Rudy Abramson "Spanning the Century: The Life of W. Averell Harriman 1891-1986."
It's an absorbing account of the life of W. Averill Harriman, one of that remarkable group of "wise men" whose lives were so closely linked to the foreign policy of the postwar US as it emerged to world power. Abramson looks at the life and work of the financier and politician, describing his privileged upbringing, his business success, and his tenure as governor of New York. Abramson fills out other aspects Harriman's public and private life, from business career to later diplomacy, from polo games to his wartime affair with Churchill's daughter-in-law, who years afterward became Harriman's third wife.
Short-tempered, humorless, intolerant and not especially articulate, Harriman nevertheless made himself useful to several presidents as an expediter, fixer and diplomat. Best remembered as FDR's wartime emissary to Churchill and Stalin, he went on to serve as secretary of commerce under Truman and roving ambassador under Kennedy and Johnson. He was governor of New York from 1954 to 1958, and an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1956.
In this authorized, deeply researched and candid biography, "Los Angeles Times" reporter Abramson presents new material on Harriman's difficult relationship with his father (railroad baron E. H. Harriman), his struggle to overcome shyness and stuttering, his formative experiences at Groton and Yale, his business career and management of the Harriman fortune, his adventures as an international polo star, his three marriages and, late in life, his central role in concluding a nuclear test-ban treaty with the Soviets.
Abramson succeeds in bringing this enigmatic figure, one of the most important of the Cold Warriors, to vivid, three-dimensional life.
It may have been his lack of financial acumen that drove him into politics; in any case, FDR found this former Republican a useful weapon against the outraged financial community. Harriman's most glorious days came during WW II, initially as Lend Lease administrator in London, where he worked closely with Churchill to bring the US into the war. Later, this taciturn, often inarticulate man served as ambassador to Moscow.
Published by William Morrow & Co, 1992. First Edition. Photos.
Hardcover with DJ.
New book. Book in excellent visual and technical condition.