Book Review: "The Daughters of Yalta",

   The leaders of the allies met several times during the course of World War II.  They were PM Winston Churchill of Great Britain, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt of the USA, and at times Josef Stalin of Soviet Russia. The goal of these meetings was to agree on measures needed to defeat Adolf Hitler and his German army that occupied western Europe and most of Eastern Europe inxcluding a large portion of the Soviet Union east of Poland.

      As the was neared its end with the imminent defeat of the Axis Powers in early 1945, the 3 leaders agreed to meet again. This time, Josef Stalin insisted the meeting be held in Russia, due to his leadership responsibilities at home. The site was a city on the Crimean peninsula: Yalta. Many topics were on the agenda, not the least how Germany was to be administered and divided at the end of hostilities. All 3 leaders would be supported by professional staff of statesmen, military leaders, sundry advisers and consultants. This book focuses on three young women, all daughters of 2 of the leaders and the daughter of one US Ambassador.

       Author Catherine Grace Katz, is an historian, and a lawyer. When in graduate school, she proposed this topic that was accepted as a viable topic for research. She launched into the topic and her subjects with  energy, patience, and diligence. Her research took her to various locations around the globe to inspect documents, key locations, letters, and personal memoirs of her subjects and their fathers. Most Americans know much of FDR and Churchill, but not so much of famous industrialist Averill Harriman who outlived them all, including Stalin who died in 1953. FDR died shortly after returning home from Yalta where his debilitating illness caused by congestive heart failure affected his role at the conference.

      The three women: Sarah Churchill, Anna Roosevelt, and Kathleen Harriman were gathered specifically to aid and comfort their respect fathers on the scene.  Anna Roosevelt was chosen over her Mother, Eleanor, who felt slighted by this decision. Sarah Churchill was chosen over the more obvious choice: her older Brother, Randolph, who had attended other conferences with his Father, Winston. Kathleen Harriman was the daughter of the US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Averell Harriman, the industrialist turned civil servant and government insider. Kathleen was a war correspondent and champion skier. They would be not just observers but insider confidants whose opinions would have  significant effect on decisions affecting the post war disposition of governments and armies.