Week 62: Dr. Chandler: A Turn of the Century Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a beloved fictional character who finds himself a witness to some of the most significant moments in twentieth century history. Our own city’s founder, Dr. Alexander J. Chandler, was a real life Forrest Gump when he witnessed a major historical event.
For more than 40 years Dr. Chandler had travelled across the country and even to Europe looking for investors and promoting projects in Chandler and the Valley. All of those travels were for business. Finally, he was going to take a trip around the world for his own pleasure.
During the late spring of 1938, he left Chandler to spend several weeks living at the Los Angeles Country Club preparing for this trip. On Saturday, June 25, 1938, Dr. Chandler embarked on his world tour, with his first stop being the tropical paradise of Honolulu. From there it was on to the islands of Japan. Hopping over to the Asian continent, he next visited Hong Kong, Manila, and Singapore. A short stop in Bombay, today’s Mumbai, allowed him to explore British India. His next destination was the Middle East, where he visited Palestine to take in the many sites of the Holy Land. Then it was on to Egypt to see the Great Pyramids, Libya to visit Tripoli, and Morocco to experience Marrakech.
From Africa, Dr. Chandler turned his eyes north and headed for London, England. Upon his arrival there he decided to extend his trip. Rather than return home as planned at the end of September, he decided to spend an additional month in Europe. His European adventure took him from London through France, the Swiss and Italian Alps, Rome, Vienna, and Budapest, finally arriving in Munich, Germany.
His stay in Munich coincided with two conferences between European powers over Germany’s aggressive territorial expansion. These conferences resulted in the Munich Agreement which ceded to Germany the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia with a large ethnic German population. It was an attempt by England, France, and the Soviet Union to appease Nazi Germany and avoid war. While we know now that it failed in its aim, at the time the Munich Agreement was seen as a huge step towards peace. After signing the Agreement on September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain proclaimed it would bring “peace for our time.”
During the second conference Dr. Chandler stayed in the same hotel as Chamberlain. He reported to the Chandler Arizonan that he “saw Chamberlain twice during that time,” and that he had “previously seen the British premier in London before he left for the continent.” It is unclear what Chandler meant by stating he “saw” Chamberlain. Did he view him from afar? Did they dine in the hotel at the same time? Were they on friendly terms and did they exchange greetings? We will likely never know. What we do know is that Dr. Chandler was convinced that peace would prevail. In the wake of the Agreement, he fired off a cable to a newspaper in Phoenix (likely the Republic) expressing his optimism that war would be averted. Unfortunately, the newspaper never published his cable.
The remainder of Dr. Chandler’s world tour was decidedly less momentous. Returning to England, he soon boarded a ship headed for Quebec. There he caught a train bound for Montreal where he met his sister, Priscilla Chandler, and spent the remainder of his time visiting with family in his native Coaticook, Quebec, Canada. He returned to Chandler on October 18 after an incredible tour of the world and brush with history.