Franklin F. Snyder
whether you ever heard of it or not. But a friend of mine was the President's
representative on Water for Peace. He came to Geneva and brought us the word that
we couldn't go to the party, except for one official representative. The U.S.
Weather Bureau man, Max Kohler, was president of the Commission. So he went
to the Russian party, but none of the rest of us could go.
It was interesting, I've forgotten the details, but the commission, at one of their
meetings, were voting for an officer. One of the candidates was a Russian I think
they took secret ballots. But the Czechs were there. They were represented on the
commission. They had no love for the Russians. I forget the details now, but it was
quite interesting to see how that voting came out.
The International Hydrological Decade
Q ..
So you got involved in a lot of these international political squabbles?
A ..
Some. Then there was a ten-year program that was called the International
Hydrological Decade. I was a member of the U.S. Committee for one term. I was
on working committees also. It was sponsored by UNESCO, an organization of the
United Nations with their headquarters in Paris. So when we had meetings in Paris,
why we met at the UNESCO building, which was on the Left Bank. There were a
lot of nice little hotels around there to stay at. We had one meeting in well, it's St.
Petersburg now. Back then it was?
Q ..
Leningrad.
A.
Leningrad. We met there, I think, for a month, or at least two weeks. I was joint
chairman with a Russian engineer of a committee on floods. We organized at that
UNESCO meeting in Leningrad. We stayed at the Astorid, I believe, the hotel that
Hitler had picked out for his hotel. He never quite made it.
Q ..
No .
A
But there was always a flower arrangement in the rooms. The fellows would come
in, and they'd go over the flowers, "Testing one, two, three." Oh, we had a
meeting there at the house where Rasputin was poisoned. It was just a few blocks
from the hotel. I don't know why we would be meeting there or not.
Previous Page
