audiobook Stonewall by Jean Fritz in History

Description

Throughout his presidency; Franklin Roosevelt was determined to pursue a peaceful accommodation with an increasingly powerful Soviet Union; an inclination reinforced by the onset of world war. Roosevelt knew that defeating the Axis powers would require major contributions by the Soviets and their Red Army; and so; despite his misgivings about Stalin's expansionist motives; he pushed for friendlier relations. Yet almost from the moment he was inaugurated; lower-level officials challenged FDR's ability to carry out this policy.Mary Glantz analyzes tensions shaping the policy stance of the United States toward the Soviet Union before; during; and immediately after World War II. Focusing on the conflicts between a president who sought close relations between the two nations and the diplomatic and military officers who opposed them; she shows how these career officers were able to resist and shape presidential policy-and how their critical views helped shape the parameters of the subsequent Cold War.Venturing into the largely uncharted waters of bureaucratic politics; Glantz examines overlooked aspects of wartime relations between Washington and Moscow to highlight the roles played by U.S. personnel in the U.S.S.R. in formulating and implementing policies governing the American-Soviet relationship. She takes readers into the American embassy in Moscow to show how individuals like Ambassadors Joseph Davies; Lawrence Steinhadt; and Averell Harriman and U.S. military attachs like Joseph Michela influenced policy; and reveals how private resistance sometimes turned into public dispute. She also presents new material on the controversial military attach/lend-lease director Phillip Faymonville; a largely neglected officer who understood the Soviet system and supported Roosevelt's policy.Deftly combining military with diplomatic history; Glantz traces these philosophical and policy battles to show how difficult it was for even a highly popular president like Roosevelt to overcome such entrenched and determined opposition. Although he reorganized federal offices and appointed ambassadors who shared his views; in the end he was unable to outlast his bureaucratic opponents or change their minds. With his death; anti-Soviet factions rushed into the policymaking vacuum to become the primary architects of Truman's Cold War "containment" policy.A case study in foreign relations; high-level policymaking; and civil-military relations; FDR and the Soviet Union enlarges our understanding of the ideologies and events that set the stage for the Cold War. It adds a new dimension to our understanding of Soviet-American relations as it sheds new light on the surprising power of those in low places.