Editing Jan Masaryk (section)

== Early life ==
Born in [[Prague]], he was the son of professor and politician [[Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]] (who became the first [[president of Czechoslovakia]] in 1918) and [[Charlotte Garrigue]], Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk's American wife. Masaryk was educated in [[Prague]] and also in the [[United States]], where he lived for a time as a drifter and for a time as a steelworker.{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=341}} Because of his youth in the United States, Masaryk always spoke both Czech and English with a strong American accent.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=82}} He returned home in 1913 and served in the [[Austria-Hungary#Belligerence in World War I|Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War]].<ref>[[Vratislav Preclík|PRECLÍK, Vratislav]]. Masaryk a legie (TGM and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk democratic movement in Prague), 2019, {{ISBN|978-80-87173-47-3}}</ref> Masaryk served in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] and learned Polish during his wartime career.{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=342}} The fact that his father was in exile, working for Czech independence from the Austrian empire, made him the subject of bullying and hazing during his military service as the son of a "traitor".{{sfn|Zeman|1976|p=74}} His unhappy military service made him unwilling to speak very much of his time as a soldier after the war as it held too many painful memories.{{sfn|Zeman|1976|p=74}} 

He then joined the diplomatic service and became [[chargé d'affaires]] to the US in 1919 and then as counselor to the legation in London.{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=342}} In 1922, he became secretary to the Czechoslovak foreign minister [[Edvard Beneš]].{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=342}} In 1925, he was made minister-plenipotentiary to Britain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/czechs/jan-masaryk-1|title=Czechs in History: Jan Masaryk|last=Carey|first=Nick|date=12 April 2000|publisher=[[Radio Prague]]|access-date=28 October 2012}}</ref> The British scholar Robert Powell described Masaryk as "the most unconventional of diplomats. None was less tied to protocol. Witty, shrewd, with an abundance of common sense, he often triumphed over circumstances, which baffled others more intellectually cleverer, but lacking his psychological insight... He could be disconcertingly direct in his conversation and he considerably embarrassed certain types of English people. His manner was American rather than English, his racy language often shocking to people who had not the wit or patience to look beyond the actual expressions used."{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=342}} By contrast, the  Czech historian Zbyněk Zeman and the German historian Rainer Karlsch described Masaryk as a weak man who drifted during his time in the United States, was psychologically unstable, and needed someone to guide him through life.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=82-83}}  His father resigned as president in 1935 and died two years later. He was succeeded by [[Edvard Beneš]]. Masaryk had been dominated by his father, and afterward by Beneš, who played the role of a surrogate father.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}}