Wise Men, The (Part 1 of 2): Six Friends and the World They Made
Written by Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas
Narrated by Jonathan Reese
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Six close friends shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos, and whose strong response to Soviet expansionism would leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day.
In April 1945, they converged to advise an untutored new president, Harry Truman. They were Averell Harriman, the freewheeling diplomat and Roosevelt's special envoy to Churchill and Stalin; Dean Acheson, the secretary of state who was more responsible for the Truman Doctrine than Truman and for the Marshall Plan than General Marshall; George Kennan, selfcast outsider and intellectual darling of the Washington elite; Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war, undersecretary of state, and secretary of defense throughout the formative years of the Cold War; John McCloy, one of the nation's most influential private citizens; and Charles Bohlen, adroit diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union.
Together they formulated a doctrine of Communist containment that was to be the foundation of American policy, and years later, when much of what they stood for appeared to be sinking in the mire of Vietnam, they were summoned for their steady counsel. It was then that they were dubbed "the Wise Men." Working in an atmosphere of trust that in today's Washington would seem quaint, they shaped a new world order that committed a once-reticent nation to defending freedom wherever it sought to flourish.
Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane and was CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu.
More audiobooks from Walter Isaacson
Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos, With an Introduction by Walter Isaacson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madison Park: A Place of Hope Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sketches: Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leading Matters: Lessons from My Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Code Breaker -- Young Readers Edition: Jennifer Doudna and the Race to Understand Our Genetic Code Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Steve Jobs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Wise Men, The (Part 1 of 2)
Related audiobooks
How the World Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Fight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Presidents in Diplomacy and War: Statecraft, Foreign Policy, and Leadership Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation into War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill, Roosevelt & Company: Studies in Character and Statecraft Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Macarthur's War: The Flawed Genius Who Challenged the American Political System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill and Roosevelt: A Captivating Guide to the Life of Franklin and Winston Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWatching Darkness Fall: FDR, His Ambassadors, and the Rise of Adolf Hitler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Failures of the Presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and War in Iraq Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Communist: Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mentor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marching Orders: The Untold Story of How the American Breaking of the Japanese Secret Codes Led to the Defeat of Nazi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReal Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tormented Alliance: American Servicemen and the Occupation of China, 1941-1949 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ambassadors: America's Diplomats on the Front Lines Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hubert Humphrey: The Conscience of the Country Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Rift: Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, and the Broken Friendship That Defined an Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sit Room: In the Theater of War and Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCitizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Heritage History of the Presidents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Wise Men, The (Part 1 of 2)
45 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent Cold War history.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the story of what became known as the "American Establishment." "Establishment" was a term that originated in England to describe a circle of powerful men. Richard Rovere has proposed that the two parties in this country are really either populist or establishment, not conservative or liberal.
The American Establishment were "Atlanticists." Their similar schooling gave them an appreciation for Western European values and the perceived benefit of a traditional Europe. They were instrumental in shepherding the Marshall Plan through a hostile Congress. They felt a cosmopolitan duty to preserve the culture and civilization of the West.
This was to become a problem many years later as Asia became the focus of U.S. concern. Francophile Acheson was fundamental in recommending support for France in its futile attempt to preserve the colonial empire. Acheson's efforts resulted in an avalanche of U.S. funding, ultimately supplying France with far more than we spent on them during the entire Marshall Plan.
The establishment is profiled through the careers of Robert Lovett, John McCloy, Averell Harriman, Charles Bohlen, George Kennan, and Dean Acheson. They were all intelligent, educated at elite private schools, and most came from wealthy families. The six were not ideologues, preferring to adopt a pragmatic outlook, holding moderate views and they believed in consensus. Unfortunately, their sensible world view was translated by more simplistic minds in the fifties into being "soft on communism." They were not highly visible to the public (except when McCarthy made them targets), but preferred to persuade leaders privately and intellectually. They were fervent capitalists which made McCarthy's charges against them ludicrous. They believed in a strong link between free trade, free markets and free minds.
Isaacson and Thomas fill the book with marvelous anecdotes and they describe the unique characteristics of the six lucidly and with humor. For example, Dean Acheson resigned as Under Secretary of the Treasury under FDR in a dispute over whether the United States could legally buy gold at a price higher than that set by Congress. The authors explain differences among the six this way: "Acheson's friend Harriman would never have gone to the mat over a matter of principle with a President, he would likely have sidled away from the conflict to work on problems that he would be left to solve on his own. Lovett would probably have worked out some compromise, making any mountainous dispute seem suddenly like a small bump. So, too, would have John McCloy, the legal workhorse; like Bohlen, he would have been willing to go along. Kennan would no doubt have agonized about resignation only to become lost in philosophical brooding."
I had for many years vastly misunderstood George Kennan's role in the development of the cold war. The famous "X" article, which provided the foundation for containment, was misinterpreted to create the underpinning for Nitze's NSC-68 and development of the arms race. Kennan was really arguing for a non-military, less aggressive stance. Ironically, Nitze, icon of the modern American military was adamantly opposed to U.S. entry into Vietnam because he was aware of the limited resources of the United States. Prophetic indeed.
We may owe current European unity to the efforts of John McCloy who, as High Commissioner of Germany, and its virtual czar, was an exceptionally sincere and honest broker among the war-torn nations of Europe. His word was taken with equal faith in all the capitals and he laid the foundation for the economic miracle that was to take place. (There is a new biography of McCloy out recently - it's on my list.)
By the late seventies and early eighties the Establishment was out of favor. It was blamed for the cold war, Vietnam, and assorted other blunders; but its replacement, the self-centered, undisciplined, partisan, non-professional politicians-diplomats of the Reagan-Nixon era- has historians and revisionists yearning for the old order which had been, at least, consistent, selfless, and devoted to the national interest. "There was a foreign policy consensus back then, and its disintegration during Vietnam is one of the great disasters of our history," said Henry Kissinger. "You need an Establishment. Society needs it. You can't have all these assaults on national policy so that every time you change presidents you end up changing direction."
These men were responsible for building a coalition that resulted in 40 years of Pax Americana. "They were public servants, not public figures, and did not have to read the newspapers to know where they stood....In their sense of duty and shared wisdom, they found the force to shape the world." - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a very enjoyable history of the origins of the cold war and national security policy making into the 70s. It's much better at covering the period between 1944 to the mid 50s than it is for the later stuff, partly because the protagonists had a more central role earlier and then found themselves on the periphery. Discussing Vietnam policy making through the experiences of the six leaves a lot undiscussed, but it isn't bad.The early chapters are not particularly interesting, except from the fact that they provide a vivid and surprising insight into the world of the east-coast aristocracy (1st half 20C), which is probably necessary for a full appreciation of what follows.Apart from the less informative later chapters, the only other grievance that I can cite is the fact one does get the impression that the authors have been a little less critical of their subjects (and JFK) than is reasonable. It is also perhaps too harsh on LBJ.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very good, well written. Much more gossipy than a history written by professional historians. The book ends in 1986, before the fall of the Soviet Union, so the last chapter discusses what might have been by then had a, b, c happened before. I would very much like to see a revision that includes a couple of chapters on Soviet Union break up and then a couple on the years through 9/11/2001, then a couple on the time since. But that would be a whole new book, I guess.