Presidential Mission

Lanny Budd #8

by Upton Sinclair

With America at war, Lanny Budd risks life and limb from North Africa to Moscow on behalf of the Allied cause

Members of the German high command believe that American art expert Lanny Budd is sympathetic to their cause, but since 1938 he has been an undercover agent working for President Franklin Roosevelt. Now, in 1941, the United States has been pulled into the fray by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and Lanny’s services are required more than ever.

In Algiers he must convince the French troops to stand with the Allies in advance of the Axis invasion. A meeting in Moscow, intended to sway Communist despot Joseph Stalin, precedes Hitler’s disastrous decision to invade Russia. Over the course of the next two years, Lanny faces death at virtually every turn as his important presidential missions carry him from the sands of the African desert to the bomb-blasted streets of Berlin.
 
Presidential Mission is the electrifying eighth chapter of Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning dramatization of twentieth-century world history. An astonishing mix of adventure, romance, and political intrigue, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Classics, Modern

986 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). To gather information for the novel, Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover working in the meat packing plants of Chicago. These direct experiences exposed the horrific conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The Jungle has remained continuously in print since its initial publication. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. Four years after the initial publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence." In 1943, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Sinclair also ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist, and was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1934, though his highly progressive campaign was defeated.

Reviews

[Chrissie]

******************

*The Jungle 3 stars

the Lanny Budd Series:
1. World's End 4 stars
2.Between Two Worlds 4 stars
3.Dragon's Teeth 4 stars
4.Wide Is the Gate 3 stars
5,Presidential Agent 1 star
6Dragon Harvest
7.A World to Win
8.Presidential Mission
9.One Clear Call
10.O Shepherd, Speak!
11.The Return of Lanny Budd

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

They are still in the process of converting this very long series of very long books into the Audible format so I had to wait a little bit for this to become available which meant I lost some of the benefit of reading a series one quickly after the other. Since this series is longitudinal reading it in order and in close proximity, I found to be a benefit in keeping track of the main character and the events.

Each book in the series is quite long and so I benefit from the audible format, which eliminates the oppressive appearance of books that are two or 3 inches thick!

This book is occurring at the beginning of World War II and continues to follow Lanny in his position as a secret agent of president FDR, who is out scouring information from the big shots, and especially from those who are leading the Nazi efforts to conquer the world. Even though we know the end of the story, this does not significantly distract from the interest that is created in this book because Lanny goes behind the headlines and the public scenes to interact with and evaluate the leading characters. It is not particularly realistic to think that this individual character winds up interacting with so many people Who are famously associated with the events of the years we are covering. The author has made a significant effort to create a character in Lanny, who has some small possibility in actually having an opportunity to interact with so many historically significant people.

The book ends with Lanny and his wife and six month old son traveling to Florida on a vacation after Lanny returns from yet another adventure among the Nazi big wigs. He once again escapes death just barely several times in this 900 page, opus. He has a wife who in a strange way is similarly committed as he is and also satisfied being the stay at home wife the next great novel. She also accepts that she will not know exactly what her husband is doing. Such is life in this historic fictional novel based on real people and real events with a little stretching and fabricating.

[DanielL · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the US enters the war, Lanny Budd’s role as the President’s special agent becomes less secretive as he has to tell some of his friends, family, and others of his mission in order to keep them out of harm’s way. Those that he confides in tell Lanny Budd that they’ve suspected he wasn’t who he claimed he was, i.e., an art expert, or that he was a friend of the Nazis and Fascists. Lanny Budd also has to tell US and British Intelligence, members of the French Resistance, etc. that he is a Presidential Agent. With more people knowing his secret role, the more endangered Lanny Budd becomes as he continues his secret missions into the heart of Nazi Germany.

In the Presidential Mission (Book 8), the Allied invasion of North Africa becomes a focal point for Lanny Budd. He is tasked with spreading misinformation about “Operation Torch”. You might have some prior knowledge of the military side of the invasion, but Presidential Mission is a little known “who’s who” of French North Africa military leaders, politicians, businessmen, etc. and the deep and complicated division and animosity within and among the French. The placating of French in North Africa by the Allies before and after the invasion was much more difficult than I realized before reading Presidential Mission.

The one thing that I truly enjoy about the Lanny Budd series is that Upton Sinclair will include colorful and detailed travelogues of places. At times, I thought I was reading a book by Paul Theroux. In the Presidential Mission, Upton Sinclair takes the reader on a sightseeing tour of 1941 North Africa, Germany, Sweden, and Florida.

[Eugenea Pollock · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion, this book did not quite measure up to the others—the pacing felt erratic; the characterization of Laurel Creston had a false, patronizing ring to it. Was Sinclair’s commitment flagging? Is he tired of this daunting project? Are 21st-Century eyes too cynical? I will not abandon Lanny yet (he’s been too fascinating in the past), but I will take a break with a total change-of-pace book next.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last volume in the series, A World To Win, had ended in winter of early 1942 when U.S. was already at war, with Lanny coming out from the meeting with Stalin in Moscow, out in a city with the blackout due to war making it all dark except the stars above, and expected to be flown back to U.S. with Laurel via the Archangel route over North pole.

Presidential Mission begins, not by describing the journey, but Lanny driving to Palisades and appreciating the warmth and beauty, of not only the good car but the orchards in bloom.

"America had been at war for a matter of four months, and it had been one defeat after another, with not a single success. Bataan had just surrendered, and the Japanese were close to India; the Germans were close to Leningrad and to the Suez Canal."

Lanny drove to Hyde Park and Krum Elbow to meet FDR, and they spoke briefly about events leading up to the main point, what Stalin said to Lanny. FDR asked if Russia would stick it out in the war.

""They have seen too much of Nazi brutality, which is really quite insane. A Russian would as soon trust a Bengal tiger as take the word of a Hitlerite. Stalin’s reply to my question was prompt and decisive. They are in this war to the finish, and only beg that you will get help to them as quickly as possible.”

"“We will do our best, Lanny, but we have almost nothing at present. Our shortage of shipping is paralyzing, and the U-boats are playing the very devil with us. The Russians expect a heavy attack this spring, I assume.”

"“They do, and cannot be sure where it will come; that is the disadvantage of defensive warfare. The best guess is that Hitler will concentrate on the south because of the oil, which is his greatest need. It will be an overwhelming attack; he has not been nearly so heavily hit as the Soviet communiqués would have us believe. His retreat was strategic, to prepared winter positions, and not many of his troops were sacrificed. He will no doubt throw in everything he has as soon as the ground is dry. There are millions of Russians, now strong and happy, who will be food for the wolves and the kites when the steppes are dry.""

They spoke about China, and future after war, and U.S. policy. FDR asked about what Lanny wanted to do next, and proposed turning him over to Donovan in service, but Lanny said he preferred to keep on being on the same terms he'd been, without position or salary and reporting directly to FDR. They discussed his ability to pose as art expert, during war, in Europe, and the danger due to underground mistaking his stance for reality. Lanny said he assumed his reality was exposed when his plane crashed in North Atlantic and two passports were found on him, but he'd get a better idea when he contacted his underground contact in Switzerland, and another in Toulon, and he expected letters from them at home in Bienvenu.

FDR spoke about the coming invasion of Europe, which he said he preferred soon and via Cherbourg, but Churchill wanted across Mediterranean via Sicily and Italy to begin with, and the President asked Lanny to speak to people in Vichy and in underground. FDR said Lanny would be given a hundred thousand dollars in his N.Y. bank account for helping the underground with no accounting. Lanny said they'd need arms more than money, and FDR said he could give names of those willing to be known, and FDR would have them helped via Donovan.

They discussed a new code name for Lanny, since in a seance with other people present, Zaharoff had objected to his name being used, and Lanny was worried this might happen again. Lanny needed a couple of weeks for personal needs, family and so forth, and then he'd travel to Southern France and Northern Africa as asked by FDR. He was asked to have tea with family, and met Eleanor Roosevelt. She said she'd call on Laurel, and FDR had already invited Lanny to bring her to meet him.

He went home to the apartment his wife shared with a friend, Agnes, and Laurel told him she was expecting. He told her he'd met Eleanor Roosevelt and she was going to call on her, and Laurel said she should do so, being younger. Lanny suggested she drop a line. He informed her about his leaving for Europe after they spoke about visiting Newcastle next day, and he reassured her he wasn't going into Germany. They visited Newcastle, and Laurel met members of Budd family and clan, and was shown the plant. She was just the right person for Lanny, Esther judged, and told her to consider them as family and call for anything she needed.

Lanny contacted most of his clients by phone this time, and saw only Harlan Winstead who wasn't interested in art from Algeria which was in architècture, but thought a neighbour might be; Lanny met this Mr Vernon, inviting him to lunch and got a letter from him to the effect authorising purchase. Baker arranged his passport and passage on clipper, and Lanny made sure the passport covered all his itinerary. Alston said he was coming to N.Y., and meanwhile Lanny met Jim Stotzlmann and they discussed the boss's security. Jim said the group was still very much active, especially Harrison Dengue and the Chicago guys, and they couldn't stand being in the war on side of Stalin, and patriotism hadn't touched them.

"“You know, Jim,” said Lanny, “the story you told me has haunted me; I doubt if I’ll ever get it out of my mind. We’ve read about how the Roman Republic was overthrown, and so many others in history, but we just can’t bring ourselves to realize how easily the same thing might happen in this country. Just imagine that in the next industrial crisis the labor crowd, or what are called the ‘radicals,’ carried an election, and our big business masters wanted to keep them out; suppose there was an Army cabal, and these men backed it with their money and their newspapers and their radios; suppose they were to seize the newly elected President, hold him incommunicado, and issue orders in his name—what could the rest of us do?”

"“That is just what I keep hammering into my friends, Lanny. They all say: ‘The people would rise.’ But what can the people with shotguns and pitchforks do against modern weapons of war and modern organization? With bombing planes and poison gas a few men could wipe out a whole city; and I know men who are ready to do it—they have said so in plain words.”

"“I could compile a list of a hundred such,” responded Lanny. “It is a danger we shall not be free from so long as capitalism endures; and it is going to die a hard and nasty death.”"

Lanny met Forrest Quadratt and the latter swapped news of the interim months.

"“I have been indicted and convicted, and am under a jail sentence of from eight months to two years.”

"“Good Lord! What for?”

"“They framed me on a preposterous charge. I registered myself as in the employ of German magazines, and they undertook to prove that I was in the employ of the government.”

"“Herrgott, noch einmal! Don’t they know that German magazines are government institutions?”"

"It was hard for Lanny to put the proper amount of feeling into his tone, for he knew what would have happened to a German citizen in Berlin who had made a fortune by serving American magazines or American government agencies in circulating pro-Allied propaganda throughout the Fatherland. That was the advantage which the ruthless men had over the mild and honorable in this world, and how the balance was to be righted was a problem indeed! ... Lanny tried subtly and carefully to find out if there might not be another hope, that of replacing Franklin D. Roosevelt as Commander-in-Chief of the American Armed Forces. Lanny mentioned that he was getting in touch with that powerful personality, Mr. Harrison Dengue, but Forrest didn’t take the bait; he wasn’t going to discuss the junta, even if he knew anything about it.

"Could it possibly have occurred to him that the son of Budd-Erling might have changed his point of view when he discovered himself under the Japanese bombs and shells? Certainly Forrest must have known that Budd-Erling was now turning out a superior type of fighter plane, and he must have been warned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was employing many sorts of agents and disguises in its secret war on American Nazism. It might be that Berlin had informed him that Lanny had visited Stalin. Lanny waited for some hint on the subject, but none came. He decided at last that he was wasting his evening. He excused himself, went home, and took his two ladies out to a late supper."

Lanny met Alston who wanted to know all about Lanny and his past half a year, too, and meanwhile had some things to tell.

"“We have to be sure that what we are sending the Russians actually reaches the front; for we are sustaining grave losses on the route to Murmansk, so great that we may have to discontinue it.” ....“Did they give any hint of the possibility of having to quit?”

"“All the way through China and Siberia and Russia proper, we never heard any word but of resistance to the last gasp. You can count upon that as a gift from Hitler. He is the most hated man that has appeared upon the stage of history for many centuries.”"

Lanny asked him if his last mission that had gone astray, when his plane had crashed off Nova Scotia, had really been completed, and U.S. had the information.

"“The rule still holds, that we never speak the words atomic fission except when it is absolutely necessary. But I can say this: we are ahead of the Germans and expect to keep ahead.” .... “Nothing can be absolutely sure in matters of scientific research. We know what the signs are at the moment, but nobody can know what some German physicist may have hit upon last night.” .... “The Chief was quite positive that he didn’t want to send you into Germany again, Lanny.”

"“He told me that. But I told him about my German contact in Geneva, and he was willing for me to go there.”

"“It would be foolhardy for us to risk taking any German into our confidence in this matter. The outcome of the war might depend upon it, and the whole future of humanity.”"

"“Let me tell you a little about this man. I have known him since before Hitler. He was vouched for by the woman who later became my second wife. I have never told you about her; not even my mother or my father knows about her. She was a devoted Socialist Party member, and her first husband was murdered by the Nazis; she became a worker in the underground, and died in Dachau concentration camp, in spite of my best efforts to save her. The man I am talking about helped me in trying to rescue her; before that he was in Spain and proved his loyalty in the fires of that civil war; he rose to be a capitán. That surely ought to be enough evidence of his trustworthiness.”

"“I grant you that, Lanny. But what can he do now?”

"“He had quite an extraordinary contact in Germany, apparently someone in Göring’s own headquarters. He was able to give me the date of the invasion of Holland and Belgium, and later that of Norway, and I sent this information to the President. The last time I saw this man, about a year ago, he told me he had lost that contact but hoped to get another. He might have it now.”"

"“That is just where the trouble comes in, Lanny. He may have a new contact that he trusts, and it may turn out to be a Gestapo agent playing with him. We simply cannot take such chances with the atomic bomb.”

"“I grant you that, Professor. But let us consider whether there might not be some information my man could get without having to know what it is for.”

"“That would be difficult, for the reason that the information is so highly technical that any scientist would know at once what the man was after and could infer what stage we had reached in our research.”

"“Let me make a suggestion or two. If we could find out whether the Germans have increased their production of graphite, wouldn’t that tell us something?”

"“In the first place, the fact that we are using graphite to moderate the speed of neutrons is one of the most priceless of our secrets; and second, German production wouldn’t tell us much, because graphite is used for many war purposes and comparatively little of it is needed as a moderator.”

"“Well, then, how about heavy water? That, as I understand it, is difficult to produce and not much of it exists.”

"“That is true. If your man could find out if and where the Germans are making heavy water in large quantities, we should have a number-one bombing target.”

"“And how about Professor Schilling? Can his name be mentioned?”

"“I fear we have to say no to that. Schilling is a nuclear physicist and nothing else, and we know that the Nazis have him at that job. We cannot risk having anybody know that he is on our side.”

"“If I could find out where a number of such physicists are employed, wouldn’t that be important?”

"“We already have that information, I believe; but I do not know what use is being made of it. I am only admitted to the fringes of these ultra-secret matters.”

"“This is true, is it not, that the quantity production of fissionable material would require a large plant; and if my man could find out where such a plant is located, wouldn’t that be worth while?”

"“I have to admit that that would be a major achievement.”

"“This is the way it appears to me: the Germans must know that we know the possibility of atom splitting, and they would certainly expect us to try to find out about what they are doing. I don’t have to give my man any hint that we are working on the project. Can’t I just tell him what has been in the scientific journals prior to the war, and ask if he can find out any more on this subject?”

"“I should say there would be no harm in that; but it would be an exceedingly dangerous matter for your man and for his contacts.”

"“That is up to him. I will tell him the facts, as I have always done, and leave it to him to use his judgment. I suppose the same thing goes for jet propulsion, which Robbie tells me he is working on very secretly; and for rocket projectiles, and so on. The Germans are known to be working on these, and it surely wouldn’t be any news, to them that we are trying to catch up.”

"“If your man were able to get us real news about these matters, we’d award him a D.S.M. when the war is over.”

"“To award him American citizenship might be more to the point,” opined Lanny.

"“We shall see.”

"They talked about the presidential agent’s own job, what information he might get in Vichy territory, and what use was likely to be made of it. Alston said that he agreed with the Chief in thinking that they ought to open a second front across the Channel in the summer of 1942, if only for the sake of its effect upon the Russians. “Even if we could do no more than establish a bridgehead, it would pay us in the long run, however costly. But between you and me, Lanny, I don’t think we are going to be able to budge Churchill on this issue. I appreciate him as a propagandist, but he fancies himself also as a military strategist, and I fear he is somewhat vain on the subject. Certainly I have found him hard to argue with; he does all the talking.”

"“I can imagine it,” responded Lanny with a grin. “He was so glad to get his troops off that shore, no doubt the idea of sending them back again gives him nightmares.”

"“He argues that our American troops are utterly untested, and who can be sure they would stand the punishment they would get from the Panzers and from the overhead strafing?”

"“To say nothing of the subs on the way across, Professor. You can be sure that Hitler would throw in everything he has to make good the promises he has fed to his own people. It would be a life and death matter for him.”

"“I have listened to the arguments of the military men on both sides; there is very little agreement among them. We shift in our discussions from Cherbourg to Dakar, to Casablanca, Algiers, and Tunis. Then Churchill takes us to Salonika and the Vardar valley, and even to his old stamping ground of Gallipoli. Then we come back to Cherbourg. But this much I can tell you quite surely: no information that you bring us and no contacts that you make in Unoccupied France and in North Africa will be wasted. We shall surely be landing there before this war is over, and meantime we have to defend ourselves there, to the extent of keeping Laval out of power and Franco properly worried.”

"“The Governor seemed to think there was no longer any danger of a German attack upon Gibraltar.”

"“It would appear that the time for that has passed. Franco’s demands were more than Hitler was willing to meet; and now, I think, Franco has been brought to realize that we mean business, and he will continue to hold his precarious seat upon the fence.”

"“F.D.R. didn’t seem very clear in his mind whether I am to be an American patriot or a sympathizer with Fascism in my secret heart. It will hardly be possible to play both roles, at least not for long.”

"“Nobody can tell you about that, Lanny. You will have to go and find out what changes a year has made, and what your probable sources of information are, and then make your own decision as to which side of the fence to be on. A lot of Frenchmen will be doing the same, I fancy.”

"“No doubt about that!” agreed the P.A. with a touch of bitterness."

Last day before Lanny was to leave, Agnes thoughtfully kept herself away, with work and an evening out, but they couldn't say much. Lanny couldn't talk about work except that he'd likely travel to Vichy France, and they didn't want to show emotion. Lanny might be safely home by midsummer when Laurel was to give birth, and meanwhile she'd written an article about her visit to Red China which was not in accord with general thinking, but she was determined not to change it. She planned to visit her aunt, Mrs Holdenhurst, in Baltimore, after Lanny left, and tell her all they knew about the Oriole .

Lanny refrained from suggesting a seance, since Laurel's seance before his last trip to Europe had warned of danger, but Laurel wanted it so they went ahead with it. This time there was no such warning, but Otto Kahn battered with him, Zaharoff wanted him to pay the man and Marjorie came too, saying she was happy he had behaved better with her granddaughter; but when Lanny spoke, she was displeased and spoke directly, telling him he was being flippant. Laurel woke, and they were relieved about lack of warning of danger.

Robbie sent his man to drive the car back to Newcastle after seeing off Lanny and dropping Laurel back, and she cried later in her pillow.

"P.A. 103 had been placed in the care of “Pan-Am,” with his expenses mysteriously paid. He was not being routed by way of Bermuda because he was in the black books of the British government, which had become suspicious of his intimacy with Rudolf Hess and other leading Nazis. Lanny’s route was via San Juan in Puerto Rico, and thence to the port of Belém in Brazil; he would cross the ocean to a place called Bolamo in Portuguese West Africa, and from there go on to Lisbon. It wasn’t as roundabout as it looked on the maps, and anyhow, distances aren’t so important when you rise eight thousand feet into the air and there are no enemy planes to bother you.

"He was traveling in a million-dollar contrivance, one of mankind’s most surprising achievements. He was one of thirty-three passengers who were provided with every comfort and were looked after by nine young men and one young woman, all carefully trained and clad in natty blue uniforms. Each passenger had an upholstered seat, which at night was made into a bed. There was a buffet where you might help yourself to a variety of tasty foods; there were magazines to read, and a push button which would bring you the services of the good-looking young stewardess."

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last volume in the series, A World To Win, had ended in winter of early 1942 when U.S. was already at war, with Lanny coming out from the meeting with Stalin in Moscow, out in a city with the blackout due to war making it all dark except the stars above, and expected to be flown back to U.S. with Laurel via the Archangel route over North pole.

Presidential Mission begins, not by describing the journey, but Lanny driving to Palisades and appreciating the warmth and beauty, of not only the good car but the orchards in bloom.

"America had been at war for a matter of four months, and it had been one defeat after another, with not a single success. Bataan had just surrendered, and the Japanese were close to India; the Germans were close to Leningrad and to the Suez Canal."

Lanny drove to Hyde Park and Krum Elbow to meet FDR, and they spoke briefly about events leading up to the main point, what Stalin said to Lanny. FDR asked if Russia would stick it out in the war.

""They have seen too much of Nazi brutality, which is really quite insane. A Russian would as soon trust a Bengal tiger as take the word of a Hitlerite. Stalin’s reply to my question was prompt and decisive. They are in this war to the finish, and only beg that you will get help to them as quickly as possible.”

"“We will do our best, Lanny, but we have almost nothing at present. Our shortage of shipping is paralyzing, and the U-boats are playing the very devil with us. The Russians expect a heavy attack this spring, I assume.”

"“They do, and cannot be sure where it will come; that is the disadvantage of defensive warfare. The best guess is that Hitler will concentrate on the south because of the oil, which is his greatest need. It will be an overwhelming attack; he has not been nearly so heavily hit as the Soviet communiqués would have us believe. His retreat was strategic, to prepared winter positions, and not many of his troops were sacrificed. He will no doubt throw in everything he has as soon as the ground is dry. There are millions of Russians, now strong and happy, who will be food for the wolves and the kites when the steppes are dry.""

They spoke about China, and future after war, and U.S. policy. FDR asked about what Lanny wanted to do next, and proposed turning him over to Donovan in service, but Lanny said he preferred to keep on being on the same terms he'd been, without position or salary and reporting directly to FDR. They discussed his ability to pose as art expert, during war, in Europe, and the danger due to underground mistaking his stance for reality. Lanny said he assumed his reality was exposed when his plane crashed in North Atlantic and two passports were found on him, but he'd get a better idea when he contacted his underground contact in Switzerland, and another in Toulon, and he expected letters from them at home in Bienvenu.

FDR spoke about the coming invasion of Europe, which he said he preferred soon and via Cherbourg, but Churchill wanted across Mediterranean via Sicily and Italy to begin with, and the President asked Lanny to speak to people in Vichy and in underground. FDR said Lanny would be given a hundred thousand dollars in his N.Y. bank account for helping the underground with no accounting. Lanny said they'd need arms more than money, and FDR said he could give names of those willing to be known, and FDR would have them helped via Donovan.

They discussed a new code name for Lanny, since in a seance with other people present, Zaharoff had objected to his name being used, and Lanny was worried this might happen again. Lanny needed a couple of weeks for personal needs, family and so forth, and then he'd travel to Southern France and Northern Africa as asked by FDR. He was asked to have tea with family, and met Eleanor Roosevelt. She said she'd call on Laurel, and FDR had already invited Lanny to bring her to meet him.

He went home to the apartment his wife shared with a friend, Agnes, and Laurel told him she was expecting. He told her he'd met Eleanor Roosevelt and she was going to call on her, and Laurel said she should do so, being younger. Lanny suggested she drop a line. He informed her about his leaving for Europe after they spoke about visiting Newcastle next day, and he reassured her he wasn't going into Germany. They visited Newcastle, and Laurel met members of Budd family and clan, and was shown the plant. She was just the right person for Lanny, Esther judged, and told her to consider them as family and call for anything she needed.

Lanny contacted most of his clients by phone this time, and saw only Harlan Winstead who wasn't interested in art from Algeria which was in architècture, but thought a neighbour might be; Lanny met this Mr Vernon, inviting him to lunch and got a letter from him to the effect authorising purchase. Baker arranged his passport and passage on clipper, and Lanny made sure the passport covered all his itinerary. Alston said he was coming to N.Y., and meanwhile Lanny met Jim Stotzlmann and they discussed the boss's security. Jim said the group was still very much active, especially Harrison Dengue and the Chicago guys, and they couldn't stand being in the war on side of Stalin, and patriotism hadn't touched them.

"“You know, Jim,” said Lanny, “the story you told me has haunted me; I doubt if I’ll ever get it out of my mind. We’ve read about how the Roman Republic was overthrown, and so many others in history, but we just can’t bring ourselves to realize how easily the same thing might happen in this country. Just imagine that in the next industrial crisis the labor crowd, or what are called the ‘radicals,’ carried an election, and our big business masters wanted to keep them out; suppose there was an Army cabal, and these men backed it with their money and their newspapers and their radios; suppose they were to seize the newly elected President, hold him incommunicado, and issue orders in his name—what could the rest of us do?”

"“That is just what I keep hammering into my friends, Lanny. They all say: ‘The people would rise.’ But what can the people with shotguns and pitchforks do against modern weapons of war and modern organization? With bombing planes and poison gas a few men could wipe out a whole city; and I know men who are ready to do it—they have said so in plain words.”

"“I could compile a list of a hundred such,” responded Lanny. “It is a danger we shall not be free from so long as capitalism endures; and it is going to die a hard and nasty death.”"

Lanny met Forrest Quadratt and the latter swapped news of the interim months.

"“I have been indicted and convicted, and am under a jail sentence of from eight months to two years.”

"“Good Lord! What for?”

"“They framed me on a preposterous charge. I registered myself as in the employ of German magazines, and they undertook to prove that I was in the employ of the government.”

"“Herrgott, noch einmal! Don’t they know that German magazines are government institutions?”"

"It was hard for Lanny to put the proper amount of feeling into his tone, for he knew what would have happened to a German citizen in Berlin who had made a fortune by serving American magazines or American government agencies in circulating pro-Allied propaganda throughout the Fatherland. That was the advantage which the ruthless men had over the mild and honorable in this world, and how the balance was to be righted was a problem indeed! ... Lanny tried subtly and carefully to find out if there might not be another hope, that of replacing Franklin D. Roosevelt as Commander-in-Chief of the American Armed Forces. Lanny mentioned that he was getting in touch with that powerful personality, Mr. Harrison Dengue, but Forrest didn’t take the bait; he wasn’t going to discuss the junta, even if he knew anything about it.

"Could it possibly have occurred to him that the son of Budd-Erling might have changed his point of view when he discovered himself under the Japanese bombs and shells? Certainly Forrest must have known that Budd-Erling was now turning out a superior type of fighter plane, and he must have been warned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was employing many sorts of agents and disguises in its secret war on American Nazism. It might be that Berlin had informed him that Lanny had visited Stalin. Lanny waited for some hint on the subject, but none came. He decided at last that he was wasting his evening. He excused himself, went home, and took his two ladies out to a late supper."

Lanny met Alston who wanted to know all about Lanny and his past half a year, too, and meanwhile had some things to tell.

"“We have to be sure that what we are sending the Russians actually reaches the front; for we are sustaining grave losses on the route to Murmansk, so great that we may have to discontinue it.” ....“Did they give any hint of the possibility of having to quit?”

"“All the way through China and Siberia and Russia proper, we never heard any word but of resistance to the last gasp. You can count upon that as a gift from Hitler. He is the most hated man that has appeared upon the stage of history for many centuries.”"

Lanny asked him if his last mission that had gone astray, when his plane had crashed off Nova Scotia, had really been completed, and U.S. had the information.

"“The rule still holds, that we never speak the words atomic fission except when it is absolutely necessary. But I can say this: we are ahead of the Germans and expect to keep ahead.” .... “Nothing can be absolutely sure in matters of scientific research. We know what the signs are at the moment, but nobody can know what some German physicist may have hit upon last night.” .... “The Chief was quite positive that he didn’t want to send you into Germany again, Lanny.”

"“He told me that. But I told him about my German contact in Geneva, and he was willing for me to go there.”

"“It would be foolhardy for us to risk taking any German into our confidence in this matter. The outcome of the war might depend upon it, and the whole future of humanity.”"

"“Let me tell you a little about this man. I have known him since before Hitler. He was vouched for by the woman who later became my second wife. I have never told you about her; not even my mother or my father knows about her. She was a devoted Socialist Party member, and her first husband was murdered by the Nazis; she became a worker in the underground, and died in Dachau concentration camp, in spite of my best efforts to save her. The man I am talking about helped me in trying to rescue her; before that he was in Spain and proved his loyalty in the fires of that civil war; he rose to be a capitán. That surely ought to be enough evidence of his trustworthiness.”

"“I grant you that, Lanny. But what can he do now?”

"“He had quite an extraordinary contact in Germany, apparently someone in Göring’s own headquarters. He was able to give me the date of the invasion of Holland and Belgium, and later that of Norway, and I sent this information to the President. The last time I saw this man, about a year ago, he told me he had lost that contact but hoped to get another. He might have it now.”"

"“That is just where the trouble comes in, Lanny. He may have a new contact that he trusts, and it may turn out to be a Gestapo agent playing with him. We simply cannot take such chances with the atomic bomb.”

"“I grant you that, Professor. But let us consider whether there might not be some information my man could get without having to know what it is for.”

"“That would be difficult, for the reason that the information is so highly technical that any scientist would know at once what the man was after and could infer what stage we had reached in our research.”

"“Let me make a suggestion or two. If we could find out whether the Germans have increased their production of graphite, wouldn’t that tell us something?”

"“In the first place, the fact that we are using graphite to moderate the speed of neutrons is one of the most priceless of our secrets; and second, German production wouldn’t tell us much, because graphite is used for many war purposes and comparatively little of it is needed as a moderator.”

"“Well, then, how about heavy water? That, as I understand it, is difficult to produce and not much of it exists.”

"“That is true. If your man could find out if and where the Germans are making heavy water in large quantities, we should have a number-one bombing target.”

"“And how about Professor Schilling? Can his name be mentioned?”

"“I fear we have to say no to that. Schilling is a nuclear physicist and nothing else, and we know that the Nazis have him at that job. We cannot risk having anybody know that he is on our side.”

"“If I could find out where a number of such physicists are employed, wouldn’t that be important?”

"“We already have that information, I believe; but I do not know what use is being made of it. I am only admitted to the fringes of these ultra-secret matters.”

"“This is true, is it not, that the quantity production of fissionable material would require a large plant; and if my man could find out where such a plant is located, wouldn’t that be worth while?”

"“I have to admit that that would be a major achievement.”

"“This is the way it appears to me: the Germans must know that we know the possibility of atom splitting, and they would certainly expect us to try to find out about what they are doing. I don’t have to give my man any hint that we are working on the project. Can’t I just tell him what has been in the scientific journals prior to the war, and ask if he can find out any more on this subject?”

"“I should say there would be no harm in that; but it would be an exceedingly dangerous matter for your man and for his contacts.”

"“That is up to him. I will tell him the facts, as I have always done, and leave it to him to use his judgment. I suppose the same thing goes for jet propulsion, which Robbie tells me he is working on very secretly; and for rocket projectiles, and so on. The Germans are known to be working on these, and it surely wouldn’t be any news, to them that we are trying to catch up.”

"“If your man were able to get us real news about these matters, we’d award him a D.S.M. when the war is over.”

"“To award him American citizenship might be more to the point,” opined Lanny.

"“We shall see.”

"They talked about the presidential agent’s own job, what information he might get in Vichy territory, and what use was likely to be made of it. Alston said that he agreed with the Chief in thinking that they ought to open a second front across the Channel in the summer of 1942, if only for the sake of its effect upon the Russians. “Even if we could do no more than establish a bridgehead, it would pay us in the long run, however costly. But between you and me, Lanny, I don’t think we are going to be able to budge Churchill on this issue. I appreciate him as a propagandist, but he fancies himself also as a military strategist, and I fear he is somewhat vain on the subject. Certainly I have found him hard to argue with; he does all the talking.”

"“I can imagine it,” responded Lanny with a grin. “He was so glad to get his troops off that shore, no doubt the idea of sending them back again gives him nightmares.”

"“He argues that our American troops are utterly untested, and who can be sure they would stand the punishment they would get from the Panzers and from the overhead strafing?”

"“To say nothing of the subs on the way across, Professor. You can be sure that Hitler would throw in everything he has to make good the promises he has fed to his own people. It would be a life and death matter for him.”

"“I have listened to the arguments of the military men on both sides; there is very little agreement among them. We shift in our discussions from Cherbourg to Dakar, to Casablanca, Algiers, and Tunis. Then Churchill takes us to Salonika and the Vardar valley, and even to his old stamping ground of Gallipoli. Then we come back to Cherbourg. But this much I can tell you quite surely: no information that you bring us and no contacts that you make in Unoccupied France and in North Africa will be wasted. We shall surely be landing there before this war is over, and meantime we have to defend ourselves there, to the extent of keeping Laval out of power and Franco properly worried.”

"“The Governor seemed to think there was no longer any danger of a German attack upon Gibraltar.”

"“It would appear that the time for that has passed. Franco’s demands were more than Hitler was willing to meet; and now, I think, Franco has been brought to realize that we mean business, and he will continue to hold his precarious seat upon the fence.”

"“F.D.R. didn’t seem very clear in his mind whether I am to be an American patriot or a sympathizer with Fascism in my secret heart. It will hardly be possible to play both roles, at least not for long.”

"“Nobody can tell you about that, Lanny. You will have to go and find out what changes a year has made, and what your probable sources of information are, and then make your own decision as to which side of the fence to be on. A lot of Frenchmen will be doing the same, I fancy.”

"“No doubt about that!” agreed the P.A. with a touch of bitterness."

Last day before Lanny was to leave, Agnes thoughtfully kept herself away, with work and an evening out, but they couldn't say much. Lanny couldn't talk about work except that he'd likely travel to Vichy France, and they didn't want to show emotion. Lanny might be safely home by midsummer when Laurel was to give birth, and meanwhile she'd written an article about her visit to Red China which was not in accord with general thinking, but she was determined not to change it. She planned to visit her aunt, Mrs Holdenhurst, in Baltimore, after Lanny left, and tell her all they knew about the Oriole .

Lanny refrained from suggesting a seance, since Laurel's seance before his last trip to Europe had warned of danger, but Laurel wanted it so they went ahead with it. This time there was no such warning, but Otto Kahn battered with him, Zaharoff wanted him to pay the man and Marjorie came too, saying she was happy he had behaved better with her granddaughter; but when Lanny spoke, she was displeased and spoke directly, telling him he was being flippant. Laurel woke, and they were relieved about lack of warning of danger.

Robbie sent his man to drive the car back to Newcastle after seeing off Lanny and dropping Laurel back, and she cried later in her pillow.

"P.A. 103 had been placed in the care of “Pan-Am,” with his expenses mysteriously paid. He was not being routed by way of Bermuda because he was in the black books of the British government, which had become suspicious of his intimacy with Rudolf Hess and other leading Nazis. Lanny’s route was via San Juan in Puerto Rico, and thence to the port of Belém in Brazil; he would cross the ocean to a place called Bolamo in Portuguese West Africa, and from there go on to Lisbon. It wasn’t as roundabout as it looked on the maps, and anyhow, distances aren’t so important when you rise eight thousand feet into the air and there are no enemy planes to bother you.

"He was traveling in a million-dollar contrivance, one of mankind’s most surprising achievements. He was one of thirty-three passengers who were provided with every comfort and were looked after by nine young men and one young woman, all carefully trained and clad in natty blue uniforms. Each passenger had an upholstered seat, which at night was made into a bed. There was a buffet where you might help yourself to a variety of tasty foods; there were magazines to read, and a push button which would bring you the services of the good-looking young stewardess."

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why are books now forgotten that were popular once? Like this one. I found it in an Oxfam shop and was excited.

The publisher gives us the numbers of sold books in many different countries at the beginning. Amazing. Now, if you are lucky, you will find his Jungle in book stores. But this one?

Actually it is the eighth of a series of Lanny Budd books. I read it and I did not have the feeling that I needed the first seven installments.

Lanny Budd is on a Presidential Mission in Europe. We are in the Middle of the Second World War (after Stalingrad). Lanny is the P.A. as he is often called. The Presidential Agent. He is also very often and annoyingly called the son of arms manufacturer Budd. (Sinclair seems to dislike the useful pronoun he.) His mothers is known as Beauty. But he is never referred to as Beauty’s son for some reason.

Throughout the book Lanny has pleasant talks with FDR. Who sends him on missions. Mostly to France and North Africa. But actually not really a lot is happening. He is not the James Bond type of agent. It is kind of interesting to learn something about the Vichy government. But when you find that checking a name in Wikipedia is much more interesting than the events told in the book you know that something is not quite alright with the book. It is very well written but really boring after a while.

Also, I could not make myself to like the guy. He is just too good. Married for the third time but you would think he had no personal life with actual feelings at all. He knows everyone is liked by everyone but he is really a man without qualities. (He manages to resist the temptation when a woman friend climbs into his bed.)

His cover is that of an arts dealer. Okay. Apparently he had spend his youth in Germany and he knows all the nazi leaders. No, he is friends with them. And here it seems a bit unlikely. Can you really successfully pretend to be a friend of Adolf Hitler, or Goering or Hess while secretly trying to make them fall? He manages to visit Hess who sits imprisoned in England trying to get some secrets out of him. And I must say, my sympathies were completely on the side of Hess. He was a war criminal and probably not a nice guy (and probably not very bright) but at least he was honest.

The book gets more interesting when Lanny finally makes it to Germany (after his plane having been shot down in Africa.) So he visits Hitler bringing him the message from Hess. This is nicely and believably handled. But even his adventures in Germany are not that exciting. And also he does not really gets much information out of Germany. The place were they make heavy water? Already known to Churchill.

There are even more books about Lanny. Now should I come across one again, I might pick it up. But I will not hunt for them. I prefer Bernie Gunther to Lanny Budd.

[Len Knighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

More adventures in World War II for Lanny Budd. Lanny faces the enemy close up as his plane is shot down, the pilot killed. He survives the violence of man against man only to face an unrelenting foe, the forces of nature. And then, from the frying pan into the fire. Four stars
My only complaint about Sinclair's writing is his conversations between Lanny and his spouses, especially with wife number three. To be honest, I didn't like the marriage; much too quick. The dialogue between Lanny and Laurel is so syrupy and feels, to me, very unnatural.
As this book ends, we are in June 1943; two years of war and three books left in the series. Time has to move a bit faster.

Four stars

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last volume in the series, A World To Win, had ended in winter of early 1942 when U.S. was already at war, with Lanny coming out from the meeting with Stalin in Moscow, out in a city with the blackout due to war making it all dark except the stars above, and expected to be flown back to U.S. with Laurel via the Archangel route over North pole.

Presidential Mission begins, not by describing the journey, but Lanny driving to Palisades and appreciating the warmth and beauty, of not only the good car but the orchards in bloom.

"America had been at war for a matter of four months, and it had been one defeat after another, with not a single success. Bataan had just surrendered, and the Japanese were close to India; the Germans were close to Leningrad and to the Suez Canal."

Lanny drove to Hyde Park and Krum Elbow to meet FDR, and they spoke briefly about events leading up to the main point, what Stalin said to Lanny. FDR asked if Russia would stick it out in the war.

""They have seen too much of Nazi brutality, which is really quite insane. A Russian would as soon trust a Bengal tiger as take the word of a Hitlerite. Stalin’s reply to my question was prompt and decisive. They are in this war to the finish, and only beg that you will get help to them as quickly as possible.”

"“We will do our best, Lanny, but we have almost nothing at present. Our shortage of shipping is paralyzing, and the U-boats are playing the very devil with us. The Russians expect a heavy attack this spring, I assume.”

"“They do, and cannot be sure where it will come; that is the disadvantage of defensive warfare. The best guess is that Hitler will concentrate on the south because of the oil, which is his greatest need. It will be an overwhelming attack; he has not been nearly so heavily hit as the Soviet communiqués would have us believe. His retreat was strategic, to prepared winter positions, and not many of his troops were sacrificed. He will no doubt throw in everything he has as soon as the ground is dry. There are millions of Russians, now strong and happy, who will be food for the wolves and the kites when the steppes are dry.""

They spoke about China, and future after war, and U.S. policy. FDR asked about what Lanny wanted to do next, and proposed turning him over to Donovan in service, but Lanny said he preferred to keep on being on the same terms he'd been, without position or salary and reporting directly to FDR. They discussed his ability to pose as art expert, during war, in Europe, and the danger due to underground mistaking his stance for reality. Lanny said he assumed his reality was exposed when his plane crashed in North Atlantic and two passports were found on him, but he'd get a better idea when he contacted his underground contact in Switzerland, and another in Toulon, and he expected letters from them at home in Bienvenu.

FDR spoke about the coming invasion of Europe, which he said he preferred soon and via Cherbourg, but Churchill wanted across Mediterranean via Sicily and Italy to begin with, and the President asked Lanny to speak to people in Vichy and in underground. FDR said Lanny would be given a hundred thousand dollars in his N.Y. bank account for helping the underground with no accounting. Lanny said they'd need arms more than money, and FDR said he could give names of those willing to be known, and FDR would have them helped via Donovan.

They discussed a new code name for Lanny, since in a seance with other people present, Zaharoff had objected to his name being used, and Lanny was worried this might happen again. Lanny needed a couple of weeks for personal needs, family and so forth, and then he'd travel to Southern France and Northern Africa as asked by FDR. He was asked to have tea with family, and met Eleanor Roosevelt. She said she'd call on Laurel, and FDR had already invited Lanny to bring her to meet him.

He went home to the apartment his wife shared with a friend, Agnes, and Laurel told him she was expecting. He told her he'd met Eleanor Roosevelt and she was going to call on her, and Laurel said she should do so, being younger. Lanny suggested she drop a line. He informed her about his leaving for Europe after they spoke about visiting Newcastle next day, and he reassured her he wasn't going into Germany. They visited Newcastle, and Laurel met members of Budd family and clan, and was shown the plant. She was just the right person for Lanny, Esther judged, and told her to consider them as family and call for anything she needed.

Lanny contacted most of his clients by phone this time, and saw only Harlan Winstead who wasn't interested in art from Algeria which was in architècture, but thought a neighbour might be; Lanny met this Mr Vernon, inviting him to lunch and got a letter from him to the effect authorising purchase. Baker arranged his passport and passage on clipper, and Lanny made sure the passport covered all his itinerary. Alston said he was coming to N.Y., and meanwhile Lanny met Jim Stotzlmann and they discussed the boss's security. Jim said the group was still very much active, especially Harrison Dengue and the Chicago guys, and they couldn't stand being in the war on side of Stalin, and patriotism hadn't touched them.

"“You know, Jim,” said Lanny, “the story you told me has haunted me; I doubt if I’ll ever get it out of my mind. We’ve read about how the Roman Republic was overthrown, and so many others in history, but we just can’t bring ourselves to realize how easily the same thing might happen in this country. Just imagine that in the next industrial crisis the labor crowd, or what are called the ‘radicals,’ carried an election, and our big business masters wanted to keep them out; suppose there was an Army cabal, and these men backed it with their money and their newspapers and their radios; suppose they were to seize the newly elected President, hold him incommunicado, and issue orders in his name—what could the rest of us do?”

"“That is just what I keep hammering into my friends, Lanny. They all say: ‘The people would rise.’ But what can the people with shotguns and pitchforks do against modern weapons of war and modern organization? With bombing planes and poison gas a few men could wipe out a whole city; and I know men who are ready to do it—they have said so in plain words.”

"“I could compile a list of a hundred such,” responded Lanny. “It is a danger we shall not be free from so long as capitalism endures; and it is going to die a hard and nasty death.”"

Lanny met Forrest Quadratt and the latter swapped news of the interim months.

"“I have been indicted and convicted, and am under a jail sentence of from eight months to two years.”

"“Good Lord! What for?”

"“They framed me on a preposterous charge. I registered myself as in the employ of German magazines, and they undertook to prove that I was in the employ of the government.”

"“Herrgott, noch einmal! Don’t they know that German magazines are government institutions?”"

"It was hard for Lanny to put the proper amount of feeling into his tone, for he knew what would have happened to a German citizen in Berlin who had made a fortune by serving American magazines or American government agencies in circulating pro-Allied propaganda throughout the Fatherland. That was the advantage which the ruthless men had over the mild and honorable in this world, and how the balance was to be righted was a problem indeed! ... Lanny tried subtly and carefully to find out if there might not be another hope, that of replacing Franklin D. Roosevelt as Commander-in-Chief of the American Armed Forces. Lanny mentioned that he was getting in touch with that powerful personality, Mr. Harrison Dengue, but Forrest didn’t take the bait; he wasn’t going to discuss the junta, even if he knew anything about it.

"Could it possibly have occurred to him that the son of Budd-Erling might have changed his point of view when he discovered himself under the Japanese bombs and shells? Certainly Forrest must have known that Budd-Erling was now turning out a superior type of fighter plane, and he must have been warned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was employing many sorts of agents and disguises in its secret war on American Nazism. It might be that Berlin had informed him that Lanny had visited Stalin. Lanny waited for some hint on the subject, but none came. He decided at last that he was wasting his evening. He excused himself, went home, and took his two ladies out to a late supper."

Lanny met Alston who wanted to know all about Lanny and his past half a year, too, and meanwhile had some things to tell.

"“We have to be sure that what we are sending the Russians actually reaches the front; for we are sustaining grave losses on the route to Murmansk, so great that we may have to discontinue it.” ....“Did they give any hint of the possibility of having to quit?”

"“All the way through China and Siberia and Russia proper, we never heard any word but of resistance to the last gasp. You can count upon that as a gift from Hitler. He is the most hated man that has appeared upon the stage of history for many centuries.”"

Lanny asked him if his last mission that had gone astray, when his plane had crashed off Nova Scotia, had really been completed, and U.S. had the information.

"“The rule still holds, that we never speak the words atomic fission except when it is absolutely necessary. But I can say this: we are ahead of the Germans and expect to keep ahead.” .... “Nothing can be absolutely sure in matters of scientific research. We know what the signs are at the moment, but nobody can know what some German physicist may have hit upon last night.” .... “The Chief was quite positive that he didn’t want to send you into Germany again, Lanny.”

"“He told me that. But I told him about my German contact in Geneva, and he was willing for me to go there.”

"“It would be foolhardy for us to risk taking any German into our confidence in this matter. The outcome of the war might depend upon it, and the whole future of humanity.”"

"“Let me tell you a little about this man. I have known him since before Hitler. He was vouched for by the woman who later became my second wife. I have never told you about her; not even my mother or my father knows about her. She was a devoted Socialist Party member, and her first husband was murdered by the Nazis; she became a worker in the underground, and died in Dachau concentration camp, in spite of my best efforts to save her. The man I am talking about helped me in trying to rescue her; before that he was in Spain and proved his loyalty in the fires of that civil war; he rose to be a capitán. That surely ought to be enough evidence of his trustworthiness.”

"“I grant you that, Lanny. But what can he do now?”

"“He had quite an extraordinary contact in Germany, apparently someone in Göring’s own headquarters. He was able to give me the date of the invasion of Holland and Belgium, and later that of Norway, and I sent this information to the President. The last time I saw this man, about a year ago, he told me he had lost that contact but hoped to get another. He might have it now.”"

"“That is just where the trouble comes in, Lanny. He may have a new contact that he trusts, and it may turn out to be a Gestapo agent playing with him. We simply cannot take such chances with the atomic bomb.”

"“I grant you that, Professor. But let us consider whether there might not be some information my man could get without having to know what it is for.”

"“That would be difficult, for the reason that the information is so highly technical that any scientist would know at once what the man was after and could infer what stage we had reached in our research.”

"“Let me make a suggestion or two. If we could find out whether the Germans have increased their production of graphite, wouldn’t that tell us something?”

"“In the first place, the fact that we are using graphite to moderate the speed of neutrons is one of the most priceless of our secrets; and second, German production wouldn’t tell us much, because graphite is used for many war purposes and comparatively little of it is needed as a moderator.”

"“Well, then, how about heavy water? That, as I understand it, is difficult to produce and not much of it exists.”

"“That is true. If your man could find out if and where the Germans are making heavy water in large quantities, we should have a number-one bombing target.”

"“And how about Professor Schilling? Can his name be mentioned?”

"“I fear we have to say no to that. Schilling is a nuclear physicist and nothing else, and we know that the Nazis have him at that job. We cannot risk having anybody know that he is on our side.”

"“If I could find out where a number of such physicists are employed, wouldn’t that be important?”

"“We already have that information, I believe; but I do not know what use is being made of it. I am only admitted to the fringes of these ultra-secret matters.”

"“This is true, is it not, that the quantity production of fissionable material would require a large plant; and if my man could find out where such a plant is located, wouldn’t that be worth while?”

"“I have to admit that that would be a major achievement.”

"“This is the way it appears to me: the Germans must know that we know the possibility of atom splitting, and they would certainly expect us to try to find out about what they are doing. I don’t have to give my man any hint that we are working on the project. Can’t I just tell him what has been in the scientific journals prior to the war, and ask if he can find out any more on this subject?”

"“I should say there would be no harm in that; but it would be an exceedingly dangerous matter for your man and for his contacts.”

"“That is up to him. I will tell him the facts, as I have always done, and leave it to him to use his judgment. I suppose the same thing goes for jet propulsion, which Robbie tells me he is working on very secretly; and for rocket projectiles, and so on. The Germans are known to be working on these, and it surely wouldn’t be any news, to them that we are trying to catch up.”

"“If your man were able to get us real news about these matters, we’d award him a D.S.M. when the war is over.”

"“To award him American citizenship might be more to the point,” opined Lanny.

"“We shall see.”

"They talked about the presidential agent’s own job, what information he might get in Vichy territory, and what use was likely to be made of it. Alston said that he agreed with the Chief in thinking that they ought to open a second front across the Channel in the summer of 1942, if only for the sake of its effect upon the Russians. “Even if we could do no more than establish a bridgehead, it would pay us in the long run, however costly. But between you and me, Lanny, I don’t think we are going to be able to budge Churchill on this issue. I appreciate him as a propagandist, but he fancies himself also as a military strategist, and I fear he is somewhat vain on the subject. Certainly I have found him hard to argue with; he does all the talking.”

"“I can imagine it,” responded Lanny with a grin. “He was so glad to get his troops off that shore, no doubt the idea of sending them back again gives him nightmares.”

"“He argues that our American troops are utterly untested, and who can be sure they would stand the punishment they would get from the Panzers and from the overhead strafing?”

"“To say nothing of the subs on the way across, Professor. You can be sure that Hitler would throw in everything he has to make good the promises he has fed to his own people. It would be a life and death matter for him.”

"“I have listened to the arguments of the military men on both sides; there is very little agreement among them. We shift in our discussions from Cherbourg to Dakar, to Casablanca, Algiers, and Tunis. Then Churchill takes us to Salonika and the Vardar valley, and even to his old stamping ground of Gallipoli. Then we come back to Cherbourg. But this much I can tell you quite surely: no information that you bring us and no contacts that you make in Unoccupied France and in North Africa will be wasted. We shall surely be landing there before this war is over, and meantime we have to defend ourselves there, to the extent of keeping Laval out of power and Franco properly worried.”

"“The Governor seemed to think there was no longer any danger of a German attack upon Gibraltar.”

"“It would appear that the time for that has passed. Franco’s demands were more than Hitler was willing to meet; and now, I think, Franco has been brought to realize that we mean business, and he will continue to hold his precarious seat upon the fence.”

"“F.D.R. didn’t seem very clear in his mind whether I am to be an American patriot or a sympathizer with Fascism in my secret heart. It will hardly be possible to play both roles, at least not for long.”

"“Nobody can tell you about that, Lanny. You will have to go and find out what changes a year has made, and what your probable sources of information are, and then make your own decision as to which side of the fence to be on. A lot of Frenchmen will be doing the same, I fancy.”

"“No doubt about that!” agreed the P.A. with a touch of bitterness."

Last day before Lanny was to leave, Agnes thoughtfully kept herself away, with work and an evening out, but they couldn't say much. Lanny couldn't talk about work except that he'd likely travel to Vichy France, and they didn't want to show emotion. Lanny might be safely home by midsummer when Laurel was to give birth, and meanwhile she'd written an article about her visit to Red China which was not in accord with general thinking, but she was determined not to change it. She planned to visit her aunt, Mrs Holdenhurst, in Baltimore, after Lanny left, and tell her all they knew about the Oriole .

Lanny refrained from suggesting a seance, since Laurel's seance before his last trip to Europe had warned of danger, but Laurel wanted it so they went ahead with it. This time there was no such warning, but Otto Kahn battered with him, Zaharoff wanted him to pay the man and Marjorie came too, saying she was happy he had behaved better with her granddaughter; but when Lanny spoke, she was displeased and spoke directly, telling him he was being flippant. Laurel woke, and they were relieved about lack of warning of danger.

Robbie sent his man to drive the car back to Newcastle after seeing off Lanny and dropping Laurel back, and she cried later in her pillow.

"P.A. 103 had been placed in the care of “Pan-Am,” with his expenses mysteriously paid. He was not being routed by way of Bermuda because he was in the black books of the British government, which had become suspicious of his intimacy with Rudolf Hess and other leading Nazis. Lanny’s route was via San Juan in Puerto Rico, and thence to the port of Belém in Brazil; he would cross the ocean to a place called Bolamo in Portuguese West Africa, and from there go on to Lisbon. It wasn’t as roundabout as it looked on the maps, and anyhow, distances aren’t so important when you rise eight thousand feet into the air and there are no enemy planes to bother you.

"He was traveling in a million-dollar contrivance, one of mankind’s most surprising achievements. He was one of thirty-three passengers who were provided with every comfort and were looked after by nine young men and one young woman, all carefully trained and clad in natty blue uniforms. Each passenger had an upholstered seat, which at night was made into a bed. There was a buffet where you might help yourself to a variety of tasty foods; there were magazines to read, and a push button which would bring you the services of the good-looking young stewardess."

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but less than the previous books in the series. About WWII with Lanny Budd a competent/ almost heroic Forest Gump like person - every where doing everything in the war - up to 1943 but published in 1946.
The war was already done and FDR was dead and the authors liberties putting words in FDRs mouth and his postures and positions about capitalism, Sinclair was a very left socialist, keep rising and exceeding their reasonable place. Of course the world is free of the Nazi threat - he focused on the fascists (maybe because they threatened Russia which so many socialists of that era supported) - and really linked the greed philosophy of power people there with those of the capitalistic world.
But this was the eighth book, and I own the rest of the series, on Kindle, and each chapter is. a fast read and interest facts about some personalities are revealed (often to be refined - verified with outside sources) and as I can read a few of his days easily each day he is a friend and companion in this year of Covid - his changing views may cost him my friend ship.
Also in this volume he gets a bit too sentimental - but in line with the character's self focus (not selfishly but always there).
I would so far recommend the whole series

[Clyde · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had planned to read all of Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels. But, I had to drag myself through this one, and I think it will be my final one. Perhaps by this time Sinclair was just grinding through the best-selling formula he had created. Or perhaps it is just that I have tired of both Lanny Budd and Sinclair's writing style. (I still think the early books in the series are quite good.)
Anyway, just two stars from me for this one. YMMV.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Lanny Budd installment. Sinclair delivers the goods. You can quibble about the imperfections of the author and his deadline-driven series of dashing spy adventures, but there's nothing else quite like them. An excellent document of the period and very useful for placing the World Wars in the context of capital versus labor.

[Sekhar N Banerjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An OK read - nothing to write home about

Though on the whole, a good read, I did not like the episodes inside Germany with Hitler and Goering. It sounded too artificial and fabricated. So also Lanny’s parachute escape and landing in the desert - it was absolutely amateurish and was not expected from an author of his repute.

[Mark Zodda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good entry in the series, this one published in 1946. In contrast with some of the earlier books in the series, in this one, foreknowledge of how World War II ends and of the scientific advances that helped to drive that end, lessens the suspense and adds a touch of inevitability to the writing. It also loses something that made the earlier books more interesting. Still a worthwhile read.

[Timothy Haggerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving the story along

Another addition to the series. Although being fiction there is a lot of history to unpack in each volume. I am often down a rabbit hole looking up names and places.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a part of an eleven book series, so it may not have its full impact if not read as a component of the series. However, it is a great read by itself and if you only have time for one volume, this is a good choice.

[alison mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

another winner

This entire series has become my ‘fix’. It’s fascinating, beautifully written and the breathe and scope are astounding. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.

[Bsldavio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fiction

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting historical insights.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long detailed read. So many historical figures. USA, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, North Africa, Sweden... Very exciting in parts.

[Greta G. Hambsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lanny's adventures in this volume crossed into the totally unbelievable. As in the other books, the chronology of the war effort was very helpful.

[Deborah Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

What more can I say?

This series is enthralling on so many levels : history, deplomacy, economics, sociology, adventure. I am rushing through each book, eager for the next.

[Robert Losee · Rating 4 out of 5]

great

This the second time reading theLanny Budd. Series and just gets better. I forgot how really the books are, each one on its own way.

[Dustincecil · Rating 2 out of 5]

this one was a bit of a yawner...
a lot of the same old story rehashed.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another thousand pages of Lanny Budd.

[Stephen Courts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Presidential Mission is the eighth book in the epic World’s End Lanny Budd series written by Upton Sinclair in 1947. This thrilling book covers the period of history between 1942 and 1943. The reader has read of the many adventures of Lanny Budd, world citizen extraordinary, who has used his art expertise and Fascist and Nazi sympathies as camouflage for his work as Presidential Agent 103 for President Roosevelt since 1938.

The beginning of the end of Nazism and Fascism has begun with the weight of the United States military entering the World War at the end of 1941. Now as US troops, planes, ships and political will escalates, particularly in North Africa, Lanny is sent by FDR to Algiers in advance of the American and British African invasion with an ingenious plan to fool the German High Command as to where the United States will strike first. The Allies are preparing for the massive invasion of Germany across the English Channel Lanny is sent to Algiers to convince the French to stand together as the Allies prepare for the North African landing. This is no small task. France is half controlled by Nazi Germany and the rest under semi German control under the Vichy Government. The large industrialist and bankers want to make peace with Germany so that they can continue to control the economy and their way of life, while the underground, the liberals, socialists and workers in general want a free democratically run government, if not a socialist one.

There is an interesting interview Lanny has with the devilish Juan March, the financier of Franco and his gangsters who have taken control of the previously democratically elected Spanish government. As a Nazi sympathizer he attempts to get Lanny to convince FRD and Churchill that a truce with Germany would be the best for Europe and the United States. All that Hitler wants is to end the “Red Menace” (Russia) and maintain the countries which he has already seized and the British Empire can remain as is. The United States can have Central and South America as well as Japan. This type of intrigue is prevalent throughout the entire book The ultra rich aristocrats who simply want to retain their wealth and power and keep the unions and workers down. (Does this sound eerily familiar?)

Lanny is instructed by FDR to visit General Stalin to enlist the Russians as allies in the war against the Nazi’s and Fascists. In one of the most spectacular of Lanny’s adventures, he must parachute from a damaged airplane taking him to Moscow into the Sahara desert. For Lanny this is the most danger he has ever been in. He nearly dies of thirst until rescued by a caravan of Arab camel drivers. He is then forced back into Germany as the caravan approaches a German road block. In Germany Lanny plays his usual role with Hitler and the Nazi’s. By now Hitler has made his fatal decision to make war on two fronts, against Britain and now his former ally, Stalin and the Russians. In an amusing scene, Lanny having visited Hess in his prison cell and having asked Hess for something to prove that he has met Hess, is given Hess’s wedding band given to Hess by Hitler that is specifically engraved. This piece of jewelry is priceless to Lanny’s work for FDR as he attempts to gather information as to how far along the Germans scientists are with atomic fission and heavy water and jet propulsion. All of this intrigue goes on as Berlin is incessantly bombed.

If the reader wishes to fully appreciate this great historical narrative I strongly encourage the reader to begin with World’s End and read the series in the order in which Upton painstakingly and meticulously wrote the eleven books. There are only three books left after Presidential Mission and you will hardly be able to wait to read them.

Please visit our website at: www.uptonsinclairinstitute.com. You may also contact the publisher, Frederick Ellis at frederick659@yahoo.com or me at jsc12109@hotmail.com. On the site you can read reviews of all eleven books and learn much much more about Upton and his life and works. You may also purchase the series at up to 30% off list price by buying direct from the publisher. Quality is guaranteed.

Stephen Courts
Columbus, Ohio
August 12, 2011

[Warren J. Schatz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book in the Lanny Budd series

This is another volume in the Lanny Budd series that covers the period from before WWI to after WWII. It takes you along the personal experiences of the presidential agent and teaches the history of that period in a detailed way from an unusual perspective. A must read for anyone who is not only looking for an excellent series to read, but is also fascinated with this critical time in world history.