of an independent Slovak nation for almost 20 years. His motivation was based on religious and language grounds. Hlinka accepted the idea of the common Czechoslovak political nation but believed that centralism and ethnic Czechoslovakism threatened Slovak interests and their national and cultural identity ("We are for the common state of Czechs and Slovaks, but we are for the application of national individuality of both constituent nations.") His party quickly became the most popular party in Slovakia with potential around 25%–35%. Hlinka was known for his charisma, temperament, stubbornness and sharp tongue. The same qualities made him a difficult partner for negotiation. Hlinka regularly insulted his opponents and was often criticized for primitivism. The lack of higher education led him to an uncritical admiration of some of his questionable coworkers. This was especially the case of Vojtech Tuka who several times undermined the interests of the party, but preserved Hlinka's trust regardless of the resistance of the HSLS. At the end of his life, Hlinka was more a living symbol of the party than a real policymaker. In the 1930s, the party gradually moved closer to authoritarian and undemocratic political ideas. Hlinka sympathized with authoritarian regimes like Salazar's Portugal or Dollfuss' Austria, both states in which Catholic clericalism played a central role. During the final years of his life, his party was internally divided into two wings – the conservatives led by Catholic priest Jozef Tiso and the radicals, mostly young dissatisfied members. Hlinka tried to balance them and for tactical reasons supported them alternately. Hlinka, who never well understood foreign policy, was in favor of cooperation with Konrad Henlein and János Esterházy. On 5 June 1938 Hlinka made a speech at a demonstration in Bratislava where he again raised a demand for Slovak autonomy. He signed the third proposal for the autonomy but died before he reached his goal. Only after the Munich Agreement when Czechoslovakia got into German sphere of influence, loss of the Czech borderland and under the threat of territorial demands of Hungary, HSLS exploited the weakness of the state and declared autonomy on 6 October 1938, less than two months after Hlinka's death. Legacy During the first Slovak Republic, client state of Nazi Germany (1939–1945), Hlinka was considered by the regime as a national hero. Josef Tiso, his deputy and successor in Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, became the president of the fascist first Slovak Republic.