Gray eminence
A gray eminence (French: éminence grise ) is understood to be an influential person who does not or hardly appears to the outside world. Most of the time, these people pull the strings in the background by giving advice and forming opinions.
history
The name goes back to the nickname of the Capuchin Père Joseph (François Leclerc du Tremblay, 1577–1638), confessor and close advisor to Cardinal Richelieu . Richelieu was addressed as cardinal with eminence and since the Capuchins wore a gray-brown habit , "gray eminence" became synonymous with a powerful advisor in the background.
Examples
Further examples of people to whom the designation has been attached are:
- the German diplomat Friedrich von Holstein (1837–1909)
- the Russian lawyer Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonoszew (1827–1907), advisor to Tsar Alexander III.
- the exile pole Józef Retinger (1888–1960), who is considered one of the fathers of the European Union
- Karl Rove , longtime campaign manager and chief advisor to George W. Bush (nickname: "Bush's brain")
- Zbigniew Brzeziński , long-time advisor to various US governments, headed key diplomatic tasks in US foreign policy
- Dan Voiculescu , Romanian media entrepreneur and organizer of the Social Liberal Union (USL), which sparked the state crisis in Romania in 2012
By analogy, Joachim Fest named Martin Bormann , head of the party chancellery of the NSDAP and most influential employee of Adolf Hitler since 1941, the brown eminence .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ punkto.ro of January 10, 2011, accessed on March 16, 2011
- ↑ tagesspiegel.de Lilo Millitz-Stoica: Romania's controversial Prime Minister: Ponta clings to power , July 19, 2012, accessed on July 25, 2012
- ↑ See The Face of the Third Reich , Munich 1993, p. 175.