The Diplomacy Of The Winter

As Dwight D. Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles came to personify the shortcomings of American foreign policy. This collection of essays, representing the first archivally based reassessment of Dulles's diplomacy, examines his role during one of the most critical periods of modern history. Rejecting familiar Cold War stereotypes, this volume reveals the hidden complexities in Dulles's conduct of foreign policy and in his own personality.

When the Red Army invaded Finland in November 1939 most observers expected a walkover. Instead, in a gallant stand that captured the world's imagination, the tiny Finnish army was able to hold off Stalin's mechanized echelons for 105 days. Gordon F. Sander peels away the layers of myth surrounding this Nordic Thermopylae to reveal the conflict in its full military, political, and cultural contexts. A bestseller in Finland, the English-language version of Sander's book draws on interviews with both Finnish and Russian veterans of the war, in addition to a bountiful archive of articles from both the Western and Finnish press, to create the most comprehensive and up-to-date single-volume history of the war. Written in "real time" to give the reader a you-are-there feeling, the book describes the Finns' stunning defeat of the Soviets' initial massive offensive, including the destruction of several Red divisions by Finnish ski troops; the deceptively calm January interregnum, when the two sides engaged in a complicated diplomatic minuet; and the final, titanic Red assault itself, which finally drove the Finns to the peace table-though not before they had forged one of the great legends of modern military history. Using his intimate knowledge of Finland and Finnish history, the author explains how the Finns' winter skills, their innate sisu, or toughness, and their devotion to both their young republic and their brilliant and inspiring commander-in-chief, Gustaf Mannerheim, together enabled them to make their historic stand. Sander explores such oft-ignored aspects of the conflict as Finnish press censorship; the abortive Allied "rescue mission" across Scandinavia that was a factor in Stalin's surprising decision to bring the war to a halt; the Kremlin's novel use of paratroopers in the war; and the pivotal role played by the Lotta Svard, the Finnish all-purpose women's auxiliary. Illustrating Sander's fast-paced text are nearly 50 photographs, including numerous never-seen-before images of both the battlefront and the home front. Hailed by Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's leading daily, as "a bittersweet morality play" that "opens up this quintessentially Finnish tale to a much wider and admiring readership" and by STT, Finland's leading news agency, as "an outstanding book that combines brilliant writing with a rock-solid factual foundation," Sander's compelling book fills a key gap in the record of the Second World War.

There is much discussion these days about public diplomacy—communicating directly with the people of other countries rather than through their diplomats—but little information about what it actually entails. This book does exactly that by detailing the doings of a US Foreign Service cultural officer in five hot spots of the Cold War - Germany, Laos, Poland, Austria, and the Soviet Union - as well as service in Washington DC with the State Department, the Helsinki Commission of the US Congress, and the National Endowment for Democracy. Part history, part memoir, it takes readers into the trenches of the Cold War and demonstrates what public diplomacy can do. It also provides examples of what could be done today in countries where anti-Americanism runs high.

Although the foreign policy decisions made by Kennedy and Johnson determined the final form of postwar diplomacy and laid the foundation for the tumultuous worldwide political changes of the last five years, until now no book has examined American diplomacy during 1960s as a whole. During his presidency, Kennedy concentrated on foreign policy. The president and his staff feared that communism had taken the offensive internationally and that the U.S. was in danger of losing the confrontation, particularly in the developing world. While Johnson attempted to focus on domestic issues, foreign issues nevertheless loomed large. Consequently, the contributors to this volume argue, all aspects of American foreign policy during that decade must be viewed through the prism of the fight against communism. The chapters, which were commissioned for this book by the editor, examine the major subjects and themes of this period in a way that provides new insight to students and general readers alike. Each chapter also contains brief notes and a bibliographic sketch.