe before 1914. It is not so. Otherwise I should not have come to America.
Many have believed that deep down, I was a hater of Russia and things Russian. It is not so. I have always admired Russian civilization. It was Soviet statecraft that I hated.

I do confess, however, to the charge that I tend to see America’s virtues and not her faults. For this you will have to forgive me. It is a habit that I cannot give up.

Please accept my thanks once again for this most memorable occasion. And God bless all of you.