Caught between Roosevelt & Stalin: America's ambassadors to Moscow PDF
Preview Caught between Roosevelt & Stalin: America's ambassadors to Moscow
Caught between Roosevelt & Stalin : title: America's Ambassadors to Moscow author: Dunn, Dennis J. publisher: University Press of Kentucky isbn10 | asin: 0813120233 print isbn13: 9780813120232 ebook isbn13: 9780813170749 language: English United States--Foreign relations--Soviet Union, Soviet Union--Foreign relations-- United States, Ambassadors--United States- subject -History--20th century, Ambassadors-- Soviet Union--History--20th century, United States--Foreign relations--1933-1945, Roosevelt, Fr publication date: 1998 lcc: E183.8.S65D86 1998eb ddc: 327.47073 United States--Foreign relations--Soviet Union, Soviet Union--Foreign relations-- United States, Ambassadors--United States- subject: -History--20th century, Ambassadors-- Soviet Union--History--20th century, United States--Foreign relations--1933-1945, Roosevelt, Fr Page iii Caught between Roosevelt & Stalin Americans Ambassadors to Moscow Dennis J. Dunn Page iv Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 1998 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved Editorial and Sales Offices. The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 98 99 00 01 02 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dunn, Dennis J. Caught between Roosevelt and Stalin : America's ambassadors to Moscow / Dennis J. Dunn p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8131-2023-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. United StatesForeign relationsSoviet Union. 2. Soviet UnionForeign relationsUnited States. 3. AmbassadorsUnited StatesHistory20th century. 4. AmbassadorsSoviet UnionHistory20th Century. 5. United StatesForeign relations19331945. 6. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 18821945. 7. Stalin, Joseph, 18791953. I. Title E183.8.S65D86 1998 97-23033 327.47073dc21 This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America Page v For Margaret, Denise, and Meg Page vii CONTENTS Preface ix Dates of Service for American Ambassadors in Moscow, xiii 19331946 Prologue: Early 1943 1 Part 1. William C. Bullitt, 19331936 1. Stalin's Kiss 13 2. Russia and the State of Grace 31 3. "The Donkey, the Carrot, and the Club" 40 Part 2. Joseph E. Davies, 19361938 4. "His Brown Eye Is Exceedingly Kindly and Gentle" 61 5. "The System Is Now a Type of Capitalistic State 73 Socialism" 6. "Less Objective and More Friendly" 82 Part 3. Laurence A. Steinhardt, 19391941 7. Old Testament Justice 97 8. "A Silent Partner to Germany" 108 9. "Comrade Stalin" Becomes "Mr. Stalin" 126 Part 4. William H. Standley, 19421943 10. The Secret Message 147 11. The News Conference 172 12. Joseph Davies to the Rescue 183 Part 5. W. Averell Harriman, 19431946 13. "Uncle Joe" 201 14. "The Russian Bear Is Biting" 223 15. "The Russians Have Given So Much" 242 Epilogue 263 Notes 275 Bibliography 325 Index 337 Illustrations Follow Page 178 Page ix PREFACE On November 16, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov signed the Roosevelt- Litvinov Agreement, which established for the first rime diplomatic ties between the United States and the Soviet Union. Two days later Roosevelt named the first of ultimately five ambassadors whom he would place in Moscow between 1933 and 1945: William C. Bullitt, 193336; Joseph E. Davies, 193638; Laurence A. Steinhardt, 193941; William C. Standley, 194243, and W. Averell Harriman, 194346. The ambassadors' chief advisers were George F. Kennan, Loy Henderson, Charles Bohlen, and Philip Faymonville. This book examines these men and their relationships to Roosevelt and Stalin for four distinct but overlapping reasons. First, such a study provides a biopsy of Roosevelt's policy toward Stalin and the motivation behind that policy. Roosevelt as foreign policy leader has remained a sphinx for historians. Winston Churchill described Stalin's Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma," but the description also seems to fit Roosevelt's foreign policy toward Stalin's Russia. Few books have been published on his foreign policy and even fewer on his policy toward Stalin's Soviet Union. He did not leave scholars many records with which to work. Warren Kimball, Robert Dallek, Daniel Yergin, John Lewis Gaddis, Lloyd Gardner, Robert Divine, and others have helped put him into perspective, but, in Kimball's words, he continues to be "disingenuous, deceptive and devious." 1 There seems to be general consensus that he pursued a policy of accommodation toward Stalin, especially during the war years, but there is no agreement on whether this was beneficial, harmful, or necessary, nor is there any agreement on his motivation. Some historians hold out that FDR's deteriorating physical condition led him to appease Stalin. This view, however, is insufficient; the concessionary policy was consistent from the very beginning of FDR's relationship with Stalin, and he was not in bad health throughout his entire presidency. Others vouchsafe that Roosevelt had no choice but to cater to Stalin because of the Nazi threat, the restraining power of U.S. public opinion, and/or the geopolitical realities of
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