I finished Rendezvous With Destiny: How Franklin D. Roosevelt and Five Extraordinary Men Took America Into the War and Into the World by Michael Fullilove. The book concerns the period from the 1930's right up Pearl Harbor and is revolving around 5 men who Franklin Roosevelt used to garner information on the state of Europe prior to the war, the state of Great Britain and their viability during the early days of the war, the early stages of lend lease and the need for protection of the Atlantic for shipping from German U Boats and ultimately the the ability of the Soviet Union to continue to fight against Germany after the invasion.

The principals discussed are Sumner Wells, Bill Donovan, Harry Hopkins, Wendell Willkie and Averell Harriman each of which has a full chapter summary of their role and how they represented Franklin Roosevelt and his use of them to push the United Stated to be a neutral belligerent and get them ready for the upcoming war.

The initial chapter on Sumner Wells I found to be a bit underwhelming and was less the than thrilled with the book, but the it got more engaging with the chapters regarding Bill Donovan, Harry Hopkins, Wendell Willkie and Averell Harriman.

Sumner's role was from February- March 1940 and was getting an feel for the ability to keep German from continuing to extend the war and to attempt to keep Italy and Mussolini out of the war, while determining the state of England.

Bill Donovan went with the mission of was discharges from July-August 1940 and was again getting a feeling of how France and England were going to handle the German threat and eventually led to Bill Donovan heading the OSS, the predecessor to the CIA.

Harry Hopkins was sent to London January-February 1941 and was sent both to gage whether England would be able to hang on and to be Franklin Roosevelt personal enjoy to Winston Churchill, he without committing the U.S. to war sent the message that England would be supported by the United States, which ultimate including Lend Lease and the assisting in extending the area of the Atlantic under U.S. naval protection and ultimately to convoy assistance.

Wendell Willkie immediately after losing the 1940 election was sent to London and Dublin from January-February 1941 to again be a sign of U.S. support and to determine the morale of both England and Ireland both the government and people's feelings towards the war.

Averell Harriman from March-July 1941 was sent by Franklin Roosevelt, Africa and the Middle East and ultimately was heading in England the United State's Lend Lease Program.

the Final 2 chapters return to Roosevelt's right hand man, Harry Hopkins who was sent back to London in July 1941 and then from July-August 1941 to the Soviet Union to determine the Soviet Unions ability to stay in the war against Germany and to show the full support of the United States for the Soviet Union extending ultimately to Lend Lease. Harry Hopkins was one of the few people who Joseph Stalin seemed to have a personal relationship and level of trust. Harry Hopkins also was part of the Placentia Bay meeting of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Church, where the relationship was personally cemented between Roosevelt and Churchill.

The book end with Pearl Harbor and the United Stated declaring war on Japan, to be followed by Germany and Italy declaring war against the United States.

As I said I found the Sumner Wells chapter to be the slowest and least engaging part of the book but as I progressed, you gain real insight into the use of F.D.R. to use special envoys over State Department and ambassadorial staff to get what he considered truthful insight into Europe and the war and also used these men to convey Roosevelt's support to the war effort.

A solid 4 star book under 400 pages of reading. ( )

Especially interesting as a look into how FDR used very different people to push at the edges of what was feasible politically. We tend to forget how many folks wanted the US to stay out of what only later became known as the "good war."