The present book brings to life the links between the close personal interactions and the far-reaching public actions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and two of his ambassadors. The three men’s friendly relations turned over time to bitter enmity. The initial questions separating them were those also dividing the nation. Could the United States coexist with a Nazi Germany seeking world domination? What were America’s vital interests when it was coming of age as a world power?
This fascinating tale of egos, intrigue, and even sexual scandal has a dramatic arc of inner flaws and historic forces revealing lives that end as Greek tragedies for both William C. Bullitt and Joseph P. Kennedy. This story reveals new political interconnections from the rise of Nazi Germany and American antisemitism in the interwar years through the complicated alliances of WWII and the onset of the Cold War.
This appraisal offers insights not found in books focusing on separate individuals. We also see how personalities still shape historical change even in our global age of powerful nations and grand alliances. The intricacies of the book’s themes demonstrate that the past is never over.
