For information call: Clifford Laube at (845) 486-7745
The Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and Museum
presents an author talk
and book signing with
chief political anchor for
Fox News Channel
Bret Baier author of
THREE DAYS AT THE BRINK:
FDR'S DARING GAMBLE
TO WIN WORLD WAR II
Monday, October 21, 2019 at 11:00 a.m.
Henry A. Wallace Center at the
FDR Presidential Library and Home
HYDE PARK, NY -- The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum presents an author talk and signing with
chief political anchor for Fox News Channel Bret Baier, author of
THREE DAYS AT THE BRINK: FDR'S DARING GAMBLE TO WIN WORLD WAR II, on Monday, October 21, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. The program will be held in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home.
This is a free public event but registration is required.
SYNOPSIS:
November, 1943: With the fate of World War II in doubt and Nazi assassins rumored to be on his trail, President Roosevelt traveled in secret to Tehran for a clandestine meeting that plotted the war's victorious endgame. Though now overshadowed by Yalta and later summits, those critical three days at the edge of the desert forever altered the path of history. This is the subject of an extraordinary new reappraisal of the Tehran Conference -- and of FDR's leadership.
In
THREE DAYS AT THE BRINK: FDR'S DARING GAMBLE TO WIN WORLD WAR II, Bret Baier recounts the remarkable secret meeting in Iran -- now all but forgotten - between the Allied leaders that not only set the course for the final victory against Hitler but also shaped the map of Europe and geopolitics for the Cold War and beyond.
The Tehran Conference, where Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met together for the first time, was fraught with behind-the-scenes drama even before it took place in late November 1943. The choice of venue itself was hotly contested, with Roosevelt hesitant to travel so far from Washington, but Stalin digging in his heels. FDR capitulated, realizing how important it was that he and Churchill -- who had already forged a strong alliance -- be in the same room with the Soviet strongman. Wary of Stalin's long-term agenda, the American and British leaders nonetheless recognized the necessity of appeasing their slippery ally. Stalin, who felt his country and his military had taken the greatest beating at the Nazis' hands, demanded that the Allies open up a second front in the West, and the preliminary plans for the invasion of Normandy the following year were hammered out over those climactic three days in Tehran.
Yet this historic clash of these three titans embraced more far-reaching matters as well, especially questions of which victor would control which spoils at war's end. Churchill and FDR balked at Stalin's not-so-hidden agenda to lay claim to Poland, but Roosevelt remained cagier in his diplomatic gamesmanship, seemingly more trusting of Stalin's motives. The three argued over how a defeated Germany would be punished and divided and they laid rudimentary plans for a post-war organization that would become the United Nations. They signed the Declaration of the Three Powers, declaring themselves -- and their nations -- "friends in fact, in spirit and in purpose."
Baier has unearthed new details in rarely seen transcripts, oral histories, and declassified State Department and presidential documents from the FDR library. He paints vivid and empathetic portraits of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin that explore the strengths, weaknesses, and nuances of each leader -- the goals they shared as well as how they differed in temperaments, ideologies, and their approaches to leadership. He explores how Roosevelt, a collaborative leader who, as the sole leader of a democracy, and without the baggage of empire or a totalitarian principles to preserve, would become the lead strategist for the globe's future.
Bret Baier is the chief political anchor for Fox News Channel and the anchor and executive editor of
Special Report with Bret Baier. He previously served as the network's chief White House correspondent and National Security correspondent. Baier has reported from seventy-four countries, including Iraq (twelve times) and Afghanistan (thirteen times). He is the author of the major
New York Times bestsellers THREE DAYS IN MOSCOW: RONALD REAGAN AND THE FALL OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE, THREE DAYS IN JANUARY: DWIGHT EISENHOWER'S FINAL MISSION, and SPECIAL HEART. He lives with his family in Washington, D.C.
Please contact Cliff Laube at (845) 486-7745 with questions about the event.
