The dramatic developments in U.S. relations with the two Communist giants aimed not only to improve America’s national security but also to advance a structure of international peace: an end to the war in Vietnam, greater European harmony, reduced tensions in the Middle East, and a return to something resembling Franklin Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy in Latin America. While Nixon and Kissinger fell short of their grand design, their recognition that nuclear weapons had made great power wars unacceptable and their realistic assessment of the limits of American power sensibly advanced international stability. Moreover, they provided a model of realistic dealings that future American presidents and foreign leaders could consult in serving every nation’s quest for peace.
The model of rational behavior informed by a grasp of recent history resonated during George H. W. Bush’s presidency in the Gulf War of 1990–91. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 triggered a coalition of forces led by the United States to compel Saddam Hussein to relinquish his conquest and desist from further aggression against its neighbors. In a brief air and land campaign in January and February 1991, the coalition forced Hussein to retreat from Kuwait. Remembering Harry Truman’s problems after he decided to cross the thirty-eighth parallel to topple North Korea’s Communist regime, Bush called a halt to the fighting at Iraq’s borders. He believed that an invasion of Iraq would cost the United States and its allies unacceptable casualties and would burden his administration with responsibility for a fractious society. In his words, we would become “an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”
As the Iraq War initiated by George W. Bush has demonstrated, his father’s outlook was prophetic. With relatively narrow majorities supporting the 1991 war—52–47 in the Senate and 250–183 in the House—the first President Bush feared an expanded conflict with increased casualties and “no viable ‘exit strategy.’” He worried that the United States would become trapped in an unpopular conflict that neither coalition partners nor congressional or public majorities would support, a repetition of the domestic responses to the Korean and Vietnam wars that did so much to undermine the Truman and Lyndon Johnson presidencies. Bush described the Gulf War as an indication that the United States had kicked the Vietnam syndrome. An invasion of Iraq would have repudiated his assertion.
In the twentieth century, successful rational calculation in international dealings, however noteworthy, was never the consistent rule, even for presidents like Kennedy, Nixon, and the first George Bush, whose prescience did not translate into wisdom in response to all their foreign policy challenges. Yet the inconsistency in performance of most leaders is no reason for despair. Given the uncertainties in human affairs and the many regrettable decisions highlighted in this book, it would be easy enough to succumb to Plato’s observation that “only the dead have seen the end of war.” Or to indulge our pessimistic side with Mark Twain’s wry observation, “When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.”
But in spite of painful misjudgments, good sense and courageous determination to muster renewed hope have been an enduring force in world affairs. That the countries of Eastern Europe and Russia emerged from decades of miserable Soviet control with a new spirit of eagerness to build better societies; that Germany and Japan could break with their pasts to establish functioning democracies; that racial segregation in the United States has come to seem so foreign alongside current accepted norms, all suggest an optimism about human progress, not perfection, to be sure, but slow steady movement toward sensible regard for life and liberty, that should make even the sourest of pessimists marvel at the capacity for change.
The missteps recounted in this book, then, should be taken not as an admission of hopelessness but as a reminder that the flawed leadership of the past was less the consequence of circumstances than of choice. Just as war among Western Europe’s nations has become an anachronism, so power in the hands of ruthless leaders willing to abuse individual and collective rights can be made an artifact of the past, or at least more the exception than the rule. A world with wise leadership is not easily achieved, but it is not beyond imagining.
NOTES
Introduction
1 At the start of 1945: Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War: The Gathering Storm (New York: Bantam Books, 1948), vii–viii.
2 At the start of the twentieth century: James J. Sheehan, Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? The Transformation of Modern Europe (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008), chap. 1.
2 Yet while national leaders: Ibid., 105–7. The Clemenceau quote can be found at “Quotations by Subject: War,” The Quotations Page, http://www.quotations page.com/subjects/war/.
3 Although a formidable: George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 6–7.
3 This pride, combined with: See Geoffrey Wheatcroft, “Europeans Are from Venus,” review of Sheehan, Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? New York Times Book Review, February 10, 2008, pp. 26–27.
3 World War II consumed: John W. Dower, War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (New York: Pantheon Books, 1986), 22, 51–52, 90–93, 328 n. 47; David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 530–31, 811.
4 Japanese troops: Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, 812.
5 Although Germany’s Nazis: Dower, War without Mercy, 34–35; Pyle is quoted on pp. 78, 140.
5 The perception about: Saul Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution, 1933–1939 (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), 1; Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933–1945 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), provides a numerical, country-by-country capsule account of the Holocaust in appendixes A and B.
5 Allied victory in 1945: Marshall is quoted in the Dartmouth Review, February 8, 2008. For the polls, see George H. Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1948 (New York: Random House, 1972), 497 and 517.
6 And yet leaders: Suzy Platt, ed., Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations from the Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1992), 194, 332.
6 Alexis de Tocqueville: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), frontispiece.
6 Winston Churchill: Anthony Jay, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 88–89; Platt, Respectfully Quoted, 291. On Lincoln and Washington, see Gallup Poll, 1935–1948, p. 489.
7 Churchill understood: Einstein is quoted in “Quotations by Subject: War.”
8 “peoples’ peace”: Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Fred L. Israel, The State of the Union Messages of the Presidents, 1905–1966 (New York: Chelsea House, 1966), 2890–94.
8 General Douglas MacArthur: William Manchester, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880–1964 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1978), 448–54.
9 The horrors: Simon S. Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (New York: Vintage Books, 2005), 491–92.
11 “Now the trumpet”: For the JFK quote, see Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 (New York: Little, Brown, 2003), 326.
12 “I had a part”: Gordon M. Goldstein, Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam (New York: Times Books, 2008), 21.
Chapter 1: London, Moscow, and Washington: Friends in Need
16 Churchill’s life: A. J. P. Taylor, Robert Rhodes James, and J. H. Plumb, Churchill: Four Faces and the Man (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1968), 50.
16 From his earliest: The details of Churchill’s early life can be found in Roy Jenkins, Churchill: A Biography (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2001). There is also a detailed chronology of Churchill’s life in Taylor, James, and Plumb, Churchill, 247–52. The quote “military glory” is on p. 226. “Bolshevism should have been” is quoted by Jeffrey Wallin in an interview with Juan Williams, September 4, 2001, Fox News Channel. Churchil
l’s description of Mussolini is in Churchill, Gathering Storm, 13–14.
18 In the 1920s: On Spain, see Churchill, Gathering Storm, 190–93, 219–23. “Defeat without a war”: Taylor, James, and Plumb, Churchill, 250. “You were given”: “Winston Churchill,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill.
19 Churchill wisely: Churchill, Gathering Storm, 349–52.
19 For Churchill, the 1930s: See Anthony Storr, “The Man,” in Taylor, James, and Plumb, Churchill, 206–7, on how Churchill’s life story translated into a rallying cry for all Britain.
20 In rallying the nation: Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War: Their Finest Hour (New York: Bantam Books, 1962), 13. See Storr, “The Man,” 232, on Hitler as Churchill’s ideal enemy.
21 In June 1941: Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War: The Grand Alliance (New York: Bantam Books, 1962), 313–15.
21 In December 1941: Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill: The Road to Victory, 1941–1945 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986), 16.
21 Yet in October 1944: On the Balkans, see Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy (New York: Bantam Books, 1953), 196–202; and Alexander Werth, Russia at War, 1941–1945 (New York: Avon Books, 1964), 828–29. On atomic power, see Robert Dallek, Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 416–18, 470–71.
24 Roosevelt’s suspicions: See “Prologue: An American Internationalist,” in Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 3–20.
26 Although he devoted: On FDR’s reaction to the Red scare, see Jean Edward Smith, FDR (New York: Random House, 2007), 171–73.
26 Six months after: On Russian recognition, see Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 78–81. Howard is quoted in Smith, FDR, 342. Also see Frank Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny (Boston: Little, Brown, 1990), 171–75.
27 Roosevelt saw: Freidel, Roosevelt, 175; Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 80–81.
27 Although Roosevelt’s hopes: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 196, 208–212; Freidel, Roosevelt, 319, 324–25.
28 When Hitler invaded: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 278–81, 292–96; Susan Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005), 3–5, 33–39.
29 In the spring and summer of 1942: For the descriptions of Molotov, see Montefiore, Stalin, 39–40. Also see “Vyacheslav Molotov,” Wikipedia, http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Molotov.
30 Although Roosevelt understood: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 339–51.
30 Hopkins took it: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1959), 265–66; Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 279–80.
31 Churchill’s agitation: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 171–72. The general’s quote is in “Dividing the World,” episode 3 of the BBC documentary World War II: Behind Closed Doors, broadcast May 20, 2009.
31 The Soviet leader: For the exchange between Churchill and Stalin, see BBC, “Dividing the World.” For the rest, see Montefiore, Stalin, 6–7.
32 Born in 1878: Stalin’s early history: Montefiore, Stalin, chaps. 1–3.
32 The man Churchill: Ibid., 27, 55–57, 301, 335, 394–95, 477, 665 n. 1.
34 The three men: The anecdote about the cigarette case was told to me by George Kennan at a panel on World War II during a meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Stalin’s comment on the English is in BBC, “Dividing the World.” For the rest, see Gilbert, Road to Victory, 171–72, 176–79, 180–82, 184–87, 189, 192, 195, 204–05, 208; Warren F. Kimball, Churchill and Roosevelt: Their Complete Correspondence (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984), 1:560–61, 564–72.
36 In fact, he and Roosevelt: Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 84–105; Gilbert, Road to Victory, 274, 279–82; Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 368–69. For the cartoon, see BBC, “Dividing the World.”
37 Churchill and Roosevelt: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 369–72; Gilbert, Road to Victory, 307.
38 To soften the blow: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 363–66, 373–76; Gilbert, Road to Victory, 312–13; Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 112–22.
39 During April: Churchill on Smolensk is in BBC, “Dividing the World”; Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 122–29.
39 Roosevelt hoped: Kimball, Churchill and Roosevelt, 2:283.
40 In addition: Robert Dallek, “World War II: E Pluribus Unum,” chap. 5 in The American Style of Foreign Policy: Cultural Politics and Foreign Affairs (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983).
40 Despite initial receptivity: Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 136–39, 141–47.
41 Although less important: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 362–66, 376–79; The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972), 382–99.
42 Churchill’s dealings: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 275–78, 305–06.
43 Churchill and Roosevelt were at odds: On FDR’s anticolonialism, see Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 459–61.
43 Despite their differences: Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 149–57.
Chapter 2: From Tehran to Roosevelt’s Death
45 By September 1943: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 414–18.
45 The meeting from November 28 to December 1: Ibid., 430–38; Gilbert, Road to Victory, 570–93.
46 Churchill was wisely: Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 131–32, 159.
47 Stalin flew: Montefiore, Stalin, 463–66.
47 Stalin worked hard: Ibid., 469–70; Gilbert, Road to Victory, 576, 580–81.
48 Roosevelt left the meetings: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 431–41.
50 For Roosevelt, an essential: Freidel, Roosevelt, 512–18.
51 Despite his health problems: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 463–67.
52 After Tehran: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 651–52, 671–76, 699–700.
53 During the rest of 1944: Ibid., chap. 53, quotes on p. 1000.
53 For Stalin: Werth, Russia at War, 696–97.
53 The victories: Edward Radzinsky, Stalin (New York: Anchor Books, 1997), 500–04; Montefiore, Stalin, 472–73. Beria’s statement is in “Lavrenty Beria,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrenty_Beria. For more on Beria, see I. C. B. Dear, The Oxford Companion to the Second World War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 123–24; and Amy Knight, Beria: Stalin’s First Lieutenant (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993).
54 Whatever the appearance: Werth, Russia at War, 700–01, 826–31.
54 All three leaders: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 1064–66, 1069–70, 1078, 1095, 1101, 1105, 1137, 1143–44, 1159, 1214. FDR’s suggested toast: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 509. “The Riviera of Hades”: Montefiore, Stalin, 480. The best book on Yalta is S. M. Plokhy, Yalta: The Price of Peace (New York, Viking, 2010).
56 Roosevelt shared Churchill’s: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 503–08.
58 The Big Three convened: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 1163–70; Anthony Eden, The Memoirs of Anthony Eden, Earl of Avon: The Reckoning (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), 511; U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1955), 540–46.
59 The Yalta conference: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 520. Churchill’s recollection: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 1173–74.
60 Yet however much: Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 521. The British observer: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 1175.
60 For Churchill, the conference: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 1172, 1182, 1195–96.
61 Churchill was certainly: Ibid., 1179–94, 1198, 1206–09.
61 At the same time, however: Ibid., 1194, 1196.
61 For Stalin, the conference: De Gaulle, Complete W
ar Memoirs, 736–37, 751, 757.
63 In the two months following Yalta: Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 310–12.
64 At the same time, a Soviet-American clash: Ibid., 313–15.
65 Churchill’s distress: Kimball, Churchill and Roosevelt, 3:609–13, 617, 630.
65 Stalin would not reward: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 1291–92.
67 “Stalin’s fondness”: Montefiore, Stalin, 466, 486.
Chapter 3: Collapse and Renewal
68 Roosevelt’s death: Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy, 410–11. The Ickes quote is in Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, vii; Montefiore, Stalin, 498.
69 It was easy: David McCullough, Truman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 105, 281, 324–25.
70 The trajectory: Robert Dallek, Harry S. Truman (New York: Times Books, 2008), chap. 1.
71 Truman’s sudden elevation: Gilbert, Road to Victory, 1294–95.
71 Truman’s assumption: Butler, My Dear Mr. Stalin, 324.
72 The only ones: Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), 791–92.
72 It was a characteristic: For a detailed reconstruction of Hitler’s early life and rise to power, see Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1889–1936: Hubris (New York: W. W. Norton, 2009). The Friedlander quotes are in Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Extermination, 1939–1945 (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), xix.
The Lost Peace Page 40