The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War

by Catherine Grace Katz

Overview

The untold story of the three intelligent and glamorous young women who accompanied their famous fathers to the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and of the conference’s fateful reverberations in the waning days of World War II.
 
Tensions during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance among Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta, each bound by fierce family loyalty, political savvy, and intertwined romances that powerfully colored these crucial days.

Kathleen Harriman was a champion skier, war correspondent, and daughter of U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman. Sarah Churchill, an actress-turned-RAF officer, was devoted to her brilliant father, who depended on her astute political mind. Roosevelt’s only daughter, Anna, chosen instead of her mother Eleanor to accompany the president to Yalta, arrived there as keeper of her father’s most damaging secrets. Situated in the political maelstrom that marked the transition to a post- war world, The Daughters of Yalta is a remarkable story of fathers and daughters whose relationships were tested and strengthened by the history they witnessed and the future they crafted together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358117858
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/29/2020
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

CATHERINE GRACE KATZ is a writer and historian from Chicago. She holds degrees in history from Harvard and Cambridge and is currently pursuing her JD at Harvard Law School.

Table of Contents

A List of Key Delegates at Yalta xi

Part I "She can Handle them, and that's Why They're Going to Take Her."

1 February 1, 1945 3

2 February 2, 1945 23

3 February 2, 1945 39

4 February 2, 1945 53

5 February 2-3, 1945 65

6 February 3, 1945 81

7 February 3, 1945 101

Part II "As If … The Conference Isn't So Much More Important than Anything Else."

8 February 4, 1945 115

9 February 4, 1945 121

10 February 5, 1945 133

11 February 5, 1945 147

12 February 6, 1945 163

13 February 6-7, 1945 181

14 February 8, 1945 201

15 February 8, 1945 217

16 February 9-10, 1945 235

17 February 10-11, 1945 251

Part III "All this, and More I Have With Me Forever."

18 April 12-July 27, 1945 271

After Yalta 297

Acknowledgments 319

Abbreviations 323

Notes 325

Selected Bibliography 375

Index 381

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/13/2020

Historian Katz debuts with a vivid and revealing account of the backstage roles played by the daughters of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union W. Averell Harriman at the 1945 Yalta Peace Conference. Recently diagnosed with acute congestive heart failure, Roosevelt relied on his daughter, Anna, to help conceal his poor health from other attendees. Kathy Harriman learned Russian in order to serve as her father’s de facto protocol officer, Katz writes, and oversaw final preparations at the U.S. delegation’s residence. Actor Sarah Churchill had a “deep connection” with her father, according to Katz, and, despite tensions over her marriage to an older man, was the “ideal choice” to serve as his “all-around protector, supporter, and confidant.” Gleaning a treasure trove of details from memoirs, diaries, and letters, Katz documents poor sanitary conditions (too few bathrooms, too many bed bugs) at the ransacked summer palaces where the delegations stayed, analyzes diplomatic maneuverings, and shares plenty of spicy gossip, including Averell Harriman’s affair with Winston Churchill’s much younger daughter-in-law. This sparkling account offers a fresh take on a decisive moment in the history of WWII and the Cold War. Agent: Michael Carlisle, InkWell Management. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Skillfully written and meticulously researched, it’s an extraordinary work that reveals the human side underlying the politics . . . The Daughters of Yalta is a thoroughly engrossing book, as acute about the contentious politics of the day as it is about the remarkable daughters who participated.” —Wall Street Journal “[In] Catherine Grace Katz’s detailed behind-the-scenes account . . . she skillfully marshals diaries, letters, oral histories and memoirs to support her thesis that the pressures of wartime had warped normal familial bonds, so that the Western leaders’ relationships with their daughters had become more like those between business partners than between parent and child. Loyalty and discretion were prized above all . . . Light on political drama, this entertaining history is nevertheless packed with vivid personalities, jockeying aides and insider observations about a pivotal moment in history.” —New York Times Book Review “A stirring account of one momentous week that would unleash fifty years of tyranny for half of Europe and plunge the world into the Cold War, as seen through the eyes of three young women. Catherine Grace Katz’s debut book, The Daughters of Yalta, is a marvelous and extraordinary work that reveals the human experience of the conference, with all its tragedy, love, betrayal, and even humor. She defines the relationships that shaped our world, and continue to shape our future.” —Julian Fellowes, Oscar-winning writer and creator of Downton Abbey   “Catherine Grace Katz paints a vivid portrait of one of history’s great international summits through the eyes of three young women, each a daughter of a key participant. We get the inside story, and learn the compelling details that bring history to life.” —Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile   “Catherine Grace Katz’s The Daughters of Yalta is a revelation. It’s a story of World War II, the origins of the Cold War, a key moment in diplomatic history, but above all a coming-of-age tale about three fascinating women in an extraordinary time.” —Jeffrey Toobin, author of True Crimes and Misdemeanors and American Heiress   “Both intimate and sweeping, Catherine Grace Katz vividly captures a little known story against the backdrop of a very big one. Meticulously researched and emotionally gripping.”—Amy Pascal, producer, Little Women (2019)   “The Daughters of Yalta is an absorbing, revealing, and expertly crafted narrative that takes us behind the scenes of some of World War Two’s most consequential periods of political leadership and diplomacy. Catherine Grace Katz possesses a novelist’s gift for character, and for how supposedly minor characters may influence and color the intimate movements of history. A truly impressive debut.” —John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Red Daughter and The Commoner “The Daughters of Yalta is yet more proof that behind every great man is an army of exceptional women. We need their stories told; so three cheers for Catherine Katz!” —Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana and A World on Fire “In 1945 an American president, his ambassador to the Soviet Union, and a British prime minister chose to make the trip to Yalta with their daughters in tow. Over the next weeks those ‘second mates’ served as their fathers’ eyes and ears, their tasters, confid —

From the Publisher

09/01/2020

Drawing on U.S. and British archives, interviews, and memoirs, this narrative by historian Katz tells the story of the historic World War II Yalta conference from the perspective of three women: Anna Roosevelt, daughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt; Sarah Churchill, daughter of Winston Churchill; and Kathy Harriman, daughter of Averell Harriman, U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. Katz chronicles 11 days of the 1945 meeting, exploring personal and historical facets of this iconic example of political power. A general history rather than an academic argument, Katz's book adds new perspectives on Yalta by showing the impact of women on the margins. Besides showing how the women interacted with each other, she portrays their sometimes close, sometimes distant relationships with their fathers. At the book's heart is a mindset extending beyond the heroines and promising wide appeal: "wanting nothing more than to feel like you matter to your dad." While missing a nuanced Soviet perspective and seeming at times too close to its sources to be balanced, Katz's work is invaluable for bringing to life a historical moment in ways that are almost novelistic. VERDICT This impressively researched book will appeal to general history readers interested in untold perspectives of World War II.—Jennifer Flaherty, Univ. of California, Berkeley

Library Journal

★ 2020-06-17
A singular take on the history of the Yalta Conference, viewed through the eyes of the three notable daughters who supported their famous fathers, the “Big Three,” and contributed in heretofore undocumented ways.

In a substantive debut work of first-rate scholarship, Katz—a Cambridge- and Harvard-educated historian now pursuing a degree at Harvard Law School—delves into the behind-the-scenes soft diplomacy of the “Little Three”: Kathleen Harriman, the “glamorous” daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union; Anna Roosevelt, a mother of three and former newspaper editor; and Sarah Churchill, an aerial reconnaissance intelligence analyst in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Each has a fascinating backstory involving the relationship with her respective father, and each played an important role during what promised to be an arduous meeting to figure out the endgame of World War II and postwar reorganization of Europe. Through letters home and dispatches written by the three young women, Katz efficiently relays this fly-on-the-wall account of how the three sprawling delegations managed to get any business accomplished. FDR was housed in the czar’s former summer palace of Livadia, on the Black Sea, which had been occupied and trashed by the Nazi invaders; Churchill and the British billeted at nearby Vorontsov Palace; and Stalin and his people at the Koriez Villa and Yusupov Palace, situated between the American and British residences. The main topics of discussion were Polish nationality, the methods by which to deal with a defeated Germany, and how to draw the Soviets into the Pacific theater to aid the Americans. Hanging over the meetings and social gatherings was the specter of FDR’s grave health—only Anna knew the truth of his heart disease—and the Russian intentions to expand into Eastern Europe. Katz effectively shows how these three often overlooked women proved to be indispensable in a variety of ways.

Engaging, multilayered history of the best kind, grounded in telling detail and marvelous personalities.

Kirkus Reviews

This fascinating audiobook changes the focus from three of the men who helped win WWII to their daughters, whose collective efforts were surprisingly helpful to the war effort, particularly at the Yalta Conference in 1945. In attendance were Kathleen Harriman, Sarah Churchill, and Anna Roosevelt, daughters of the U.S. ambassador to Russia, the British prime minister, and the U.S. president, respectively. Christine Rendel’s performance complements Katz’s excellent narrative. Rendel’s use of inflection and her ability to use tone and emotion to convey the unique dynamic between fathers and daughters bring to life the astute intellects of these women, as well as the ability of their fathers to respect and consider their views, despite the norms of the times. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2021 - AudioFile