The personal impact of a great teacher

Abstract

The life record of Quincy Wright and his achievements as a great teacher, as an eminent author, as a pioneering thinker, and as a brave humanitarian are so well covered by other writers that it is redundant for me to attempt it. I shall therefore limit myself to those parts of the fascinating story which touch upon my personal relation with him as a student and as a friend who enjoyed the benefit of his guidance and inspiration to the last. By depicting some aspects of this relationship, I hope to fulfill some of my duty in paying homage and tribute to his memory. It might be desirable, however, to remember at the outset that Wright was not merely an outstanding scholar who mastered thoroughly the intricate details of the many-sided field of international relations, but he was also a scholar with a sense of mission and he used his great wealth of information and keen analysis in order to detect workable and peaceful solutions for situations of actual or potential international conflict. This was first revealed to me when I wrote my first paper for his course in international law in the early 1930s at the University of Chicago. I was then writing about the unequal Anglo-Iraqi treaty of 1930 and had pointed out that some objectionable restrictions had been relaxed informally through mutual understanding and increasing confidence. He was so impressed by this development that he scrutinized it carefully and emphasized the future potential of such examples for the resolution or reduction of conflict in many similar situations. I was encouraged to broaden my enquiry and made up my mind to pursue a career study of international relations. Later, in 1951, during the meeting of Inter-Parliamentary Union at Istanbul, Turkey, I had a chance to bring up the matter in relation to the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936. But by that time the relations between Egypt and Great Britain had deteriorated, and my hope that mutual understanding and confidence would mitigate the conflict arising from the treaty was shattered beyond repair. The keen interest of Wright in harmonious and peaceful international relations was revealed to me again when I wrote another paper for him on the war between Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 1934. I described how Ibn Saud inflicted a disastrous defeat on Imam Yehya of Yemen, but when the Imam, with the mediation of dignitaries from many Arab lands, sued for peace, Ibn Saud magnanimously agreed without asking for reparation or annexation of territory. Then I stated how this generous and far-sighted attitude of Ibn Saud solidified the peaceful relations between the two countries and turned the Imam into a sincere and steadfast friend of Ibn Saud. Wright immediately found in this happy settlement a model for other international situations and insisted that the account should be published in the American Journal of International Law. He edited my narration and sponsored its publication. This gave me my first taste of writing in a leading professional journal and made a tremendous impact on my