Secret Affairs: FDR, Cordell Hull and Sumner Welles (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A diplomatic historian best known for Good Neighbor Diplomacy (1979), Gellman now beckons general readers with a claim to having "extended the traditional boundaries of nonfiction, to tell the most fascinating and tragic story of the New Deal years." Tragic, yes, since Secretary of State Hull was snubbed habitually by the president in favor of Undersecretary Welles, whom the critically ill Hull forced from office with charges of homosexuality presented to FDR, whose own wartime death left no one of stature to direct foreign policy. Fascinating, no, at least not as told by Gellman, whose style most readers will find plodding. While this tale's outlines are well known, specialists served by academic libraries may be interested in new particulars of FDR's dysfunctional foreign policy apparatus. Public libraries can pass on this book.
Robert F. Nardini, N. Chichester, N.H.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"In Secret Affairs, Franklin Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, and Sumner Welles, Irwin F. Gellman provides not only a valuable contribution to our study of FDR and two of his principle foreign policy assistants in the formulation and conduct of foreign policy, but he also has uncovered new information which sheds light on the inner workings of the White House and the State Department during the war years... Secret Affairs is well organized and written; while integrating a range of personalities and contexts, Gellman's study was never ambiguous. This is an important book which should command the interests of scholars and the general public alike." -- William T. Walker, Presidential Studies Quarterly

"Gellman's research is solid, as is his grasp of both the detail and the outlines of American foreign policy in the 1930s and World War II years." -- Warren F. Kimball, Journal of American History

"The thoroughness with which Gellman deconstructs Hull... can be appreciated only by those of us old enough to recall Hull's overriding popularity... Gellman has combined meticulous research with Washington gossip for a fascinating piece of history." -- American Spectator

"Cordell Hull seemed the safest of bets... just about right, come to think of it, for a really solid burst of revisionist history. This he has now got, and in heaping measure, from Irwin F. Gellman." -- Christopher Hitchens, Times Literary Supplement

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 520 pages
• Publisher: Enigma Books (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929631111
• ISBN-13: 978-1929631117
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,624,702 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gellman seeks to discredit Hull and advance Sumner Welles, May 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Affairs: Franklin Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, and Sumner Welles (Hardcover)

Gellman passionately advances the notion that Hull's undersecretary, the notorious homosexual and wealthy Harvard man, Sumner Welles was responsible for everything usually credited to Hull, such as the founding of the United Nations. Welles was pro-Israel as is Gellman. Gellman dismisses Hull as being anti-semitic even though Hull's wife was of Jewish heritage.

A very biased account of an important period in American history which ignores all evidence counter to the author's position.