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Article: `The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945,' by David M. Kennedy; Oxford University Press. 936 pp. $39.95.
(book review)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- June 9, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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One month after Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Winston Churchill assessed the possible role of the Soviet Union in the world crisis.
Russia, Churchill declared, ``is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.''
Events were to validate Churchill's prediction, but his imagery was equally applicable to the United States under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Still gripped by economic recession and diplomatically immobilized by isolationist members of Congress, the United States took a baffling position. It could neither be ignored nor depended upon as the guns of September continued to ...