CESTY T. G. MASARYKA DO ZAHRANIČIA PO ROKU 1918, MEDZI REPREZENTÁCIOU A ODDYCHOM

The article is dealing with the foreign travels of the first Czechoslovak president T. G. Masaryk. It analyses their sources of inspiration in the setting of American and French presidents as well as Masaryk’s own experiences in the period of foreign exile during the First World War. It traces the transformations that this kind of state representation brought during the interwar period, from the limits of transport to the media coverage and presentation of the various visits. The second part focuses on the foreign trips made during Masaryk’s presidency. It discusses the official visits in 1923, the objectives of the journey, and its actual course. It also examines the role of T. G. Masaryk’s personal trips abroad, which were intended to contribute to his recovery, rest or explore new regions. Moreover, during all his travels Masaryk intentionally built and maintained his own network of contacts abroad, which included many politicians, artists and journalists. The article shows that in addition to building a positive image of Czechoslovakia, presidential visits were also used to address sensitive issues and explain Czechoslovak positions in international politics. In the last part, the study opens up a new field of research questions in the form of unrealized presidential trips. It uses the example of plans to visit Vienna, Yugoslavia, and Romania or a possible meeting with the Pope to show the negotiations and the context of the changing international relations of a Central European republic. The entire study places the phenomenon of presidential trips within the broader contexts of national representation, international relations and internal political decisions.