David
Roll’s biography on Harry Hopkins sheds new light detailing
how one of the most influential presidential advisors of all
time played a vital role in shaping US policy in World War
II and helped build the successful wartime alliance of the
US, Britain and the Soviet Union. Roll positions Hopkins as
“among the most significant contributors to the creation
and maintenance of the coalition that won the war.”
What makes this book interesting is the bringing to life of
the major allied leaders of WWII – Roosevelt, Churchill
and Stalin –as men with strengths, weaknesses, foibles,
quirks and strong personalities, and reveals how Hopkins used
his strong personal ties to all three leaders to get key war
time policy decisions made. This proved a Herculean task throughout
the war years, and was even more remarkable given Hopkins’
poor health and several near death experiences during this
period.
To those readers who want a good introduction to maneuverings
and decision making at the highest political level, this is
about as good as it gets. Roll guides us through the drama
of the interaction of three very strong–willed leaders
and the significant investment in time and energy Hopkins
made to get the three leaders to agree on the major direction
of the war.
For such a potentially turgid subject as this, the book is
not only very readable and informative, but kept me engaged,
almost as if the final war outcome was in doubt. To a great
extent, I felt I was an observer of the life and times of
the Roosevelt White House, complete with various family members’
personalities that factored into Hopkins’ life and decisions.
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