The nearly opaque and long-winded title of this, McGhee's third volume of memoirs, suggests the book's severe literary deficiencies. Still, the work bears a close look, for the author draws on a store of previously unavailable documents, mostly from his own papers, to provide an important insider's perspective on a key event in modern history-the American government's filling of the British role in the eastern Mediterranean.
The account covers the years 1947-1953, when the author held three senior positions in the U.S. government: coordinator of aid to Greece and Turkey (1947-49), assistant secretary of state for the Middle East (1949-51), and ambassador to Turkey (1951-53). McGhee recalls with rightful pride how he became "one of the first acknowledged 'cold warriors'" and used his influence to shore up the anti-Soviet position in the eastern Mediterranean. The major achievement, he holds, was Turkey's 1952 entry into NATO, an event which effectively prevented a Soviet-American war in the Middle East. Even today, he sees the Turkish role as undiminished: "As it was in 1952, the deterrent provided by Turkey in NATO still provides the single greatest protection to the Middle East and U.S. interests there against Soviet aggression." On this point, it is hard to argue with one of the grand old men of American diplomacy.
