The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They MadeThis “engrossing narrative” examines the six American statesmen who rebuilt the world after WWII—with a new introduction by the authors (The New York Times). Blending personal biography and geopolitical history, Wise Men introduces six close friends who used their power and influence to shape the role their country would play in the dangerous years following the Second World War. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos and leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day. The Wise Men shares the stories of Averell Harriman, the freewheeling diplomat and Roosevelt’s special envoy to Churchill and Stalin; Dean Acheson, the secretary of state who was more responsible for the Truman Doctrine than Truman and for the Marshall Plan than General Marshall; George Kennan, self-cast outsider and intellectual darling of the Washington elite; Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war, undersecretary of state, and secretary of defense throughout the formative years of the Cold War; John McCloy, one of the nation’s most influential private citizens; and Charles Bohlen, adroit diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union. |
From inside the book
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... Roosevelt's hopes that the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. could be allies in peace as they had been in war , and he had been hectoring Washington for permission to return home and present his case in person . With an inexperienced new President ...
... Roosevelt's hopes that the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. could be allies in peace as they had been in war , and he had been hectoring Washington for permission to return home and present his case in person . With an inexperienced new President ...
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... Roosevelt had pursued his own foreign policy with little heed to the Cassandras in the State Department . Harry Truman , on the other hand , stayed up late his first evening in office poring over recent reports . When Kennan's messages ...
... Roosevelt had pursued his own foreign policy with little heed to the Cassandras in the State Department . Harry Truman , on the other hand , stayed up late his first evening in office poring over recent reports . When Kennan's messages ...
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... Roosevelt's " special envoy " to Churchill and Stalin , he began a career as a freewheeling diplomat that continued through the Vietnam era . Plodding yet at times strikingly bold , detached yet also intense , he earned the nickname ...
... Roosevelt's " special envoy " to Churchill and Stalin , he began a career as a freewheeling diplomat that continued through the Vietnam era . Plodding yet at times strikingly bold , detached yet also intense , he earned the nickname ...
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... Roosevelt and as Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover . In its twentieth - century incarnation , the tradition ... Roosevelt's Secretary of State . Root was revered as a mentor by Stimson , just as Stimson became the mentor for such ...
... Roosevelt and as Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover . In its twentieth - century incarnation , the tradition ... Roosevelt's Secretary of State . Root was revered as a mentor by Stimson , just as Stimson became the mentor for such ...
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... Roosevelt cited him as " the biggest influence in my life . ' وو Peabody was dedicated to the ideal of public service and to instilling a sense of Christian and patrician obligation among his charges . " Cui Servire Est Regnare " is the ...
... Roosevelt cited him as " the biggest influence in my life . ' وو Peabody was dedicated to the ideal of public service and to instilling a sense of Christian and patrician obligation among his charges . " Cui Servire Est Regnare " is the ...
Contents
| 5 | |
World CourtsMcCloy and Acheson before the | |
A Pretty Good ClubKennan and Bohlen in the Foreign Service | |
On Active ServiceEnlisting in a noble cause | |
Heavenly Twins McCloy and Lovett at the War Department | |
Missions to MoscowHarriman Acheson Bohlen and Kennan wrestle with a biting bear | |
Two CREATION | |
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The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made Walter Isaacson,Evan Thomas No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
advisers ambassador American asked atomic authors Averell Harriman became began believed Berlin bomb Bundy Byrnes cables called Churchill Clark Clifford Clifford Club Communist Congress crisis Dean Acheson Dean Rusk Defense Democratic Department diary dinner diplomatic dissertation Dulles E. H. Harriman Europe felt force foreign policy Forrestal friends FRUS George F George Kennan Germany Groton Harriman and Abel Harry Truman Harvard Hopkins John McCloy Johnson Kennan papers Kennedy knew Korea Kremlin later recalled letter MacArthur Marshall Plan McCloy's McGeorge Bundy meeting memo Memoirs military Molotov Moscow National negotiations Paul Nitze peace Poland political postwar President Robert Lovett role Roosevelt Rusk Russians Secretary seemed Senate Soviet Union Special Envoy speech Stalin Stimson talk told troops Truman Library Vandenberg Vietnam Wall Street wanted warned Washington White House William Bundy Witness to History worried wrote York وو