"Building Bridges" is a very likable metaphor, one of the most vivid, in my opinion, within Cold War, especially Detente rhetoric. Yet the roots of an idea that certain nations are suited to become intermediaries between East and West are older. I can trace aspirations for such a role in my research, concerning WWII governments-in-exile, in 1943, 1944. There I got curious: Who was the first to employ the metaphor in the said context? "Oxford English Dictionary" lists NYT´s W. Safire in 1967 which looks pretty late to me. I also count on possibility that the concept predates the coinage.
Any ideas? Research available?
The link below may help you find some early uses, but it will include literal as well as figurative uses of the term.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bridge+building&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbridge%20building%3B%2Cc0
As I know, communist historiography very often criticized Beneš because of his idea to make Czechoslovakia a "bridge between East and West". Later also Pavel Tigrid condemned this idea because according to him just "bridges" become the first victims.
Very old: pontifex maximus.
Julius Caesar once was the pontifex maximus.
And lawyer.
Regards,
Joachim
Thank you, Joachim, for reminding us about bridges connecting Heavens and Earth! Yet, as regards my context (above), this is a very long shot.
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