The man who mistook Adolph Hitler for a doorman

Lord Halifax was Neville Chamberlain's foreign minister. A devout Anglo-Catholic, he was raised to believe it his destiny to become prime minister and "reunite England with the Holy See."

Neither happened.  But with Chamberlain's help, he did pursue a foreign policy which very nearly united it with the Third Reich.

He liked Goering and Goebbels, but once nearly committed the ultimate diplomatic faux pas by mistaking Adolph Hitler for a doorman hand handing him his hat. Oops.

The question of what the Halifax/Chamberlain policy of political appeasement as opposed to standing up for principle teaches us about the relative merits of theological appeasement and standing up for principle, the life of Halifax is instructive.

Click here to be instructed.