Josef Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference in November 1943 (National Archives)
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Drawing on fresh archival data and eyewitnesses, Rees weaves newsreel and interview footage with docudrama in the series while amplifying startling details and analysis in the book. His thesis: “The sordid realities of war and power forced the West into an alliance with one extremely bad man to get rid of another. What else could they do? But what happens to you when you do that?”
Why this project?
We British were taught we went to war to preserve the integrity of Poland. But what happened to Poland? It swapped one despot for another and had another 40 years of oppression. So this is a huge inconvenient history. The eastern front raises difficult questions, especially via new materials since Communism’s fall. A recent Russian poll ranked Stalin number three of the greatest Russians. Imagine if that happened in Germany with Hitler!
What is Hitler’s role in your story?
Everyone else reacts to him. Look at Stalin, one of the most extraordinary people who ever lived. He dominates every room, frightens people, and is extremely intelligent, subtle, and sophisticated. Anthony Eden, the British foreign minister, said, “In my 30 years of diplomacy, if I had to choose one person to negotiate for me, it would be Stalin.” And yet even Stalin falls apart in 1941 in anticipation of what Hitler might do.
What about Churchill?
His warmth and emotion are extraordinary. But he’s forced to live through a horrendous awakening: his realization that England is second-rate. You see this in his dealings with FDR at Quebec in 1944, when he angrily rejects, then accepts, the Morgenthau Plan to deindustrialize postwar Germany. In May 1945 he comes up with Operation Unthinkable—a moment where he decides to invade Poland to save it from Stalin, and everyone else is going, “No, no.” One of so many wacko plans.
And FDR?
Of them all, he is the one who is hardest to read and most intrigues me. He didn’t write a memoir, keep a diary, or confide in any other living person about more than he thought they needed to know at that moment. He’s an incredibly sophisticated, clever politician, always dealing through intermediaries like Harry Hopkins. Nobody had the full picture.
For example?
In May 1942, [Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav] Molotov visits the White House, and FDR promises D-Day that autumn. Even Gen. [George C.] Marshall, who’s pushing for an early second front, wants to hedge. So what is going on? We can only speculate. He’s stringing them along; he’s thinking, “The Russians are going through a tough time; gotta give them hope. Come autumn, something else may turn up.” This is exactly the wrong way to deal with Stalin, who needs the second front to take the pressure off and sees its delays as betrayals. Roosevelt’s arrogance is that he can “handle” anyone. I think he thought Stalin was like a union boss from Chicago.
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