Details

Subject(s)

• Thompson, Llewellyn 1904-1972 [Browse]
• Ambassadors—United States—Biography [Browse]
• Cold War—Diplomatic history [Browse]
• Diplomats—United States—Biography [Browse]
• World politics—1945-1989 [Browse]
• United States—Foreign relations—1945-1989 [Browse]
• United States—Foreign relations—Soviet Union [Browse]
• Soviet Union—Foreign relations—United States [Browse]

Author

• Thompson, Sherry, 1954- [Browse]

Series

Johns Hopkins nuclear history and contemporary affairs

Summary note

"The Kremlinologist chronicles major events of the Cold War through the prism of the life of one of its top diplomats, Llewellyn Thompson. His life went from the wilds of the American West to the inner sanctums of the White House and the Kremlin. As the ambassador to Moscow, he became an important advisor to presidents and a key participant in major twentieth-century events, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. Yet, unlike his contemporaries McGeorge Bundy and George C. Marshall--who considered Thompson one of the most crucial actors in the Cold War and the "unsung hero" of the Cuban Missile Crisis--he has not been the subject of a major biography until now. Thompson's daughters Jenny Thompson Vukacic and Sherry Thompson set out to document their father's life as thoroughly as possible. Relying on primary sources and interviews, they received generous assistance from archivists, historians, and colleagues of their father. They also acquired documents and information from Russian archives, including the KGB archives. As family, they had unprecedented access to his FBI dossier, State Department personnel files, family archives, letters, diaries, speeches, and documents. Their original research brings new material to light including important information on the U-2, Kennan's containment policy, and Thompson's role in US covert operations machinery. The book refutes historical misinterpretations of events in the Berlin Crisis, the Austrian State Treaty, and the Cuban Missile Crisis."--Provided by publisher.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (pages 479-572) and index.

Contents

• Part I. Expectations and education
• Beginning
• Into the world
• To Moscow
• The siege of Moscow
• The Germans in retreat
• Conferences
• The hot war ends and the Cold War begins
• The Truman Doctrine
• The birth of covert operations
• Overseas again
• Part II. Negotiations
• Chief of mission
• The Trieste negotiations
• The Austrian State Treaty Negotiations
• Open skies closed borders
• Part III. Diplomacy
• Khrushchev's decade (1953-1964)
• Moscow 2
• Khrushchev's first gamble: Berlin poker
• Dueling exhibitions
• The Russian is coming
• U-2: the end of détente
• Picking up the pieces
• Working for the new President
• Meeting in Vienna
• The Twenty-Second Congress of the Communist Party
• Up the down escalator: the Thompson-Gromyko talks
• Goodbye Moscow hello Washington
• Thirteen days in October
• Limited Test Ban
• Part IV. Policy
• The Lyndon Johnson years
• Strand one: Vietnam (1962-1967)
• Thompson's Vietnam
• Strand two: Nonproliferation (1963-1967)
• Strand three: The road to SALT (1963-1967)
• Moscow 3
• The Six-Day War: hotline diplomacy
• Glassboro: The summit that wasn't (June 23-25, 1967)
• 1968: a year of frustrated promise
• "Retirement," so to speak.

Show 39 more Contents items

ISBN

• 9781421424095 ((hardcover ; : alkaline paper))
• 9781421424545 ((paperback ; : alkaline paper))
• 1421424096 ((hardcover ; : alkaline paper))
• 1421424541 ((paperback ; : alkaline paper))

LCCN

2017017066

OCLC

1005760137

Statement on responsible collection description

Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...