Tomas Masaryk, or a statue of him at any rate, towers over the foot of Embassy Row at Mass. Ave. and 22nd. Often called “President-Liberator,” Masaryk was the George Washington of Czechoslovakia.

The memorial is one of a several in D.C. honoring foreign dignitaries — think Simon Bolivar, Queen Isabela, Benito Juarez. At least Masaryk lived in D.C. for awhile, at the former Powhatan Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue and 18th Street. Before he eventually left the U.S., Masaryk took with him his American wife, Charlotte Garrigue. From her he also took her maiden name as his middle. From those initials derive another of his nicknames: TGM.

While living in exile during World War I, he helped to draft the Declaration of Czecho-Slovak Independence. During his stay in the United States, Masaryk persuaded Woodrow Wilson to recognize him as the leader of the provisional country; when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell, he returned to unify the Czechs and Slovaks in a single republic. Masaryk was re-elected twice, and in 1935 was succeeded in office by his foreign minister, Edvard Benes. Masaryk passed away two years later.