Roosevelt and Churchill man of secrets

PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED, DATED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR ON THE TITLE PAGE THUS: "To Melissa, A chapter in the missing dimension of international relations! warm best wishes, David Stafford Edinburgh Book Festival 12 August 2000" (the inscription has imprinted a bit onto the following three pages); 1999 1st ed published by Little, Brown and Company, 359pp., text generally in decent order, spine very slightly cocked, very slight bumping to the bottom right hand corner of the front board, slight bumping & rubbing to the edges of both boards, heavy bumping & rubbing to the top & bottom of the spine, the dust jacket is a bit rubbed & creased at top & bottom with slight scuffing to the corners & to the top & bottom of the spine, small patch of scuffing to spine edge on rear, both front & rear have many marks, scratches & indentations.


Even if one has read classic works on World War II, "Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets" is a must-read for anyone interested in intelligence operations during that iconic conflict. It not only features familiar and well-documents stories gleaned from earlier volumes, but it builds upon more recently declassified information to give a truer and more complete version of some of those rumours and stories.

Theirs was a unique relationship. It was based on interlinked national histories, partially shared nationality - Churchill was half-American
- similarities in class and education, love for the navy, and a common belief in the superiority of Anglo-Saxon institutions. Above all, it was cemented by shared enemies: Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. On these foundations Churchill and Roosevelt constructed a fighting alliance unlike any other in history, with a Combined Chiefs of Staff, Anglo-American war-making boards, and an atomic alliance that delivered victory in 1945. The two men also developed an extraordinary personal relationship, communicating almost daily by telegram, telephone, personal meetings and through intermediaries. Their camaraderie ended abruptly with FDR's death on 12 April 1945, just hours before American and British troops liberated Buchenwald and Belsen. At the heart of this special relationship, hidden by layers of secrecy, was an extraordinary and far-reaching sharing of intelligence. This was the most sensitive touchstone of their mutual trust, and as David Stafford's masterly biography demonstrates, a responsive barometer of suspicion and discord.

David Alexander Tetlow Stafford (born 10 March 1942) is projects director at Edinburgh University's Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars and Leverhulme Emeritus Professor in the University's School of History, Classics and Archaeology. Stafford is particularly noted for his scholarly works concerning Winston Churchill and British intelligence, various aspects of the Second World War, and Twentieth Century intelligence and espionage with a focus on Britain.