1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808347703321

Autore

Costigliola Frank <1946->

Titolo

Roosevelt's lost alliances : how personal politics helped start the Cold War / / Frank Costigliola

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, : Princeton University Press, c2012

ISBN

1-283-30327-2

9786613303271

1-4008-3952-1

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (viii, 533 pages)

Disciplina

940.53/22

Soggetti

World War, 1939-1945 - Diplomatic history

Cold War - Diplomatic history

United States Foreign relations 1933-1945

United States Foreign relations 1945-1953

United States Foreign relations Soviet Union

Soviet Union Foreign relations United States

United States Foreign relations Great Britain

Great Britain Foreign relations United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Key Players -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. A Portrait of the Allies as Young Men -- Chapter 2. From Missy to Molotov -- Chapter 3. The Personal Touch -- Chapter 4. Transcending Differences -- Chapter 5. Creating the "Family Circle" -- Chapter 6. "I've Worked It Out" -- Chapter 7. The Diplomacy of Trauma -- Chapter 8. Guns and Kisses in the Kremlin -- Chapter 9. "Roosevelt's Death Has Changed Everything" -- Chapter 10. The Lost Alliance -- Conclusion and Epilogue.

Sommario/riassunto

In the spring of 1945, as the Allied victory in Europe was approaching, the shape of the postwar world hinged on the personal politics and flawed personalities of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Roosevelt's Lost Alliances captures this moment and shows how FDR crafted a winning coalition by overcoming the different habits, upbringings, sympathies, and past experiences of the three leaders. In particular, Roosevelt



trained his famous charm on Stalin, lavishing respect on him, salving his insecurities, and rendering him more amenable to compromise on some matters. Yet, even as he pursued a lasting peace, FDR was alienating his own intimate circle of advisers and becoming dangerously isolated. After his death, postwar cooperation depended on Harry Truman, who, with very different sensibilities, heeded the embittered "Soviet experts" his predecessor had kept distant. A Grand Alliance was painstakingly built and carelessly lost. The Cold War was by no means inevitable. This landmark study brings to light key overlooked documents, such as the Yalta diary of Roosevelt's daughter Anna; the intimate letters of Roosevelt's de facto chief of staff, Missy LeHand; and the wiretap transcripts of estranged adviser Harry Hopkins. With a gripping narrative and subtle analysis, Roosevelt's Lost Alliances lays out a new approach to foreign relations history. Frank Costigliola highlights the interplay between national political interests and more contingent factors, such as the personalities of leaders and the culturally conditioned emotions forming their perceptions and driving their actions. Foreign relations flowed from personal politics--a lesson pertinent to historians, diplomats, and citizens alike.