The World Could Have Been Different. William Bullitt in Attempts to Change the 20th Century. 3rd Edition

William Bullitt was the ambassador of the United States to the Soviet Union and France. He was also a true cosmopolitan, the author of two novels, a connoisseur of American politics, Russian history, and French high society. A friend of Freud, Bullitt co-wrote a sensational biography of President Wilson with him. As a diplomat, Bullitt negotiated with Lenin and Stalin, Churchill and Goering. His plan for the dismemberment of Russia was accepted by Lenin but not approved by Wilson. His plan for the construction of the American embassy on Sparrow Hills was initially supported but later closed by Stalin. Nevertheless, Bullitt managed to master Spaso-House and host a reception there, described by Bulgakov as a ball in Satan's honor; Woland in "The Master and Margarita" is written as a grateful portrait of Bullitt. The first American ambassador in Soviet Moscow had affairs with ballerinas from the Bolshoi Theatre and taught polo to the red cavalry, while the vibrant Russian life ruined his engagement to Roosevelt's personal secretary. He finished the war as a major in the French army, and his students led American diplomacy during the Cold War. The book is based on archival documents from Bullitt's personal collection at Yale University, many of which are used for the first time in literature.