47prevails. “To persist and to emerge
victorious, it is not enough that the hero
can shoot and knows how to use his
sts,” Orban once told a biographer,
explaining the lesson he took from the
lm. “He must also use his brain and
show magnanimity. That is very impor-
tant. You must know and understand your
enemy, you must nd out what in reality
makes him tick and then, when things
come to a head, you mustn’t shrink from
the ght but attack and win!”
Gabor Fodor, a rival o Orban’s who
used to be a close friend, once observed
that even as a young man, Orban “was
already possessed o those domineering,
intolerant ways o thinking and behaving
that are all too evident in him today.”
But, Fodor noted, “he was, in addition
to all o this, sincere and likable.” It is a
combination o traits that suggests a
certain ambivalence in Orban’s character,
which perhaps helps explain the ease
with which he transformed his political
persona later in life.
At Budapest’s Bibo Istvan Special
College, for law students, Orban
became part o a tightly knit group o
liberals. One o the college’s chie
patrons was the Hungarian-born
American investor and philanthropist
George Soros, who generously subsi-
dized a student-run journal and lan-
guage courses and trips overseas. In
1988, Orban took a part-time job with
Soros’ organization, which later be-
came the Open Society Foundations.
The organization also gave Orban a
grant to attend Oxford University and
conduct research on the idea o civil
society in European political philosophy.
In 1990, Hungary held its rst free
elections, which resulted in a center-
right coalition government led by JozseNEW JERSEY
CITY UNIVERSITYJoin our global community:
100+ countries. 60+ languages.Kenneth Yamaguchi, Ph.D.
Professor, ChemistryFA 47_edit_ad.indd 1 7/19/19 11:39 AM