3 Halifax and Appeasement

The same year Irwin turned down the position of Foreign Secretary in favour of some time at home but inexplicably followed this up with a return to Education in 1932, a position enlivened only by his continuing (now backroom) role in Indian politics and law, his attainment of the position of Master of the Middleton Hunt in 1932 and his election as Chancellor of Oxford University in 1933. In 1934 he inherited the title Viscount Halifax from his father. In the period that followed he held a succession of government posts - Secretary of State for War for five months in 1935, Lord Privy Seal ( 1935- 1937) and Lord President of the Council ( 1937- 1938) under Baldwin and, after 1937, Neville Chamberlain.

The appointment of Anthony Eden as foreign secretary in 1935 seemed initially to tie in well with Halifax's feelings about the direction of foreign policy over which he increasingly began to advise. The two were in agreement (and in line with prevailing opinion throughout Britain) that Germany's reoccupation of the Rhineland - its "own backyard" - constituted no serious threat and should be welcomed in so far as it continued Germany's seeming progress towards returning to normality after the tribulations of the post-World War I settlement. However, after Chamberlain succeeded Baldwin in 1937, the new prime minister began increasingly to use back channels - including Halifax himself - for foreign diplomacy.

In November 1937 Halifax went to Germany at the invitation of Hermann Göring. The pretext was a hunting exhibition but Halifax was given strict instructions from the foreign office in preparation for a meeting with Adolf Hitler. On meeting the Führer Halifax almost created an international incident by almost handing his coat to the diminutive dictator believing him to be a footman. In subsequent discussions Halifax ignored Eden's directive to pass on warnings against possible German designs on Austria and Czechoslovakia. He was also forced to listen politely to Hitler's hair-raising advice on how he should have handled difficulties in India and the meetings were generally uncomfortable.

The following year Eden resigned exasperated by the continued interference of the Prime Minister in foreign affairs and his persistence - with Halifax - in appeasement, particularly that of Benito Mussolini, whom Eden regarded as an untrustworthy gangster. Halifax got his job in February 1938. Three weeks later Hitler annexed Austria; Czechoslavakia was now seriously at risk.

It is Halifax's handling of this crisis that usually gains him the most criticism. British foreign policy was predicated on the notion that the

dictators in Europe were essentially honourable, reasonable and were disinclined to general warfare throghout the continent. All three of these posits turned out to be false. The main result of this severe error of judgement was the loss of Czechoslavakia, its industry and military to the Reich without a shot being fired. Halifax had severe doubts during the lead up to the complete occupation in March 1939 but he made little effort to alter

British policy fearing Britain's military unpreparedness to meet the Nazi threat and allowed himself to be sidelined as Chamberlain attended fruitless conferences in Germany ( Berchtesgaden, Godesberg and Munich) without him.

From here things stumbled from bad to worse. Halifax failed to realise how close relations had become between Moscow and Berlin until it was too late. Italy invaded Albania and on 1 September 1939 Halifax had to watch as the international order he had sought to preserve fell to bits as Hitler invaded Poland. Chamberlain's mishandling of the peace and his equally feckless handling of what is usually called the Phony War led to his departure from 10 Downing Street. Halifax was a relatively popular candidate for the post of Prime Minister, but hurriedly ruled himself out, fearing he was not up to the challenge.

4 Ambassador to the United States and Later Life

Winston Churchill maintained him as foreign minister for about nine months to present the Conservative Party as a unified front but the two men did not enjoy a particularly close relationship and Halifax soon found himself packed off to Washington - a common recourse of Churchill with men he suspected might be able but with whom he did not get on. Halifax did not at first appear a particularly deft diplomat and made a number of widely publicised gaffes including some poorly received jokes about baseball. To the American public he came across as the distant, out of touch British aristocrat that arguably he was. Gradually relations improved, particularly with President Roosevelt, but Halifax was always going to be on the margins in America because of Winston Churchill's tight personal control of contact with the United States. Once again Halifax was sidelined by his own prime minister and he was often excluded from sensitive discussions. Now an old man and mourning the death of his middle son in combat in 1942, Halifax wearied of Washington and asked Anthony Eden to have him replaced but ultimately he stuck out the position under both Harry Truman and Clement Attlee back in Britain. The appointment continued to be dogged by failure however as the Americans abruply cancelled lend-lease, upon which the British economy depended and the subsequent loan negotiations were fraught and unsatisfying to the UK.

More successfully he took part in a plethora of international conferences over the UN and Russia (memorably describing Molotov, the Russian foreign minister as "smiling granite") though here again he believed that Churchill's view of the Russian threat was exaggerated and urged him to be more conciliatory perhaps indicating the reluctance to learn the lessons of the 1930's so obvious in his 1957 autobiography The Fulness of Days, a book politely dubbed "gently evasive".

In retirement from 1946 he returned to largely honorary pursuits as Chancellor of Sheffield University and the Order of the Garter and Chairman of the BBC. He died at his estate at Garrowby shortly before Christmas 1959.

Lord Halifax features in the novel The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and also the 1993 film of the same name in which he is portrayed by the actor Peter Eyre.

5 Further Reading

The Holy Fox: The Life of Lord Halifax by Andrew Roberts

Preceded by: H.A.L. Fisher	President of the Board of Education 1922–1924	Followed by: Charles Philips Trevelyan
Preceded by: Noel Buxton	Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries 1924–1925	Followed by: Walter Guinness
Preceded by: The Earl of Reading	Governor-General of India 1926–1929	Followed by: The Earl of Willingdon
Preceded by: Sir Donald Maclean	President of the Board of Education 1932–1935	Followed by: Oliver Stanley
Preceded by: The Viscount Hailsham	Secretary of State for War 1935	Followed by: Duff Cooper
Preceded by: The Marquess of Londonderry	Lord Privy Seal 1935–1937	Followed by: The Earl De La Warr
Preceded by: The Marquess of Londonderry	Leader of the House of Lords 1935–1938	Followed by: The Earl Stanhope
Preceded by: Ramsay Macdonald	Lord President of the Council 1937–1938	Followed by: The Viscount Hailsham
Preceded by: Anthony Eden	Foreign Secretary 1938–1940	Followed by: Anthony Eden
Preceded by: The Viscount Caldecote	Leader of the House of Lords 1940	Followed by: The Lord Lloyd

Preceded by: The Marquess of Lothian

British Ambassador to the United States 1940–1946

Followed by: The Lord Inverchapel

Preceded by: New Creation	Earl of Halifax	Followed by: Charles Wood
Preceded by: Charles Wood	Viscount Halifax

Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of

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