A NewYork Times bestseller, The Conquerors reveals how Franklin Roosevelt's and Harry Trumans private struggles with their aides and Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin affected the unfolding of the Holocaust and the fate of vanquished Nazi Germany.

With monumental fairness and balance, The Conquerors shows how Roosevelt privately refused desperate pleas to speak out directly against the Holocaust, to save Jewish refugees and to explore the possible bombing of Auschwitz to stop the killing.The book also shows FDR"s fierce will to ensure that Germany would never threaten the world again. Near the end of World War II, he abruptly endorsed the secret plan of his friend, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, to reduce the Germans to a primitive existence--despite Churchill"s fear that crushing post war Germany would let the Soviets conquer the continent. The book finally showshow, after FDR"s death, President Truman rebelled against Roosevelt"s tough approach and adopted the Marshall Plan and other more conciliatory policies that culminated in today"s democratic, united Europe.

PREFACE  ix

CHAPTER ONE

The Plot to Murder Hitler 1

CHAPTER TWO

"Unconditional Surrender" 9

CHAPTER THREE

"Fifty Thousand Germans Must Be Shot!" is

CHAPTER FOUR

"On the Back of an Envelope" 29

CHAPTER FIVE

The Terrible Silence 38

CHAPTER SIX

The "One Hundred Percent American" 44

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Oppressor of the Jews" 56

CHAPTER EIGHT

"We Will Have to Get Awfully Busy" 70

CHAPTER NINE

"Not Nearly as Bad as Sending Them to Gas Chambers" 82

CHAPTER TEN

"Somebodys Got to Take the Lead" 91

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Christianity and Kindness" 98

CHAPTER TWELVE

"It Is Very, Very Necessary" 113

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Do You Want Me to Beg Like Fala?" 121

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"AHell ofaHubbub" 136

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"As Useful as Ten Fresh German Divisions" 150

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Lord Give the President Strength" 166

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"The Only Bond Is Their Common Hate" 178

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Arguing About the Future of the World" 189

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"No Earthly Powers Can Keep Him Here" 203

CHAPTER TWENTY

"What Will We Make of It?" 216

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"I Was Never in Favor of That Crazy Plan" 226

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"You and I Will Have to Bear Great Responsibility" 238

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"How I Hate This Trip!" 247

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"We Are Drifting Toward a Line Down the Center of Germany" 260

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"The Spirit and Soul of a People Reborn" 271

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The Conquerors 283

AUTHOR"S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  293

GENERAL SOURCES 297

NOTES 315

INDEX 361