Witness to History, 1929-1969

622 Pages·1973·26.614 MB·English

by  Charles E. Bohlen, Robert H. Phelps

WITH THE EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE OF
Robert H. Phelps
"No single person was present at more o
the high-level diplomatic encounters of
the wartime and immediate postwar per
iods than Charles Bohlen. And none was
better equipped to judge them. His mem¬
oirs have, therefore, unique historical
value and should go far to answer the
questions of those who are now challeng¬
ing the soundness of American decisions
in that time." —George F. Kennan
Witness to History
1929-1969
Charles E. Bohlen
The memoirs of Charles E. Bohlen sweep
through nearly thirty-five years of Soviet-
American relations. From the pen of one
of America’s foremost experts on the
Soviet Union come new disclosures, fresh
insights, and penetrating assessments re¬
garding the momentous events that have
shaped the world since 1934.
Bohlen was there. He helped open the
first embassy in Moscow in 1934 and saw
William Bullitt’s illusions about amicable
relations shattered. He attended the last of
the great purge trials of the 1930s. While
still a young diplomat, Bohlen learned
through a secret source in the German
embassy of the impending Nazi-Soviet
Pact, which soon startled the world. Trans¬
ferred to Japan, he was interned when
Pearl Harbor was bombed and a few
months later saw Doolittle’s planes bomb
Tokyo. Taken into the White House,
Bohlen became President Roosevelt’s in¬
terpreter and an adviser at the wartime
conferences with Churchill and Stalin at
Teheran and Yalta, and President Tru¬
man’s interpreter at Potsdam. After the
war he was the principal adviser on Soviet
affairs to three secretaries of state through
(Continued on back jlap)
ISBN 0-393-07476-5
DATE DOE
Printed
HIGHSMITH #45230 in USA

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Witness to History
1929-1969
CHARLES E. BOHLEN
W ■ W ■ NORTON & COMPANY ■ INC ■
NEW YORK
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B
73-67
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3 1223 04867 9402
Copyright © 1973 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
FIRST EDITION
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published simultaneously in Canada
by George J. McLeod Limited, Toronto
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bohlen, Charles Eustis, 1904-
Witness to history, 1929-1969.
1. United States—Foreign relations—Russia.
2. Russia—Foreign relations—United States.
1. Title.
L748.B64A38 327’.2’o924 [B] 72-13407
ISBN 0-393-07476-5
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Book Design by Robert Freese
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SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC HI