Washington society hostess and writer, 1918-2004
Susan Mary Alsop, as she herself was always the first to admit, led
a very privileged life, which took her from the bosom of the US east coast Establishment to the salons of post-war Paris and the glamorous circles of Kennedy-era Washington.
But instead of — as she liked to put it — just “milling around” like many another well-connected wife, Alsop created her own career as a writer and diplomatic historian. Her greatest talent was the realisation that great events are shaped by very small but very human things.
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Her encounters ranged from Winston Churchill (“He has decided I am French and nothing will deter him from speaking French to me”) to Ho Chi Minh (“an absolutely fascinating face”) and Noël Coward (“gets a feverish glint in his eye when anyone so much as mentions the navy”).
— The Independent
Ota Sik
Czech political reformer, 1919-2004
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The Czech professor and politician Ota Sik was the brain behind the economic reforms of communist Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring. He was also one of the most radical, trenchant and outspoken members of the team of communist reformers who rallied to Alexander Dubcek’s leadership in 1968.
Sik was the architect of the economics programme he pledged would put Czechoslovakia on a par with neighbouring Austria within four years. By August, the plans were being shredded beneath the treads of Warsaw Pact tanks.
— The Guardian