Bonus: Watching Darkness Fall with Ambassador David McKean

Diplomatic Immunity

Bonus episode: David McKean, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, joins Kelly McFarland, ISD Director of Programs and Research, to discuss his recent book, Watching Darkness Fall: FDR, His Ambassadors, and the Rise of Adolf Hitler.

The book tells the story of U.S. diplomacy in the 1930s through a historical examination of 4 U.S. ambassadors to European countries during the 1930s, and their respective experiences, perspectives, reports to Washington, and relationships with President Roosevelt: William Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Adolf Hitler’s Germany from 1933 to 1937; William Bullitt, ambassador to the Soviet Union and France during this period; Breckinridge Long, ambassador to Italy from 33 to 36; and Joseph Kennedy, ambassador to the United Kingdom) from 1938 to 1940.

David has been an author, attorney, political advisor and diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg from 2016 to 2017. He was previously Director of Policy Planning at the State Department from 2013 to 2016 under Secretary of State John Kerry, and before that as the Director of Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review under Secretary Hillary Clinton. He is a recipient of multiple high level awards from the Department of State, and spent many years working in the U.S. Senate.

Episode recorded: December 10, 2021.

Produced by Alistair Somerville and Kelly McFarland. Editing support by Optimum Audio.

Episode image: Watching Darkness Fall cover [MacMillan Publishers]

Diplomatic Immunity: Frank and candid conversations about diplomacy and foreign affairs

Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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