About this ebook
“It may well be that only diplomatic historians recall the name of George Messersmith today; but Jesse Stiller’s fine biography explains why this strong-minded and tempestuous diplomat made such a mark on his times. This cogent, judicious and readable account of one of the century’s noted diplomatic professionals illuminates the rise of the United States as a world power.” — Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities, City University of New York
“This very readable and vastly informative volume deserves a wider audience than its title might suggest. An excellent study of the life and the often controversial career of George S. Messersmith, it also illuminates the inner workings of the State Department, especially during the 1920s and 1930s, and United States foreign policy, especially toward Latin America in the 1940s... Messersmith was consul general in Berlin when Adolf Hitler came to power, minister in Vienna when Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated, and assistant secretary of state when World War II began. He served as ambassador to Cuba when Fulgencio Batista was first elected president, to Mexico in wartime, and to Argentina in the early days of Juan Perón. A recounting of his activities and a reading of his voluminous dispatches (to the dismay of friend and foe alike, Messersmith was given to writing thirty- and forty-page memoranda) touches critical points on large chunks of the history of two tumultuous decades... an engrossing account that provides a judicious assessment of a man whose perspicacious anti-Nazi dispatches from Berlin were widely praised, but who also predicted the early downfall of the Hitler government, and whose alleged coddling of the “fascist” Perón was damned by colleagues and the press, but who laid the foundation for whatever successes United States policy may have had in Argentina. Messersmith emerges from these pages as a man with a consistent vision of the future and of America’s role, which he sought to implement with astonishing energy, and as a hard-headed pragmatist. But he also appears as a hotheaded ‘climber’ who managed to antagonize most of his colleagues in the foreign policy establishment at one time or another... [a] fine study.” — Manfred Jonas, The Journal of American History
“Despite not entering government service until the age of thirty, Messersmith advanced from the consular service to a significant career as a minister in Europe and ambassador in Latin America. Stiller presents a balanced assessment of this career, judiciously highlighting the strengths and weaknesses in Messersmith’s personality and diplomatic service. Stiller’s study is a most rewarding one that breaks new ground in revealing what US policy looked like on the international scene in Europe and Latin America during the 1930s and into the Cold War... [a] judicious assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Messersmith’s contribution to US diplomacy.” — Thomas R. Maddux, The International History Review
“Stiller’s carefully crafted book is useful in a number of ways... This book also provides an interesting insight into the workings of American diplomacy ‘of the second rank’, and for that very reason, enables the reader to see clearly the practical and ideological framework within which a not-unimportant US diplomat worked... an insightful and useful study.” — Ian Roxborough, Journal of Latin American Studies
About the author
Born in 1949 in New York City, Jesse Herbert Stiller earned his PhD in American and European history from the City University of New York, where his dissertation was supervised by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Stiller modeled his own career after that of his mentor. As an academic, he taught history and political science at the City University of New York, the University of Texas, George Washington University, and Montgomery College.
His books include George S. Messersmith: Diplomat of Democracy which shed new light on US relations with Nazi Germany, wartime Cuba and Mexico, and Argentina under Juan Perón, and a collection of essays, Banking Modern America, which traced aspects of the birth and development of the national banking system in the United States. He also published articles and reviews in dozens of books and academic journals.
Stiller served as a command historian for the US Department of the Army (1985-89) before becoming the historian and advisor for executive communications at the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 1989. In that capacity he wrote policy papers, press articles, congressional testimony, and speeches for his own delivery and for the office’s senior executives, contributing at the same time to the formulation of its regulatory policy.
Since leaving government service in 2017, Stiller has continued to write and teach. He lectures extensively in community settings and on ocean cruise ships, where his lectures are often cited for their insight and liveliness.
