Charles D. Hazen

Erudition and gentleness were matched in the equable nature of Charles Downer Hazen. He had been Professor of European History at Columbia University for 21 years when he retired in 1937. The long list of important books which came from his pen centered about the French Revolution. His “Europe Since 1815,” which appeared in 1910, was so well balanced, so clear and comprehensive that it became an established textbook and remains in the first rank of works of the same scope. His sensitive understanding of the past peculiarly fitted him to be the historian of France. He knew French character and he felt a warm affection for the French people. His volume “Alsace Lorraine under German Rule” which appeared in 1917 helped form American opinion upon the issues involved and in 1920 he was invited by the French government to teach for a year in the re-opened University of Strasbourg. He was a member of many learned societies and for many years an active member of the editorial board of the Political Science Quarterly and a contributor to its pages. His pupils speak of his sense of humor, his gentle irony and a store of information without bounds. His fellow-members in the Century recall him especially in the Graham Library surrounded by his older friends. To one of them, there seated with him, Hazen quoted to describe his feeling for the Club these words from Plautus: “The poet seeks what is nowhere in all the world and yet, somewhere, he finds it.”

Geoffrey Parsons
1941 Century Memorials