Roosevelt was determined to stop Stalin from taking over Eastern Europe. He thought they finally had an agreement on Poland. Before Roosevelt died, he realized that Stalin had broken his agreement. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
There’s a myth that Roosevelt gave Stalin Eastern Europe. I was with Roosevelt every day at Yalta. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
It was fear. He didn’t want to see a united Germany. Stalin made it clear to me – I spoke with him many times – that they couldn’t afford to let Germany build up again. They’d been invaded twice, and he wasn’t willing to have it happen again. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
Roosevelt was the one who had the vision to change our policy from isolationism to world leadership. That was a terrific revolution. Our country’s never been the same since. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
Americans wanted to settle all our difficulties with Russia and then go to the movies and drink Coke. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
Conferences at the top level are always courteous. Name-calling is left to the foreign ministers. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
Much of the aid we first gave to Russia we took away from what we promised Britain. So in a sense, Britain participated in a very real way in the recovery of Russia. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
We became convinced that, regardless of Stalin’s awful brutality and his reign of terror, he was a great war leader. Without Stalin, they never would have held. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
This was the period when I used all the influence I had to get the British to abandon their export trade, and as much as possible convert all of their manufacturing facilities to the immediate needs of the war, including civilian, as well as military requirements. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
The biggest trade that Germany and Britain had was with each other, in the prewar period; I think I’m right in that. Two highly industrialized nations had the most trade with each other, and it wasn’t tariff policies alone that made trade relations better for both of them. W. Averell Harriman Read Quote
