When Joseph Goebbels, the German propaganda minister, gave a speech at the Berlin Palace of Sport, he vilified Hindemith as a ‘dud', a ‘charlatan' and an ‘atonal noise-maker'. After this attack, Hindemith reluctantly set out for the United States, intending to stay only a short time. He turned his attention to becoming an educator, and he received invitations to teach from such prestigious schools as Cornell University and the State University of New York. Finally, he was invited to give a series of lectures at YALE, where he was offered a visiting professorship, a post he gladly accepted. The university wanted him to help with their continuing reform of musical studies, and allowed him a great deal of freedom to design his own curriculum.