"That was an era where our elites could see and think clearly and make things happen...."
"... In any case, I cannot escape the conclusion that the qualities I observed among Roosevelt's top leadership--not to mention FDR himself--simply are not on display in Washington, D.C. today."
Reading Kennan's Memoirs, among other things, one has to wonder regarding how true these assertions are, in retrospect....p. 212: "the wreckage of FDR's policy with respect to Russia and Poland....", hardly an isolated topic for much needed criticism of administration wartime policy.
Granted, the 'make things happen' part rings truer, to me, than the 'think clearly' part, against the background of current Washington elites.
Roosevelt also played off his top leaders against each other in what some have called counterproductive ways. (Given our system, what choice was there really?)
His proximity to Morgenthau only reinforced an anti Germanism which I never knew ran so deep until reading Beschloss' book.
Morgenthau certainly could think clearly about what he wanted to happen to Germany.
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