Kathleen Harriman's Mission to Moscow, 1943–1945

Professor Roberts discusses the US Ambassador's daughter Kathleen Harriman's life in Moscow 1943-45, based on his new book 'Wartime Letters'

Kathleen Harriman was the daughter of American businessman W. Averell Harriman. A journalist by background, she accompanied her father on wartime postings to London (1941-43) and Moscow (1943-January 1946), where he served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's lend-lease troubleshooter to embattled Britain and, later, as US Ambassador to the USSR. In more than 200 letters, Kathleen wrote candidly, and vividly, about her trips to war-torn cities and sites of atrocities, the people she met and her experiences. In London, Kathy had socialised with Winston Churchill and other eminences of the British war effort. In Moscow, she became something of a celebrity in Soviet high society, and was friends with Maxim Litvinov's English wife Ivy Litvinov and Vyacheslav Molotov's wife Polina Zhemchuzhina. She arrived in Moscow, aged 25 years, with an open mind, she learned enough Russian to get by, tried hard to interact with the world outside Moscow's diplomatic circles, and pursued her own interests. Professor Roberts' talk is based on his new book Wartime Letters - Kathleen Harriman: London and Moscow 1941-1945 (Yale University Press, 2026).

Geoffrey Roberts is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and Emeritus Professor of History at University College Cork. He is an internationally recognised expert on Stalin, Soviet foreign policy and the history of the Cold War. His many publications include 'Stalin's Library: A Dictator and His Books', 'Stalin's General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov', and 'Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953'.

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