American Diplomacy During the Second World War: 1941-1945

Historian Gaddis Smith presents a general overview of U.S. diplomacy during the Second World War. Foreign policy is largely the preview of the President, and few chief executives have had their diplomacy as critiqued and debated as has Franklin D. Roosevelt. Smith takes a generally favorable view of Roosevelt's diplomacy, particularly his war leadersihp. The author considers Roosevelt to have been a sanguine pragmatist regarding Communism, a point that more than a few critics will surely debate. Of course, many overrate the reach of U.S. diplomacy in affecting the policy and actions of foreign regimes and their peoples. Keeping Stalin out of Eastern Europe and the corrupt nationalists from "losing" China may have been beyond the reach of even the most effective diplomacy. Whatever your view, you'll get an informative overview of U.S. diplomacy during that world wide conflict, with a brief look at incoming President Harry Truman in the war's last months after Roosevelt's passing. Not a great book, but clearly a worthy and informative effort.