Rendezvous with Destiny How Franklin D Roosevelt & Five Extraordinary Men Took America Into the War & Into the World

In the dark days between Hitlers invasion of Poland in September 1939 and Japans attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt sent five remarkable men on dramatic and dangerous missions to Europe. The missions were highly unorthodox and they confounded and infuriated diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic. Their importance is little understood to this day. In fact, they were crucial to the course of the Second World War.

The envoys were magnificent, unforgettable characters. First off the mark was Sumner Welles, the chilly, patrician under secretary of state, later ruined by his sexual misdemeanors, who was dispatched by FDR on a tour of European capitals in the spring of 1940. In summer of that year, after the fall of France, William “Wild Bill” Donovan—war hero and future spymaster—visited a lonely United Kingdom at the presidents behest to determine whether she could hold out against the Nazis. Donovans report helped convince FDR that Britain was worth backing.

After he won an unprecedented third term in November 1940, Roosevelt threw a lifeline to the United Kingdom in the form of Lend-Lease and dispatched three men to help secure it. Harry Hopkins, the frail social worker and presidential confidant, was sent to explain Lend-Lease to Winston Churchill. Averell Harriman, a handsome, ambitious railroad heir, served as FDRs man in London, expediting Lend-Lease aid and romancing Churchills daughter-in-law. Roosevelt even put to work his rumpled, charismatic opponent in the 1940 presidential election, Wendell Willkie, whose visit lifted British morale and won wary Americans over to the cause. Finally, in the aftermath of Germanys invasion of the Soviet Union, Hopkins returned to London to confer with Churchill and traveled to Moscow to meet with Joseph Stalin. This final mission gave Roosevelt the confidence to bet on the Soviet Union.

The envoys missions took them into the middle of the war and exposed them to the leading figures of the age. Taken together, they plot the arc of Americas trans¬formation from a divided and hesitant middle power into the global leader. At the center of everything, of course, was FDR himself, who moved his envoys around the globe with skill and élan.

We often think of Harry S. Truman, George Marshall, Dean Acheson, and George F. Kennan as the authors of Americas global primacy in the second half of the twentieth century. But all their achievements were enabled by the earlier work of Roosevelt and his representatives, who took the United States into the war and, by defeating domestic isolationists and foreign enemies, into the world. In these two years, America turned. FDR and his envoys were responsible for the turn. Drawing on vast archival research, Rendezvous with Destiny is narrative history at its most delightful, stirring, and important.

—Henry A. Kissinger

"Michael Fullilove's fascinating book reads as easily as a good novel, but it is also an important history of one of the most crucial decisions of the twentieth century."

—Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University and author of The Future of Power

The Wall Street Journal

"Mr Fullilove infuses each chapter with the danger, romance and deadly seriousness of war."

The Financial Times

"Desperately romantic and impossibly consequential... In Rendezvous with Destiny, Fullilove delivers a rare combination of diplomatic thriller and original history, well-paced and expertly told." 

Time

“Real Team of Rivals stuff: smart, engaging, historical storytelling.” 

The Weekend Australian 

"One of the most fascinating works of history I have read in many years. Fullilove… has combined faultless scholarship and a captivating narrative style to produce an unforgettable book."

The Spectator

“An outstanding book, marked by insight and irony… Fullilove writes superbly.” 

Henry A. Kissinger

“From 1939 to 1941, with Europe at war and the United States strongly isolationist, Roosevelt sent five exceptional men to Europe as his personal envoys to assess, among other issues, Americas role. Rendezvous with Destiny is a fascinating and well-written account of a little-known chapter that was crucial to the course of World War II and to Americas global leadership.” —

  Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University and author of The Future of Power

“Michael Fulliloves fascinating book reads as easily as a good novel, but it is also an important history of one of the most crucial decisions of the twentieth century.” 

Robert Dallek, author of Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932-1945 and An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963

“Michael Fulliloves compelling account of FDR and the five aides who helped lead the U.S. into the Second World War is an indispensable addition to the literature on the unforgettable events of 1939-1941. Everyone interested in FDR and World War II will want to read this superb book.”

Francis Fukuyama

“Rendezvous with Destiny provides a revealing account of the entry of the United States into the Second World War that underlines the importance of leadership and individuals in history.  The story is told with a great eye for detail, as well as a sound grasp of the broad arc of events.” 

Robert Kagan

“A lively and revealing look at five less-known but nevertheless central figures who, acting on behalf of FDR, helped shape the contours of our world.  Written with verve, this is historical biography at its best.”

James Fallows, The Atlantic; author of China Airborne

“Rendezvous with Destiny is narrative history in its best and most gripping form. Michael Fullilove wears his scholarship and his years of research very lightly as he brings the extraordinary figures around Franklin Roosevelt to life. I understand FDRs talents and the drama of America's entry into war in a new way after reading this book.” 

Strobe Talbott, President, Brookings Institution

“Michael Fullilove skillfully recounts an underappreciated strand of Franklin Delano Roosevelts statecraft—his innovative deployment of five envoys in service of a strategy that would, ultimately, change the course of history. The efforts of Welles, Donovan, Hopkins, Willkie and Harriman, under FDRs masterful leadership, laid the foundation for Allied victory in World War Two and buttressed Roosevelts campaign to awaken America from isolationism.” 

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University; Director of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State, 2009-2011

“Rendezvous with Destiny is a fascinating tale of diplomacy by envoy, Franklin Roosevelts preferred means of guaranteeing that he and he alone could discern the entire tangled web of American foreign policy before Pearl Harbor. Michael Fullilove has an eye for telling details and policy nuances, but above all, he gives us a rollicking good read!” 

The period between Hitler’s invasion of Poland and the attack on Pearl Harbor was the turning point of the twentieth century. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, Americans were eager to isolate themselves from the conflict. Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to help the democracies, but he was hemmed in by congressional and public opposition and frustrated by a lack of information. How could he obtain the intelligence he required when he was trapped in Washington? Distrusting the State Department, he instead sent five men on special diplomatic missions to Europe. Their missions took them into the middle of the war and exposed them to the century’s leading figures— and Roosevelt along with them.

First off the mark was Sumner Welles, a chilly patrician who traveled around Europe in the spring of 1940. In summer of that year, after the fall of France, William “Wild Bill” Donovan—war hero and future spymaster—visited an isolated UK at the president’s behest to determine whether Britain could hold out against the Nazis. Donovan’s report helped convince FDR that the country was worth backing.

After he won an unprecedented third term in November 1940, FDR threw a lifeline to Britain in the form of Lend-Lease and dispatched three men to help secure it. Harry Hopkins, the frail social worker who became the whirling dervish at the center of the New Deal, was sent to explain Lend-Lease to Winston Churchill. Averell Harriman—a handsome, ambitious railroad heir—was charged with delivering the aid to London. Roosevelt even put to work his rumpled, charismatic opponent, Wendell Willkie, whose visit to London was a public relations triumph. Then, in summer 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion of Russia. Hopkins returned to Britain to confer with Churchill and traveled to Moscow to meet with Joseph Stalin. Hopkins’s mission gave Roosevelt the confidence to gamble on aiding the Soviet Union.

Roosevelt’s five emissaries are unforgettable characters. Taken together, their missions plot the arc of America’s transformation from a reluctant middle power into a global leader. Drawing on vast archival research, historian Michael Fullilove has rescued these men and their missions and given them back to history. At the center of everything, of course, is FDR himself, who moved his envoys around the globe with skill and élan. Rendezvous with Destiny is narrative history at its most delightful, stirring, and important.

In the dark days between Hitlers invasion of Poland in September 1939 and Japans attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt sent five remarkable men—Sumner Welles, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, Harry Hopkins, Averell Harriman, and Wendell Willkie—on dramatic and dangerous missions to Europe. The five envoys highly unorthodox missions took them into the middle of the war and exposed them to the leading figures of the age. Taken together, they plot the arc of Americas transformation from a divided and hesitant middle power into a global leader. Drawing on vast archival research, Rendezvous with Destiny is narrative history at its most delightful, stirring, and important.