Great Wars and Great Leaders

265 Pages·2010·1.58 MB·English

by  Ralph Raico

Great Wars and Great Leaders

Great Wars and Great Leaders
A Libertarian Rebual
Ralph Raico
Ludwig
von Mie
Intitute
AUBURN,ALABAMA
Copyright©2010bytheLudwigvonMisesInstitute
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Contents
ForewordbyRobertHiggs iii
Introduction vii
E
1 WorldWarI:eTurningPoint 1
2 RethinkingChurchill 53
3 HarryS.Truman: AdvancingtheRevolution 103
4 MarxistDreamsandSovietRealities 143
5 NazifyingtheGermans 157
R
6 Trotsky: eIgnoranceandtheEvil 165
7 eTwo“Testaments”ofAmericanForeignPolicy 177
8 eOtherWarthatNeverEnds: ASurveyofSome
RecentLiteratureonWorldWarI 185
9 StarvingaPeopleintoSubmission 197
10 JohnT.FlynnandtheApotheosisofFranklinRoosevelt 207
11 OntheBrinkofWorldWarII 219
12 eGreatWarRetold 229
i

Foreword
by Robert Higgs
For many years, I have described Ralph Raico as “my favorite his-
torian.” When David eroux and I were making our plans in 1995
for the publication of a new scholarly quarterly, e Independent
Review,andselectingthescholarswewouldasktoserveasassociate
editors, I knew that I would want one of them to be an excellent
historian,andIknewalsothatthepersonIwantedmostwasRaico.
I had complete confidence that he would bring to our project pre-
ciselythecombinationofpersonalintegrity,scholarlymastery,and
sound judgment I needed in an associate. In the fieen years since
then,IhaveneverregreedthatIprevailedonRalphtoserveinthis
capacity and that he graciously accepted my invitation. ree of
the marvelous review essays that appear here were first published
inTIR.
Much earlier I had developed a deep respect for Raico as a
scholar and as a person. I insist that these two qualities cannot
be separated without dire consequences. Some scholars have en-
ergy, brilliance, and mastery of their fields, but they lack personal
integrity; hence they bend easily before the winds of professional
fashionandsocialpressure. IhavealwaysadmiredRalph’samazing
commandofthewide-rangingliteraturerelatedtothetopicsabout
which he lectures and writes. But I have admired even more his
iii