Saving a Continent Quotes

“That Russia would become such a power in the world had been foreseen as long ago as the 1830s by Alexis de Tocqueville, who said, in a famous passage from Democracy in America, that even then, “There are on earth today two great peoples, who, from different points of departure, seem to be advancing toward the same end. They are the Anglo-Americans and the Russians. . . . All the other peoples appear to have attained approximately their natural limits, and to have nothing left but to conserve their positions; but these two are growing. . . . To attain his end, the first depends on the interest of the individual person, and allows the force and intelligence of individuals to act freely, without directing them. The second in some way concentrates all the power of society in one man. The one has liberty as the chief way of doing things; the other servitude. Their points of departure are divergent; nevertheless, each seems summoned by a secret design of providence to hold in his hands, some day, the destinies of half the world.”
― Charles L. Mee Jr., Saving a Continent: The Untold Story of the Marshall Plan

“advice to work hard, keep his mouth shut till he knew the ropes, and answer his mail.”
― Charles L. Mee Jr., Saving a Continent: The Untold Story of the Marshall Plan

“Lincoln asked his cabinet’s advice on the Emancipation Proclamation everyone voted no, except for Lincoln, who voted “aye” and then announced, “The ayes have it.”
― Charles L. Mee Jr., Saving a Continent: The Untold Story of the Marshall Plan

“Britain, in the memorable phrase of another young State Department officer, “was like a soldier wounded in war who, now that the fighting was over, was bleeding to death.”
― Charles L. Mee Jr., Saving a Continent: The Untold Story of the Marshall Plan