6 - Changes in the Wind: 1924

Summary

Editor's note: Gibson was in Washington, DC, in January 1924 testifying before various congressional committees about the Rogers Bill. Mary Gibson arrived for a ten-day visit, hosted by the Hoovers, on January 10. During his time in Washington, Gibson was insistently offered the position of US minister to Bern, Switzerland. Meanwhile, back in Warsaw, the legation had word that they would need to move out of the Blue Palace and look for a new home. Gibson's appointment as minister to Switzerland was announced on March 15, 1924, while he and Ynès were in Paris on their way back to Warsaw.

Letter from Gibson to Mary Gibson

Warsaw, Sunday, March 23, 1924

… Just a line to report that we got back here this afternoon and are getting settled into our home with renewed regret that we shall have to break it up and move on. We haven't seen anybody yet aside from members of the staff but they have given us all the news and we realize just how fortunate we are to be transferred at this time.

The department informed the Polish minister of the change several days before it became public and he telegraphed that it was made because of the need of having a trained diplomat in Switzerland to handle our relationship with the league. How much there is to that I don't know. I do know that the importance of this place from a political point of view has been going steadily downhill for the past two or three years and that Bern has been steadily going up during the same period, so that it is a promotion to what we used to be if you know what I mean. It seems that many of the colleagues are envious and that a general exodus is impending among the people who make Warsaw attractive.

Prices have gone up to the point where we could not hope to make ends meet for any considerable period and that is another cause for rejoicing that we have been able to land a comfortable post at the right time… .