In this Book

buy this book Buy This Book in Print
summary
An Owl in a Hawk’s World: Top diplomat Llewellyn E Thompson was everywhere the Cold War was.Winner of the New Mexico/Arizona Book Award for Best BiographyWinner of the New Mexico/Arizona Book Award for Best BiographyAgainst the sprawling backdrop of the Cold War, The Kremlinologist revisits some of the twentieth century's greatest conflicts as seen through the eyes of its hardest working diplomat, Llewellyn E Thompson. From the wilds of the American West to the inner sanctums of the White House and the Kremlin, Thompson became an important advisor to presidents and a key participant in major global events, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. Yet unlike his contemporaries Robert S. McNamara and Dean Rusk, who considered Thompson one of the most crucial Cold War actors and the "unsung hero" of the Cuban Missile Crisis, he has not been the subject of a major biography—until now. Thompson's daughters Jenny and Sherry Thompson skillfully and thoroughly document his life as an accomplished career diplomat. In vigorous prose, they describe how Thompson joined the Foreign Service both to feed his desire for adventure and from a deep sense of duty. They also detail the crucial role he played as a negotiator unafraid of compromise. Known in the State Department as "Mr. Tightlips," Thompson was the epitome of discretion. People from completely opposite ends of the political spectrum lauded his approach to diplomacy and claimed him as their own. Refuting historical misinterpretations of the Berlin Crisis, the Austrian State Treaty, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Thompsons tell their father's fascinating story. With unprecedented access to Thompson's FBI dossier, State Department personnel files, letters, diaries, speeches, and documents, and relying on probing interviews and generous assistance from American and Russian archivists, historians, and government officials, the authors bring new material to light, including important information on the U-2, Kennan's containment policy, and Thompson's role in US covert operations machinery. This unique and monumental biography not only restores a central figure to history, it makes the crucial events he shaped accessible to a broader readership and gives contemporary readers a backdrop for understanding the fraught United StatesRussia relationship that still exists today.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Title Page, Copyright Page
  2. pp. i-vi
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-viii
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-xii
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Introduction. Llewellyn E Thompson: A Cold War Owl in the Cause of Peace
  2. pp. 1-2
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Part I: Expectations and Education
  2. pp. 3-4
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 1 The Beginning
  2. pp. 5-12
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 2 Into the World
  2. pp. 13-18
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 3 To Moscow
  2. pp. 19-25
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 4 The Siege of Moscow
  2. pp. 26-38
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 5 The Germans in Retreat
  2. pp. 39-47
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 6 Conferences
  2. pp. 48-55
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 7 The Hot War Ends and the Cold War Begins
  2. pp. 56-60
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 8 The Truman Doctrine
  2. pp. 61-68
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 9 The Birth of Covert Operations
  2. pp. 69-79
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 10 Overseas Again
  2. pp. 80-88
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Part II: Negotiations
  2. pp. 89-90
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 11 Chief of Mission
  2. pp. 91-100
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 12 The Trieste Negotiations
  2. pp. 101-115
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 13 The Austrian State Treaty Negotiations
  2. pp. 116-131
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 14 Open Skies, Closed Borders
  2. pp. 132-146
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Part III: Diplomacy
  2. pp. 147-148
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 15 Khrushchev’s Decade (1953–1964)
  2. pp. 149-151
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 16 Moscow 2
  2. pp. 152-164
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 17 Khrushchev’s First Gamble: Berlin Poker
  2. pp. 165-179
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 18 Dueling Exhibitions
  2. pp. 180-189
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 19 The Russian Is Coming
  2. pp. 190-201
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 20 U-2: The End of Détente
  2. pp. 202-221
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 21 Picking Up the Pieces
  2. pp. 222-232
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 22 Working for the New President
  2. pp. 233-245
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 23 Meeting in Vienna
  2. pp. 246-265
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 24 The Twenty-Second Congress of the Communist Party
  2. pp. 266-273
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 25 Up the Down Escalator: The Thompson-Gromyko Talks
  2. pp. 274-283
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 26 Goodbye Moscow, Hello Washington
  2. pp. 284-297
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 27 Thirteen Days in October
  2. pp. 298-333
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 28 Limited Test Ban
  2. pp. 334-354
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Part IV: Policy
  2. pp. 355-356
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 29 The Lyndon Johnson Years
  2. pp. 357-365
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 30 Strand One: Vietnam (1962–1967)
  2. pp. 366-369
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 31 Thomps on’s Vietnam
  2. pp. 370-390
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 32 Strand Two: Nonproliferation (1962–1967)
  2. pp. 391-403
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 33 Strand Three: The Road to SALT (1962–1967)
  2. pp. 404-412
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 34 Moscow 3
  2. pp. 413-427
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 35 The Six-Day War: Hotline Diplomacy
  2. pp. 428-434
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 36 Glassboro: The Summit That Wasn’t ( June 23–25, 1967)
  2. pp. 435-450
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 37 1968: A Year of Frustrated Promise
  2. pp. 451-464
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. 38 “Retirement,” So to Speak
  2. pp. 465-478
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 479-566
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 567-572
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 573-587
  3. restricted access
    • PDF icon Download
Back To Top