Comes the Reckoning

by Robert H. Lockhart

This book is a complete review of propaganda's role in World War II as seen by the wartime Deputy Under-Secretary of State and Director-General of the Political Warfare Executive for England. The volume is a professional autobiography, concentrating only on the war years, and providing fascinating details into Britain's approaches and successes/failures in psychological warfare.

384 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1947

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1947, this is Lockhart's memoir for the years 1938 to 1945. Just after the start of WWII, Lockhart was recruited by the Foreign Office to serve as a Liaison Officer to the government-in-exile of Czechoslovakia. Later on, in 1941, he was appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Political Warfare Executive, the entity responsible for propaganda activities directed at Germany and occupied Europe. He held this position until the end of the war. This memoir chronicles the main events of the war, as seen from Lockhart's perspective within the bureaucracy of the wartime government. As in Lockhart's earlier work Memoirs of a British Agent the book owes much to the author's descriptions and commentary on meetings and anecdotes involving well known politicians and military figures of the day, among them, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Winston Churchill, Dr. Edvard Benes, Anthony Eden, Lord Beaverbrook, General Eisenhower and General Bedell Smith, to name only a few. These passages give the reader an insider's view of the personalities of these larger than life public figures. Unlike Memoirs of a British Agent the book offers very little in the way of action or tension. It's mostly a world of meetings, memos and phone calls, interspersed with dinners and drinks, all within a very encompassing bureaucratic cocoon. Important things are always happening - somewhere else. News of these events always arrives - second hand. And yet, in spite of the bureaucratic setting, Lockhart somehow manages to make this an interesting and compelling read. This is largely due to his personable writing style, which I found very engaging. I liked the fact that in his descriptions of others, he mainly focuses on their positives (perhaps a necessary trait in a wartime bureaucracy). I also enjoyed his soul searching on his personal life and circumstances and his reflections on the social and political realities facing the U.K. during the war and in its aftermath. Four stars for the writing, and the close-up views and comments on so many of the political and military figures on the Allied side of WWII.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Lockhart was a member of the British government and largely responsible for propaganda during WWII. He was a liaison to the governments in exile in Britain, particularly to the Czechoslovakian representative, Dr. Benes. This book was published in 1947 and has very interesting facts about the war from the British point of view. Highly recommend!! Kristi & Abby