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I WAS THERE by Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy

I WAS THERE

By

Publisher: Whittlesey House

Subtitled The Personal Story of the Chief of Staff to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman Based On His Notes and Diaries Made at the Time and with a short introduction by President Truman, this is almost a day by day account of the War years. Beginning with the author's being relieved of the Governorship of Puerto Rico to become Ambassador to France in January, 1941, the state of affairs and diplomatic battles he encountered there during that year, his return to the United States (with the body of his wife) to assume the post of Chief of Staff, this carries on through all the important events of the years up to the defeat of the Japanese. It is an inside picture of the workings of the High Command, of overall and individual strategy, of the pressure and tensions which accompanied everything, from commonplace incidents to all important conferences; it follows the shifts of the war, the impact of personalities, the consideration of policy, of military as well as international affairs; it highlights the turning points and occurrences at home and abroad. It is a factual record, in which actual I-sight is sometimes replaced with hindsight, and such rings with the truth of personal attendance on events witnessed and heard. In the abundance of war records, this has its own place in its comprehensive view of a large panorama.