Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence
Etzold, Thomas H.
Book Review/Thomas H. Etzold The Dustbin of History Books Editing the papers of the great and near-great men of the latter 1930s and the war years seems to have become a way of life, if not of...
...As it is, thevolume is not really a substitute for anything...
...It now appears that Loewenheim, Langley, Jonas, and the Saturday Review Press also thought well of Professor Kimball's inspiration, so well in fact that they hastened to plan a shorter version of the publication, divide the work into three parts to speed completion, and put out a commercial edition with heavy national advertising and big-name writers' blurbs on the dust jacket (James McGregor Burns praises the editors' "judicial" selection of documents...
...Despite the plenitude of documentary sources and paucity of publishing and purchasing resources, Loewenheim and his collaborators have published 548 out of the more than 1700 messages and letters which passed between Churchill and FDR from September 11, 1939 to April 11, 1945...
...Now an editorial trio has brought out the Roosevelt-Churchill correspondence, notwithstanding the oft-remarked austerity of the publishing business these days and the even more stringent limitations on most library budgets...
...Then they have annotated the documents, identifying individuals mentioned, explaining obscure or partial references, cross-referencing among documents printed and unprinted, and referring to secondary literature...
...They have printed documents for the most part entire, complete with headings, Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence edited by Francis L. Loewenheim, Harold D. Langley, and Manfred Jonas Saturday Review Press $17.50 identifying numbers, classifications, and the like...
...Some years ago there appeared the Morgenthau diaries, and in recent years this paper tide has borne up innumerable volumes of Presidential papers, three volumes of papers on FDR's foreign relations to 1937, Patton papers, Eisenhower papers, and Clay papers (Lucius D., not Henry) to mention only a few of the more prominent collections...
...Doubtless he meant to say "judicious...
...Doubtless he meant to say "judicious...
...At last the editors close with a 26-page chronology ofthe war "keyed to the documents," that is, to this collection of correspondence...
...Book Review/Thomas H. Etzold The Dustbin of History Books Editing the papers of the great and near-great men of the latter 1930s and the war years seems to have become a way of life, if not of scholarship, in American academic circles...
...It now appears that Loewenheim, Langley, Jonas, and the Saturday Review Press also thought well of Professor Kimball's inspiration, so well in fact that they hastened to plan a shorter version of the publication, divide the work into three parts to speed completion, and put out a commercial edition with heavy national advertising and big-name writers' blurbs on the dust jacket (James McGregor Burns praises the editors' "judicial" selection of documents...
...The Princeton University Press likewise considered it a felicitous thought and contracted with Professor Kimball for three volumes worth, or length, of FDR-Churchill correspondence with scholarly panoply and paraphernalia...
...For all of the subjects mentioned above readers must turn to other books, and readers must still do the most difficult work of relating the material in the FDR-Churchill correspondence to literature and information already known...
...With only modest imagination, but much energy, the editors have treated this famed correspondence traditionally as far as historical editing is concerned...
...For the enormous number of references, and the relatively recent publication dates of much of the literature, emphasize how much already has been written on the subjects of these messages, a fact which suggests that the novelties of the correspondence may be fewer than one might at first have supposed...
...One might conclude that since the present volume is not a substitute for anything, it is sui generis and thus deserves to appear...
...Their bibliographical citations do have one unintentional and ironic result...
...It seems safe to say that the principal distinction of the Loewenheim, Langley, and Jonas edition of this correspondence, once it is no longer the only edition, will be that it was the first one...
...Then they have annotated the documents, identifying individuals mentioned, explaining obscure or partial references, cross-referencing among documents printed and unprinted, and referring to secondary literature...
...Some years ago there appeared the Morgenthau diaries, and in recent years this paper tide has borne up innumerable volumes of Presidential papers, three volumes of papers on FDR's foreign relations to 1937, Patton papers, Eisenhower papers, and Clay papers (Lucius D., not Henry) to mention only a few of the more prominent collections...
...It is not a substitute for biographies of the two great authors of the correspondence...
...It is not a substitute for a history of the Second World War, nor even for an analysis of command and leadership at the top during the war...
...Their bibliographical citations do have one unintentional and ironic result...
...Or they can con30 The Alternative: An American Spectator December 1975 tinue, hoping that eventually enough people and institutions will prefer a complete edition so that the Princeton Press will not lose a bundle on what is bound to be an extremely expensive and large three-volume set...
...Whatever the importance of the FDRChurchill correspondence and the quality of this edition, it is interesting, perhaps dismaying, to note that the present edition is not the only one which readers, researchers, libraries, and yes, reviewers may expect...
...Their work in these areas is for the most part unobjectionable, and certainly the editors demonstrate wide acquaintance with the era and literature...
...32 The Alternative: An American Spectator December 1975 Book Review/Thomas H. Etzold The Dustbin of History Books Editing the papers of the great and near-great men of the latter 1930s and the war years seems to have become a way of life, if not of scholarship, in American academic circles...
...What, one wonders, will the Princeton University Press and Professor Kimball do now...
...Or one might think, as does this reviewer, that the time of editors and the money of publisher and purchasers should have been more wisely employed...
...It is not a substitute for biographies of the two great authors of the correspondence...
...At last the editors close with a 26-page chronology ofthe war "keyed to the documents," that is, to this collection of correspondence...
...It is not a substitute for a more complete edition, and that is the hope on which Professor Kimball and the Princeton press must proceed...
...With only modest imagination, but much energy, the editors have treated this famed correspondence traditionally as far as historical editing is concerned...
...It is not a substitute for a history of the Second World War, nor even for an analysis of command and leadership at the top during the war...
...What, one wonders, will the Princeton University Press and Professor Kimball do now...
...One might conclude that since the present volume is not a substitute for anything, it is sui generis and thus deserves to appear...
...It is not a substitute for a more complete edition, and that is the hope on which Professor Kimball and the Princeton press must proceed...
...As it is, thevolume is not really a substitute for anything...
...The entire collection of messages and letters became available for scholarly use in 1972, and almost immediately the historian Warren Kimball had the happy idea of publishing a complete annotated edition...
...It seems safe to say that the principal distinction of the Loewenheim, Langley, and Jonas edition of this correspondence, once it is no longer the only edition, will be that it was the first one...
...For all of the subjects mentioned above readers must turn to other books, and readers must still do the most difficult work of relating the material in the FDR-Churchill correspondence to literature and information already known...
...The Princeton University Press likewise considered it a felicitous thought and contracted with Professor Kimball for three volumes worth, or length, of FDR-Churchill correspondence with scholarly panoply and paraphernalia...
...The entire collection of messages and letters became available for scholarly use in 1972, and almost immediately the historian Warren Kimball had the happy idea of publishing a complete annotated edition...
...32 The Alternative: An American Spectator December 1975 Book Review/Thomas H. Etzold The Dust...
...Despite the plenitude of documentary sources and paucity of publishing and purchasing resources, Loewenheim and his collaborators have published 548 out of the more than 1700 messages and letters which passed between Churchill and FDR from September 11, 1939 to April 11, 1945...
...The editors begin with three chapters on the various aspects of the Churchill-Roosevelt relationship—personal, military, and political-diplomatic—and then present the documents in four sections, each section headed by a brief summary of the highlights of the war and documents for the interval spanned by the section...
...They can, of course, abandon the project now that the present edition has skimmed the top from the potential market...
...Or they can con30 The Alternative: An American Spectator December 1975 tinue, hoping that eventually enough people and institutions will prefer a complete edition so that the Princeton Press will not lose a bundle on what is bound to be an extremely expensive and large three-volume set...
...Their work in these areas is for the most part unobjectionable, and certainly the editors demonstrate wide acquaintance with the era and literature...
...They can, of course, abandon the project now that the present edition has skimmed the top from the potential market...
...Or one might think, as does this reviewer, that the time of editors and the money of publisher and purchasers should have been more wisely employed...
...Now an editorial trio has brought out the Roosevelt-Churchill correspondence, notwithstanding the oft-remarked austerity of the publishing business these days and the even more stringent limitations on most library budgets...
...They have printed documents for the most part entire, complete with headings, Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence edited by Francis L. Loewenheim, Harold D. Langley, and Manfred Jonas Saturday Review Press $17.50 identifying numbers, classifications, and the like...
...The editors begin with three chapters on the various aspects of the Churchill-Roosevelt relationship—personal, military, and political-diplomatic—and then present the documents in four sections, each section headed by a brief summary of the highlights of the war and documents for the interval spanned by the section...
...Whatever the importance of the FDRChurchill correspondence and the quality of this edition, it is interesting, perhaps dismaying, to note that the present edition is not the only one which readers, researchers, libraries, and yes, reviewers may expect...
...For the enormous number of references, and the relatively recent publication dates of much of the literature, emphasize how much already has been written on the subjects of these messages, a fact which suggests that the novelties of the correspondence may be fewer than one might at first have supposed...
Vol. 9 • December 1975 • No. 3
