THE WORLD THAT FDR BUILT : Vision and Reality

An examination of the post-World War II world order comprises interviews with politicians, writers, and thinkers throughout Europe, the U.S., and Japan, providing an in-depth look at the legacy of Bretton Woods, Dumbarton Oaks, and Yalta

Mortimer here reviews Roosevelt's impact on the postwar world order and presents commentaries by political leaders, government officials, economists, industrialists, historians and political essayists from the U.S., Europe and the Third World. American participants include Paul Nitze, Jack Kemp, Pat Schroeder, George Will. Former French leader Couve de Murville is probably the best-known of the non-Americans. The author groups their remarks into three categories: earliest individual awareness of the Roosevelt legacy, "most formative experience" in relation to it and views on its present status and possible future. These overbroad themes are often obscured as the interviewees delve into matters not clearly pertinent, such as the international effect of the John Kennedy assassination, the "oil shocks" of the 1970s, the Vietnam War, the rise of terrorism. The interviews, along with Mortimer's interpolations, add up to a sprawling discussion of world history from 1943 on that is only intermittently interesting. Mortimer is a London Times journalist.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Through three seminal World War II conferences--Yalta, Bretton Woods, and Dunbarton Oaks--FDR set up the model for modern international order. The author interviewed world political leaders to determine the viability of this model for the generation now coming to power. Despite a complicated overview of international fiscal and monetary policies, the postwar diplomatic stage is lucidly related through these fascinating excerpts. Mortimer concludes that unless FDR's commitment to a stable world order can be reclaimed (it has since been shaken by the disillusionments of Vietnam and the Cold War, among other factors), there is a danger of repeating the disastrous mistakes of the 1930s. Strongly recommended for diplomatic history and current affairs collections.
- Karl He licher, Wolfsohn Memorial Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.