The Tenacity of Don Hunt '25: Chief Factor in a Freedom Gained

THE story of the release of Harvard travel agent Vladimir Kazan-Komarek is the story of how one private American citizen with persistence, tenacity, and hard work, was able to influence the course of an international incident.

Mr. Kazan-Komarek is a Czech-born American citizen who runs the Harvard Travel Service in Cambridge, Mass. He came to this country in 1953 and married Dorothy Dana Hunt, daughter of Donald C. Hunt '25 of Weston, Mass. The Kazans, as they are known in Massachusetts, have five children, ranging in ages from three to twelve.

In September 1966, Kazan was invited by Intourist, the Russian government-operated travel organization, to visit Moscow for a conference on "Travel 1967 International Tourist Year." He was one of several thousand travel agents from all over the world who went to Russia for this conference the last week in October. On October 31 he planned to return home. His original flight was cancelled and he was switched to an Aeroflot (Russian) airliner, scheduled non-stop to Paris. This plane was diverted to Prague, ostensibly for radar problems. At the Prague airport Kazan was seized by Czechoslovakian police and imprisoned.

After World War II Mr. Kazan had worked with the French underground to help certain Czechoslovakians escape from Communist Czechoslovakia. It was in relation to these activities 18 years ago that he was being held and charged with espionage and treason, with a possible death sentence hanging in the balance.

Mr. Donald Hunt was informed by our State Department that his son-in-law was being held prisoner on serious charges by the Czechoslovakian government. The State Department was not optimistic at that time about the chances for an early release, nor were they until the final days of the imprisonment.

Mr. Hunt realized that only a very great amount of sustained pressure on our government to act, and on the Czechoslovakian government to cooperate, would secure the early release of Mr. Kazan. He set his mind to this task and worked at it every day for three months.

Don Hunt is the president of Shaw Furniture Company, manufacturers of upholstered furniture in Cambridge, Mass. He is a fishing and boating enthusiast, leads a quiet home life in the hills of Weston, Mass., enjoys his fifteen grandchildren, and is an avid fan and supporter of Dartmouth. He had never had any previous experience in politics or government relations but in this case he left no stone unturned.

He immediately contacted Charles Bartlett '27, president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, his lawyer and good friend. Together they planned a campaign to arouse sympathy for this case and to have strong protests sent to both the Czechoslovakian and Russian embassies. Mr. Hunt went to Washington, and with the aid of Mr. Bartlett's son, Joe, made the rounds of officials in the State Department and White House, seeking wider interest in this case and attempting to insure strong action by our government.

Returning to Boston, Mr. Hunt was pessimistic but determined to get nation-wide support to help secure the release of this American citizen. He contacted both Massachusetts Senators, Ted Kennedy and Edward Brooke, who was just taking office, and several Massachusetts Representatives. He got his family and friends to write their Senators and Congressmen, expressing their interest in the case, and also to write letters of protest to both the Russian and Czechoslovakian ambassadors.

Another of Hunt's sons-in-law, John Peirson of Wellesley, Mass., former Boston Bruins hockey star, helped out in the Boston area and also took charge of the furniture business in his father-in-law's absence. I, being the third son-in-law, worked on the case from the New York area, taking directions from what the rest of the family jokingly called the "High Command."

To secure wider support, Hunt turned to his many friends in the Dartmouth community. Through Eddie Pease '25 in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE and Herb Talbot '25 in the 1925 class newsletter, he was able to solicit the help of his entire class, again asking for protests to the involved embassies and letters to members of Congress. Charlie Moore '25 was extremely helpful in the publicity phases of this case. Larry Leavitt '25 took a strong personal interest and had many helpful contacts. Ellis O. Briggs '21, former U. S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, was helpful with advice and counsel. Many other influential alumni were contacted and took appropriate action. Among them were Governor Nelson Rockefeller '30, Charles Zimmerman '23, George Champion '26, and Howland Sargeant '32.

Mr. Hunt's young friend on campus, Mickey Beard '67, volunteered to help and rally the support of the student body and a special article appeared in TheDartmouth seeking support. Hunt made a visit to see President Dickey, and he too showed interest and support. All of the Dartmouth alumni in Congress were contacted and responded. Rep. John Monagan of Connecticut, Class of 1933, made the first major speech in the House of Representatives on the Kazan case several others followed.

Since Kazan worked in Cambridge, Hunt was able to arouse the interest and support of a number of Harvard professors and Cambridge businessmen. He contacted the noted Kremlinologist, Marshall Shulman, for further advice and help. He called the State Department at least once every day for three months to keep abreast of developments and to insure their continuing active interest in the case. Business associations were contacted, including the National Furniture Manufacturers Association, the Small Business Association of Massachusetts, and the U. S. Council of International Chambers of Commerce.

The American Society of Travel Agents was, of course, very interested and did a great deal to apply pressure. They sent telegrams to each of their members throughout the country, advising extreme caution on travel to Czechoslovakia. In 1966, some 35,000 Americans had gone to that country as tourists. This was a very vulnerable point.

In traveling to Washington and New York, Hunt visited offices of large corporations and foundations that had international dealings. He saw editors, publishers and editorial writers of influential newspapers, and soon protesting editorials appeared in The New York Times,The Christian Science Monitor, the WallStreet Journal, and Boston Globe and in the syndicated columns of Roscoe Drummond and Drew Pearson.

Before long the State Department and Senators and Congressmen from all parts of the country, and the Czechoslovakian and Russian embassies, were flooded with inquiries and protests on this kidnapping and imprisonment of Vladimir Kazan, father of five and son-in-law of a determined furniture manufacturer. So many protests kept pouring into the Czechoslovakian embassy in Washington that it was said, mostly in jest, that the Czechoslovakian Ambassador would have defected were Kazan not soon released.

Radio and TV joined the newspapers and news magazines in playing up this story and the demand for the release of the prisoner kept building. President Johnson mentioned this affair at a news conference and personal letters were written by Mrs. Kazan and Senator Ted Kennedy to the President of Czechoslovakia.

Finally in January the trial took place. Mr. Kazan was convicted of espionage and sentenced to eight years in jail, which he fully expected to serve. On February 4, 1967, he was released by the Czechoslovakian government and the following day flew into Kennedy Airport, to be greeted by his joyfully tearful wife.

The State Department worked hard on this case, as did a number of Senators and Congressmen. Many Dartmouth alumni and friends of the family were of great service. But I am convinced, as is Vladimir Kazan-Komarek himself, that he would still be sitting in a Communist jail today if it were not for the untiring, never-say-die efforts of Mr. Donald Hunt.