ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I was probably the only first-grader at my parish school in 1943 who knew the Lusitania had been carrying contraband when torpedoed off the Irish coast in 1915, and that Americans had been warned not to sail upon her by the German consul in an ad in the New York Times.

For awakening a lifetime love of history, I owe a debt to my father. His dinner table at which eventually sat nine children was a nightly tutorial in the heroes and villains of the great dramas of the bloodiest century in human history.

My thanks also to British historian Andrew Roberts for his having hosted a luncheon in London at the time of the funeral of my friend Sir James Goldsmith. Andrew, Paul Johnson, Alan Clark, and I argued late into a bibulous afternoon about the war guarantee to Poland in March 1939. Out of that lunch came the idea for this book.

My gratitude also goes to the late George F. Kennan. In 1999, when A Republic, Not an Empire was published and under attack, I sent Dr. Kennan a copy, as I had cited his views. Weeks later, a gracious letter came back informing me he had taken time to read the book and agreed with the thesis. The war guarantee had been a tragic mistake. It was then that I decided I would one day write a book on the war guarantee that guaranteed the war in which scores of millions of the best and bravest of our world perished and a mortal wound was inflicted upon our civilization.

Among others who must be thanked are Fredi Friedman, editor, agent, and friend since she came to visit me in the Reagan White House to suggest I write my memoirs. While those memoirs have yet to be begun, Fredi and I have sinced worked together on seven books. Her steadfast support for this one is especially appreciated. My thanks also to Sean Desmond, who has edited previous books of mine and rolled the dice with Churchill, Hitler and “The Unnecessary War.”

My gratitude goes also to two scholars who volunteered to read and critique the manuscript, both of whom recommended further reading into the history of the era, including many of the titles now in the bibliography. They are the independent historian Joseph R. Stromberg of Auburn, Alabama, and David Gordon, the editor of The Mises Review.

And, again, my thanks to Dr. Frank Mintz of Martinsburg, West Virginia, my friend of a decade, for his monthly runs to McLean, carrying corrected copies of the manuscript and endnotes, and with whom I have spent dozens of hours conversing about these chapters and the historic events and figures whose roles are herein presented.

Finally, eternal gratitude to Shelley, who has indulged my addiction to this book and tolerated my nightly trips to the basement in predawn hours to insert anecdotes and arguments, ideas and quotations mined from the stack of histories and biographies on the bed table.