Together, they navigated the perilous years of the Cold War, yielding triumphs and tragedies with very real consequences for present-day America and the world. This was a smaller, cozier Washington utterly unlike today s capital where presidents made foreign policy in consultation with reporters and professors over martinis and hors d oeuvres, and columnists like the Alsops promoted those policies in the next day s newspapers. The Georgetown set included Phil and Kay Graham, husband-and-wife publishers of The Washington Post Joe and Stewart Alsop, odd-couple brothers who were among the country s premier political pundits Frank Wisner, a driven, manic-depressive lawyer in charge of CIA covert operations and a host of other diplomats, spies, and scholars responsible for crafting America s response to the Soviet Union from Truman to Reagan. In the years after World War II, Georgetown s leafy streets were home to an unlikely group of Cold Warriors: a coterie of affluent, well-educated, and connected civilians who helped steer American strategy from the Marshall Plan through McCarthyism, Watergate, and the endgame of Vietnam. A fascinating, behind-the-scenes history of postwar Washington a rich and colorful portrait of the close-knit group of journalists, spies, and government officials who waged the Cold War over cocktails and dinner.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |