William Rappard

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William Emmanuel Rappard (born April 22, 1883 in New York , † April 29, 1958 in Bellevue ; resident in Hauptwil and Bellevue) was a Swiss economist , diplomat and politician ( LdU ). In the interwar period he was best known as the defender of Switzerland's neutrality . In the 1930s, Rappard warned of political and economic nationalism as a threat to peace. In the post-war period, he was skeptical of Switzerland joining the United Nations and integrating it into Europe.

biography

Rappard was born into a Swiss family who lived in New York. The father Auguste, a Thurgau , was an embroidery merchant, the mother Julie nee. Hoffmann, from Basel , worked in the family-owned pharmaceutical company. Rappard completed primary school in New York before the family moved to Geneva in 1899 , where he attended grammar school until 1901 and then began studying law at the University of Geneva , which he graduated with a licentiate in 1906 .

Rappard studied in Paris as a pupil of Adolphe Landry (1874-1956) and Élie Halévy , in Berlin he heard Adolph Wagner and Gustav von Schmoller , at Harvard University Frank William Taussig and in Vienna Eugen Philippovich von Philippsberg , who made him work for the International Labor Organization (ILO) interested. In 1908 he received his PhD from the University of Geneva. iur. PhD .

career

From 1909 to 1910 he was assistant to the International Labor Office in Basel and from 1910 to 1911 he was deputy professor of economic history at the University of Geneva. From 1911 to 1912 he was an assistant professor of economics at Harvard University. As a friend of Abbott Lawrence Lowell , Harvard President from 1909 to 1933, and of the later US President Woodrow Wilson, as well as an acquaintance of Colonel Edward Mandell House and Walter Lippmann, he played an important role in the award of the League of Nations seat to Geneva.

From 1913 to 1928 he was a full professor of economic history and from 1915 to 1957 of public finance at the University of Geneva. He was twice rector of the University of Geneva, 1926–1928 and 1936–1938. In 1914/1914 he was one of the most important sponsors of the new economics and social science faculty.

In 1927 he founded the Geneva University Institute for International Studies (HEI) together with his friend Paul Mantoux, from 1920 to 1927 director of the political section in the Secretariat of the League of Nations . He was able to win over numerous refugees from neighboring totalitarian states such as Guglielmo Ferrero , Hans Kelsen , Ludwig von Mises , Hans Wehberg , Walther Schücking or Wilhelm Röpke for the institute and saved the material and intellectual existence of countless scholars. He was co-director from 1928 to 1951 and director from 1951 to 1955 of the HEI and taught at this post-graduated school himself .

From 1917 to 1921 Rappard was a member of the ICRC and 1919/20 General Secretary of the League of Red Cross Societies . In 1919 the Federal Council sent him as an official representative to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 , where, in collaboration with Gustave Ador and Max Huber, he campaigned for the appropriate position of neutral Switzerland in its relationship with the emerging League of Nations and for Geneva as the seat of the League of Nations and for accession to the Switzerland committed while maintaining neutrality . Supported by the Social Democratic Party , he ran for a vacant seat in the Bundesrat in December 1919, although he was not a member of parliament at the time; thereby received 43 of 209 votes. Rappard headed the League of Nations Mandates section from 1920 to 1924 and was a member of the permanent committee for League of Nations mandates from 1925 to 1939 and a Swiss delegate to the League of Nations from 1928 to 1939. From 1927 to 1958 Rappard worked as an expert in labor law for the International Labor Organization.

From 1933 to 1942 Rappard was vice-president and from 1942 to 1948 president of the Comité International pour le Placement des Intellectuels Réfugiés and from 1940 to 1945 a member of the National Resistance Action . For Rappard, in view of the encirclement of Switzerland by the Axis powers in World War II, the only possible attitude of the Swiss public was silence. From 1941 to 1943 he was a member of the National Council for the National Ring of Independents .

In the late 1930s, Rappard opposed the Rockefeller Foundation when it demanded that the HEI devote itself exclusively to economic studies and abandon the research, education and publication taught by the Brookings Institution . He was supported in this by Lionel Robbins , who had great respect for Rappard. As a member of the Swiss delegation to the ILO from 1945 to 1956, he was one of the founders of the Mont Pèlerin Society .

In 1945 Rappard led the Swiss delegation in negotiations with the Allies in Bern (Mission Currie- Foot ) and also took part in the negotiations in London and Washington that led to the Washington Agreement in 1946 . From 1945 to 1957 he was the Swiss delegate to the International Labor Conference in Paris , Montreal , Geneva and San Francisco , 1951 its President.

Honors

  • The World Trade Organization (WTO) is based in the Center William-Rappard, where the ILO previously resided.
  • The Chemin William-Rappard was also named after Rappard.

Publications

His work as an author covers the subjects of law, history, economics, statistics and international relations. As a pragmatic liberal who was hostile to any dogmatism, Rappard wrote numerous economic and historical studies, v. a. on constitutional and economic history. Rappard's central theme always remains the development of democracy. NEBIS and Jacques Rial list over 100 publications. Selection:

  • Le facteur économique dans l'avènement de la démocratie moderne en Suisse. In: L'agriculture à la fin de l'ancien régime. Volume 1. Georg, Geneva 1912.
  • The initiative, referendum and recall in Switzerland. In: Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. No. 694, September 1912.
  • The industrial revolution and origines de la protection légale du travail en Suisse. 1914 (new print 2008).
  • For national understanding and unity (= Writings for Swiss Art and Art. Volume 26). Rascher, Zurich 1915.
  • Action Group National Reconstruction (= anthology ETH-AFZ: Opinions Suisses. On the Swiss position in the World War ). Sonor, Geneva 1917.
  • International Relations as Viewed from Geneva. Institute of Politics. Yale University Press, New Haven 1925.
  • Uniting Europe. The trend of international cooperation since the war (with a foreword by Edward Mandell House ). Yale University Press, New Haven 1930.
  • The Geneva experiment. Milford, London 1931.
  • L'individu et l'Etat dans l'évolution constitutionnelle de la Suisse. 1936.
  • The Government of Switzerland. D. van Nostrand, New York 1936.
  • The crisis of democracy (= Lectures on the Harris Foundation ). University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1938.
  • The quest for peace since the World War. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1940.
  • Antoine-Elisée Cherbuliez et la propriété privée (1797–1869). Editions Polygraphiques, Geneva 1941.
  • The constitutional foundation of Swiss economic policy. National Reconstruction Action Group, Zurich 1942.
  • Right to work. In: Swiss monthly books . No. 12, 1942-1943, p. 651.
  • You renouvellement des pactes confédéraux, 1351–1798. Evocation and renewal of the covenants. Gebr. Leemann, Zurich / Leipzig 1944.
  • Considerations on foreign trade. In: Voices from Switzerland on Europe's future. Jacques Bollmann, Zurich 1945, pp. 89–93.
  • Cinq siècles de sécurité collective 1291–1798. Les expériences de la Suisse sous le régime des pactes de secours mutuel. Georg, Geneva 1945.
  • Considérations historiques sur la constitution fédérale de 1848. The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation. 1848-1948. Gebr. Leemann, Zurich 1948.
  • La Suisse et l'organization de l'Europe. La Baconnière, Neuchâtel / Paris 1950.

Private

Rappard was married to Alice Gautier, daughter of the astronomer, meteorologist and geophysicist Raoul Gautier. He spoke fluent French and German , English in British and American variety, and Basel and Zurich German . As a student he was a member of the Zofingia . He completed his military service with the cavalry ; he came to the lectures during the First World War on horseback.

literature

  • Daniel Bourgeois: Un doctorat honoris causa et un débarquement: William Rappard à Alger (November – December 1942). In: Hispo, pp. 59-84.
  • Walter Stucki : Homage to William E. Rappard. Geneva University Institute for International Studies , Geneva 1956.
  • Carl J. Burckhardt : In memory of William Rappard. In: Basler Nachrichten . May 2, 1958, 1st supplement to no.182.
  • Obituary. Professor William Rappard. In: 139th Session of the International Labor Office . Seventeenth Item on the Agenda. Report of the Director-General. Geneva, 30./31. May 1958, p. 3.
  • Paul-Edmond Martin : William Rappard. 1883-1958. In: Revue suisse d'histoire. Volume 9, Bund 1, Geneva 1959
  • Albert Lemaître: In Memoriam William-E. Rappard: 22 avril 1883-29 avril 1958. Geneva 1961.
  • Anna Ruth Peter: William E. Rappard and the League of Nations. A Swiss pioneer of international understanding (= European university publications. Series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences . Volume 21). Lang, Bern 1973 (also Diss. Univ. Zurich).
  • Daniel Bourgeois: Entre l'engagement et le réalisme. William Rappard et l'Association suisse pour la Société des Nations face à la crise de 1940. In: L'historien et les relations internationales. Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales, Geneva 1981.
  • Ania Peter: William E. Rappard and the Ligue of Nations. A Swiss contribution to international organization. In: The Ligue of Nations in Retrospect / La Société des Nations: Rétrospective ( limited preview in the Google book search). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1983.
  • Victor Monnier: William E. Rappard, défenseur des libertés, serviteur de son pays et de la communauté international. Edition Slatkine, Geneva 1995.
  • Richard M. Ebeling: William E. Rappard: An International Man in an Age of Nationalism ( Memento of March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). In: The Freeman. January 2000.
  • Jacques Rial: Rappard, William E. (1883-1958). In: Le bicorne et la plume. Text écrits par des diplomates suisses de 1848 à nos jours. Geneva 2007, p. 164 ff. (PDF; 829 kB).
  • Vincent Monnet: William Rappard, l'homme de l'Atlantique. In: Campus. No. 96, October / November 2009, pp. 36/37.
  • Benedikt von Tscharner : Inter Gentes. Statesmen, diplomats, political thinkers. Éditions de Penthes, Pregny-Geneva 2012, ISBN 978-2-88474-667-0 , p. 227.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e f Carl J. Burckhardt : To the memory of William Rappard. In: Basler Nachrichten . May 2, 1958, 1st supplement to no.182.
  2. ↑ Thomas Veser: Traditional school of high diplomacy. Lecturers from 18 countries teach at the Geneva institute universitaire de hautes études internationales. The demanding course offers attractive practical relevance. The cost of living is relatively high. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, February 8, 2005, accessed on October 19, 2018 .
  3. ^ Francis Python: Jean-Marie Musy . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 313 .
  4. ^ Walter Stucki : Homage to William E. Rappard. Geneva University Institute for International Studies , Geneva 1956, p. 37.
  5. ^ William E. Rappard in NEBIS .
  6. ^ Jacques Rial: Rappard, William E. (1883-1958). In: Le bicorne et la plume. Text écrits par des diplomates suisses de 1848 à nos jours. Geneva 2007, p. 164 ff. (PDF; 829 kB).
  7. ^ Françoise Perret: Books and reviews: Défenseur des libertés, serviteur de son pays et de la Communauté internationale ( Memento of March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: International Review of the Red Cross. April 30, 1996.
personal data
SURNAME Rappard, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rappard, William Emmanuel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss economist, diplomat and politician (LdU)
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1958
Place of death Bellevue