Lighting the Torch

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Harry Hopkins's influence on foreign affairs in the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration during World War II. It first considers Hopkins's marriage to Louise Gill Macy and his relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt before turning to a discussion of the midterm elections and Winston Churchill's meeting with Joseph Stalin in Russia to discuss the strategy of the Anglo-American-Soviet coalition, especially with respect to the invasion of North Africa. It then looks at the American economy and Congress's passage of the Economic Stabilization Act as well as Hopkins's proposal about deploying British and American air forces in the Caucasus in order to “encourage Russian resistance” to German attacks. The chapter also analyzes the implications of the assassination of Admiral Jean-François Darlan, recognized as the political leader of North Africa, in Algiers.