Political Friendships in The Bahamas

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

I received a telephone call the other day which has prompted me to talk about friendship in politics and to do a little reminiscing. I hope readers will not mind since I also intend to make a few points.

The caller had been listening to a radio talk show on which Sir Clement Maynard was a guest and this is what she had to say:

“You heard Clement Maynard? He just said on the radio that you and he are good friends and that he talked to you on the phone no longer than yesterday.”

Apparently she was somewhat surprised that two people who have been on opposite sides of the political divide for 35 years could remain friends. I told her I was not listening to the show but if she had quoted Sir Clement correctly then that would be quite right.

Despite our differences, I told her, Sir Clement and I were indeed friends and that we did have a chat the day before. I could have told her that Sir Clement’s mother, the late freedom fighter and suffragette Georgiana Symonette was a friend to my family, and that the parents of Lady Maynard, Dr. Roland Cumberbatch and Mrs. Cumberbatch, and my parents were friends.

I remember once when I was a little boy how Dr. Cumberbatch retrieved a piece of paper I had foolishly stuffed into my ear. I also remember that my first trial assignment as a young reporter at The Tribune was to cover a piano concert by the internationally-renowned concert pianist Meta Davis (that was Mrs. Cumberbatch’s professional name).

My love of classical music far exceeded my knowledge, which was limited to piano lessons from Mrs. Johnson on Nassau Street. But my editor, Sir Etienne Dupuch, thought the little piece I turned in was acceptable and so I moved up.

So yes, Sir Clement and I know each other very well and we have maintained our friendship throughout, including the early years of vicious PLP hostility towards the fledgling FNM and its founders.

* * *

There are many other friendships that have survived political division. After I parted company with the PLP in 1970 my friend George Smith and I visited with each other and met at public watering holes.

Those early meetings prompted phone calls to Mr. Smith’s colleagues: “George Smith going over with Foulkes to the FNM!” And to my colleagues: “Foulkes going back to the PLP!”

I met George Smith when he was a young insurance agent back in the early 1960s. Mr. Smith’s complexion would have made it easy for him to find acceptance on the white side of the Bahamian racial divide at the time.

But he chose to throw in his lot with the struggle for majority rule. He frequently stopped at the office of Bahamian Times on Wulff Road – which was a little hothouse of political ferment – to help with the newspaper and join in the debates.

Towards the end of 1969 Prime Minister L. O. Pindling sent me back to Nassau from a PLP conclave in Small Hope Bay, Andros, to give my letter of resignation to Cabinet Secretary Sir Foley Newns. Sir Lynden knew that there was bad blood between Sir Foley and me.

Cecil Wallace Whitfield, who was my friend from childhood, but with whom I had political differences over the years, stayed at the Small Hope conclave and on my behalf vigorously opposed Sir Lynden’s action.

Mr. Smith was on the next plane to Nassau so he could be with me in my hour of humiliation. Having regard to the political climate at the time, he was taking quite a risk. George Smith remains my friend despite our political differences. More than that, our families have remained close over the years.

* * *

It would be presumptuous of me to speak of my eminent professional mentor Sir Etienne Dupuch as my friend. An older generation would say, “Boy, catch yourself! You and Sir Etienne are not company.”

Nevertheless, I always entertained strong affection for this great Bahamian and I have reason to believe he had goodwill towards me in spite of our political disputes. Of these an English journalist, John Lambert, wrote this:

“It is hard for anybody, like myself, who knows them both slightly and can appreciate the finer qualities in each, to take any side in the love-hate feud of Arthur Foulkes and Sir Etienne Dupuch. It is something of a tragedy when two persons of intelligence and insight lock horns in something approaching savagery.”

Yet my affection for, and gratitude to, Sir Etienne never waned and every time I met him in later years he always had a kind word or expression of interest in my well-being.

Sir Etienne’s son, Bernard, and I also established a bond back in the 1950s which has survived political differences, and hardly a week passes that we do not chat on the phone.

There are many other such friendships.

* * *

Even friendships that are ruined in the political arena can, with time and goodwill, be repaired. Such was the case with my friendship with Lynden Pindling. What he did at Small Hope was, from my point of view, a gross injustice to me and a betrayal of both our comradeship and our friendship.

Nevertheless, before he died, we had a reconciliation which was facilitated by my son, Dion. Sir Lynden had taken a keen interest in Dion along with other younger politicians on both sides. He was looking to the future political leadership of the country.

In his eulogy of Sir Lynden at the funeral Sean McWeeney said this: “He regretted, I think, that so many friendships had fractured under the strains and stresses of political conflict. I know that he was especially happy when he rekindled his friendships with His Excellency Arthur Foulkes and Jimmy Shepherd, two of his closest comrades-in-arms from the early days of the Peaceful Revolution.”

* * *

There are those who believe that in politics there are no rules except what you can get away with; that there is no place for decency and honesty; that backstabbing and double-dealing are arts to be practised to perfection; that politics is “a bloodsport”.

They are utterly wrong, of course, and it is important that the young men and women who are entering the arena for the first time do not fall into the trap of believing that politics is a dirty game and that you have to play dirty to succeed.

There are dirty people in it, of course, but then there are dirty people everywhere, even in the church. But except for the religious ministry, there is no calling nobler than politics.

It is only through politics that people can be governed and can settle differences without killing one another in the streets, or on battlefields. It is only through politics that justice, peace and good order can be achieved, that just societies can be established and civilization flourish. Those who like to scoff at politics and politicians in general should think about that.

The political arena is a place for honourable men and women who refuse to do dishonourable things. It is a place where civilized behaviour should be the order of the day and where valued friendships need not be sacrificed on the bloody altar of excessive partisanship and overweening ambition.

Many in my generation of politicians have insisted on being civilized. May there be many more in this and future generations.

Comments

[LJ]

I trust some of this is being written in a forthcoming book.

LJ