The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War, by Catherine Grace Katz

An engaging look at the World War II conference at Yalta during the waning days of the war, from the viewpoints of three women, daughters of Roosevelt, Churchill and Averill Harriman.  FDR was a very sick man who would die only a couple of months later of congestive heart failure.  He thought he could work his special charm on Stalin, not knowing the full perfidy of the man.  Churchill, very realistic about Stalin, represented the waning power and influence of England, and was also not all that well (the famous quote attributed to him, “Most of the world’s work is done by people who don’t feel very well,” is probably apocryphal but seems apt here).  Averell Harriman, scion of one of the wealthiest American families, athlete, businessman, and dedicated public servant, was serving in Moscow as ambassador.  Anna Roosevelt, 38, married with three children, was thrilled to have time with her father who more frequently included his sons in his work.  She loved him deeply and saw her duty at Yalta to keep him rested and well-fed.  Sarah Churchill, an actress and RAF officer, also loved her father deeply and had a close bond with him, was often passed over in favor of his sons.  Kathleen Harriman, the youngest and only unmarried of the three, was a war correspondent and had spent the past 18 months in Moscow, already being a help to her father there – she even learned Russian.  And, yes, there were entangling romances.  Stalin, however, called the shots, insisting that the other dignitaries make the arduous wartime journey to remote Crimea in the middle of winter rather than meet at any more convenient locale.  There the three delegations were housed in three separate mansions/castles, most of which had been largely destroyed in the conflict and had been hastily renovated.  There were about three bathrooms per 100 guests – buckets were used which generals lined up for.  There were bedbugs.  It was, of course, cold.  And Stalin had taken the opportunity during the renovations to bug his guests’ quarters. Banquets featured tons of caviar and smoked meats, and vodka by the truckload, but little healthy food.  In the end, much of what the Americans and British had hoped to accomplish there, and briefly thought they might have done, was set aside by the march of the Russians and the coming onset of the post-war Cold War.  An interesting slice of history, well written. 352 pp.