Table Of ContentCaught between Roosevelt & Stalin :
title:
America's Ambassadors to Moscow
author: Dunn, Dennis J.
publisher: University Press of Kentucky
isbn10 | asin: 0813120233
print isbn13: 9780813120232
ebook isbn13: 9780813170749
language: English
United States--Foreign relations--Soviet
Union, Soviet Union--Foreign relations--
United States, Ambassadors--United States-
subject -History--20th century, Ambassadors--
Soviet Union--History--20th century, United
States--Foreign relations--1933-1945,
Roosevelt, Fr
publication date: 1998
lcc: E183.8.S65D86 1998eb
ddc: 327.47073
United States--Foreign relations--Soviet
Union, Soviet Union--Foreign relations--
United States, Ambassadors--United States-
subject: -History--20th century, Ambassadors--
Soviet Union--History--20th century, United
States--Foreign relations--1933-1945,
Roosevelt, Fr
Page iii
Caught between Roosevelt & Stalin
Americans Ambassadors to Moscow
Dennis J. Dunn
Page iv
Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Copyright © 1998 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
The Filson Club Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved
Editorial and Sales Offices. The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
98 99 00 01 02 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dunn, Dennis J.
Caught between Roosevelt and Stalin : America's ambassadors to Moscow /
Dennis J. Dunn
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8131-2023-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. United StatesForeign relationsSoviet Union. 2. Soviet UnionForeign
relationsUnited States. 3. AmbassadorsUnited StatesHistory20th
century. 4. AmbassadorsSoviet UnionHistory20th Century. 5. United
StatesForeign relations19331945. 6. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin
Delano), 18821945. 7. Stalin, Joseph, 18791953. I. Title
E183.8.S65D86 1998 97-23033
327.47073dc21
This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Page v
For Margaret, Denise, and Meg
Page vii
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Dates of Service for American Ambassadors in Moscow, xiii
19331946
Prologue: Early 1943 1
Part 1. William C. Bullitt, 19331936
1. Stalin's Kiss 13
2. Russia and the State of Grace 31
3. "The Donkey, the Carrot, and the Club" 40
Part 2. Joseph E. Davies, 19361938
4. "His Brown Eye Is Exceedingly Kindly and Gentle" 61
5. "The System Is Now a Type of Capitalistic State 73
Socialism"
6. "Less Objective and More Friendly" 82
Part 3. Laurence A. Steinhardt, 19391941
7. Old Testament Justice 97
8. "A Silent Partner to Germany" 108
9. "Comrade Stalin" Becomes "Mr. Stalin" 126
Part 4. William H. Standley, 19421943
10. The Secret Message 147
11. The News Conference 172
12. Joseph Davies to the Rescue 183
Part 5. W. Averell Harriman, 19431946
13. "Uncle Joe" 201
14. "The Russian Bear Is Biting" 223
15. "The Russians Have Given So Much" 242
Epilogue 263
Notes 275
Bibliography 325
Index 337
Illustrations Follow Page 178
Page ix
PREFACE
On November 16, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet
Commissar of Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov signed the Roosevelt-
Litvinov Agreement, which established for the first rime diplomatic
ties between the United States and the Soviet Union. Two days later
Roosevelt named the first of ultimately five ambassadors whom he
would place in Moscow between 1933 and 1945: William C. Bullitt,
193336; Joseph E. Davies, 193638; Laurence A. Steinhardt, 193941;
William C. Standley, 194243, and W. Averell Harriman, 194346. The
ambassadors' chief advisers were George F. Kennan, Loy Henderson,
Charles Bohlen, and Philip Faymonville.
This book examines these men and their relationships to Roosevelt
and Stalin for four distinct but overlapping reasons. First, such a study
provides a biopsy of Roosevelt's policy toward Stalin and the
motivation behind that policy. Roosevelt as foreign policy leader has
remained a sphinx for historians. Winston Churchill described Stalin's
Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma," but the
description also seems to fit Roosevelt's foreign policy toward Stalin's
Russia. Few books have been published on his foreign policy and
even fewer on his policy toward Stalin's Soviet Union. He did not
leave scholars many records with which to work. Warren Kimball,
Robert Dallek, Daniel Yergin, John Lewis Gaddis, Lloyd Gardner,
Robert Divine, and others have helped put him into perspective, but,
in Kimball's words, he continues to be "disingenuous, deceptive and
devious."
1 There seems to be general consensus that he pursued a policy of
accommodation toward Stalin, especially during the war years, but
there is no agreement on whether this was beneficial, harmful, or
necessary, nor is there any agreement on his motivation.
Some historians hold out that FDR's deteriorating physical condition
led him to appease Stalin. This view, however, is insufficient; the
concessionary policy was consistent from the very beginning of FDR's
relationship with Stalin, and he was not in bad health throughout his
entire presidency. Others vouchsafe that Roosevelt had no choice but
to cater to Stalin because of the Nazi threat, the restraining power of
U.S. public opinion, and/or the geopolitical realities of
