One Clear Call

Lanny Budd #9

by Upton Sinclair

As D-Day approaches, an American spy is unmasked by Himmler’s Gestapo and must flee the Nazis, in this novel in the Pulitzer Prize–winning historical saga.

In 1943, the once-unstoppable Nazi war machine is starting to falter. For a decade and a half, Lanny Budd’s cover as a fine-art dealer and Fascist sympathizer has held firm, earning him the confidence of Hermann Göring and other top officials, including Adolf Hitler himself. With the Allies preparing to retake Europe, Lanny must make certain that the location of the invasion remains hidden from the Nazi high command. But his mission is compromised and his life endangered when Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s feared Gestapo chief, uncovers Lanny’s true loyalties.
 
Now FDR’s most trusted spy must run for his life, escaping into the European countryside with Hitler’s executioners on his trail. His survival will require great courage, endurance, and ingenuity, but Lanny Budd is determined to live long enough to witness what he has waited so many years to the final collapse of the Third Reich.
 
One Clear Call is the thrilling ninth installment 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, War, Classics, American, American History, 20th Century

948 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1948

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

[Jim A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1948, Sinclair's politics are obvious in the writing. The protagonist, Lanny Budd, is a bosom buddy of FDR. In fact, he is P.A. (Presidential Agent) who does special jobs for FDR.

This adventure comes in the middle of a series featuring Budd. I found many references to earlier adventures making it hard to follow at times. Clearly, several contemporary writers have used the Budd character as inspiration for some of their protagonists.

Those readers who like the spy thriller genre should give this one a look. Special price at Amazon as I write this. An earlier Budd thriller won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for Upton Sinclair. He does spin a story, albeit a very long story.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is from a Tennyson verse, "Sunset, and evening star, and one clear call for me."

One Clear Call begins exactly where the previous volume, Presidential Mission, left the reader, more or less; that is, Lanny and family are in West Coast, Florida, on a much earned holiday. Lanny and Laurel are in a small boat early in the morning, watching the ocean sparkling blue, with occasional colourful fish flying and dropping back into the water.

"Along the shore, lined with palm trees and small houses of white, blue, and coral pink, flew a procession of pelicans, gray birds which moved their wings with slow dignity and permitted nothing to disturb their course."

A call came for Lanny, and they packed up and left to drive back.

"As they drove they listened to the radio, familiar voices of men whom they had never seen, telling them the events of the hour and explaining their import. The Japanese were being cleaned out of the Aleutians, and the Americans were holding on desperately at Guadalcanal in the Solomons; the Allies were bombing the island of Pantelleria in the Mediterranean, also various cities in the Ruhr; the Russians and Germans were sparring like two boxers, all along a two-thousand-mile line, and it was a problem which of them would begin the expected major onslaught. The airwaves echoed with Russian clamor for a second front and their refusal to accept the Mediterranean attack as an equivalent."

They drove into Washington D.C. in time to bathe and dine before Lanny went off for his appointment with the President. FDR said he needed a trusted man in Italy, because the one who'd been sent had passed on due to heart failure. Lanny spoke enough Italian to get along, and wasn't required to pose as a native. This was June 1943, just before U.S. forces were to go into Sicily, and Lanny opined that Italians were unlikely to resist.

"“What we want is to convince the Italians on the mainland that they’ve been backing the wrong horse. We’ve got the big airfields in Tunisia in working order, and we’re turning on the heat. We have grave questions to consider—for example, shall we bomb Rome? We’ll take pains to avoid hitting the Vatican and the churches; but the immense marshaling yards of the railroads are there, serving the whole peninsula to the south. Putting the railroads out of order is our most important single job.”

"“That ought to be easy,” Lanny ventured, “because they have so many tunnels.”

"“Tunnels have proved to be difficult targets for airmen; but saboteurs can get them, and we have people working on that. What I want is to have someone make contacts with the governing class and explain what unconditional surrender will mean to them. We don’t want to humiliate them, we don’t come as conquerors, but as liberators of the Italian people.”

"“But it won’t be so easy in Italy, for there the government people have the Germans on their necks. They’ll be scared as the devil; and they’re not the most dependable people in the world.”"

Lanny told the president about his being escorted out with Marie De Bruyne when fascists had kidnapped and murdered Matteotti, and Lanny tried communicating about it.

"The arrangement was that Lanny was to report to “Wild Bill” Donovan in the morning, and the Italian section of OSS would give him a thorough briefing. How he was to get into Il Duce’s realm, where he was to go and whom he was to meet, all that would be talked out, and then Lanny would report to the Boss for final instructions. His reports would have to come through OSS channels, for, alas, the United States had no ambassador and no consuls anywhere in Italy."

The usual ways of OSS wouldn't do, and Lanny met FDR again to explain he couldn't go with false papers to meet people of aristocracy and others in command in Italy, since there were Germans everywhere and hundreds of people knew him, so if caught he'd be known as a spy. On the other hand he had the perfect cover, having been given errand personally by Hitler recently to bring him information, and he could say he was in Italy on trail of someone from U.S..

"“Can you get him to believe that?”

"“I can make it impossible for him not to believe it, because the OSS can give me facts about loyal Italians here. That won’t do them any harm because Hitler can’t get at them, and his Intelligence doubtless knows about them anyhow. Meantime I have an excuse to meet the Roman governing class and play my double game with them.”

"“You’ll have to give Hitler some results to justify such an effort, won’t you?”

"“I won’t tell him anything that will do him any good, or our friends in Italy any harm. If I tell him that some of his Italian supporters are double-crossing him, how is he going to be sure? In his heart he doesn’t trust any Italian that breathes, and I might find a way to ball up his affairs for quite a time.”

"“All right, Lanny. Have it your way. What do you want from us?”

"“Just to be set ashore from a PT-boat on some beach near Ostia. They’d better carry one of those little kayaks, because I’d like to be dry-shod—there’s a lot in first appearances. I present myself to a German patrol and ask to be taken to Marshal Kesselring—he was a guest at Berchtesgaden the last time I was there. He may remember me, for there were a lot of both Nazis and Junkers who didn’t approve of the Führer’s having an American in his home at that critical time. When I meet him I’ll ask him to call Berlin 116191, and he won’t fail to be impressed by my having the Führer’s private telephone number. I’ll give Hitler my spiel, with the General listening, and the Führer will order me turned loose to do his work.”

"“That may be all right with the Germans, but what about the Italian police?”

"“Kesselring will give me a pass that will be good throughout the country. The Nazis are running it more completely every day.”

"“But that will mean you are stamped as a German agent, and you will meet only the wrong sort of people.”

"“That will serve the purpose pretty nearly as well. It’s like the negative of a photograph—it shows the same details, only everything is in reverse. The pro-German Italians will know who the pro-Americans are and will talk about them. General Donovan will give me the address of our ‘post office’ in Rome, so that I can send messages to you, and if there should be an important reason for my meeting any of our friends in Italy I can make myself known to the ‘post office’ and ask them to check on me with Donovan.”

"“All that’s going to be pretty risky business, Lanny.”

"“I’ll promise to use every precaution. I’ll be guided by circumstances and not take any steps that won’t pay off. When I’ve done all I can, I’ll see what I run into at the Führer’s headquarters.”"

FDR said Jim Stotzlmann was in town, and Lanny called him. They met over breakfast.

"“The Boss told me you’ve been having adventures.” After they had given their orders and the waiter had departed Lanny said, “I’m having an adventure now, and it mustn’t be mentioned. I want to find out something about the Italians in New York—those who are with us and those who are against us.”

"Jim’s face lighted up. “Good! I’ll introduce you to a dozen.”

"“No,” Lanny said, “I don’t want to meet them through you. It has to be by accident.” One secret agent didn’t have to say more to another.

"The heir of the Stotzlmanns thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll tell you. Come to Mrs. McLean’s shindig tonight. Everybody comes, and there’ll surely be one or two sons of sunny Italy among them.”

"“Can you get me an invitation?”

"“You won’t need it. She lets her close friends bring their friends."

"Lanny hesitated, then added, “We’ve just motored up from Florida. My wife is with me.”

"“Bring her along of course.”

"Lanny still hesitated. “My wife is a bit on the formal side. I don’t think she has ever been to an affair where she wasn’t invited.”

"“All right, I’ll get Evalyn to send her a note.”

"So, later on, Lanny went upstairs and told his wife what was coming. Her first remark was, “I have no clothes!”

"Lanny said, “Go and get yourself an outfit this morning. This is a show you mustn’t miss.”

"“I’m nobody to those people, Lanny.”

"“Yes, but they’re somebodies to you. Someday you’ll be writing a novel about Washington, and Evalyn Walsh McLean is made to order for you. Get yourself the right things so that you can look like one of them and feel at home.”

"“That might cost a thousand dollars, Lanny.”

The figure did not startle the son of Beauty Budd. “It’ll come back to you in royalties,” he declared. “Cast your bread upon the waters!”"

Laurel went shopping after Lanny had established his credit and cashed a cheque, while Lanny went to OSS to arrange his being flown to Tunis and dropped at a convenient beach. He was given a stack of documents to study, no notes.

"He found that they had done a thorough job on the aloof Roman aristocracy, also the military, the big industrialists, the political personalities. They had done it for every city, town, and village which could by any chance be involved in the war, pro or anti. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had hunted through their scrapbooks and their attics for photographs and letters, guidebooks, railroad timetables, hotel circulars—everything that might by chance yield a scrap of information useful to a secret agent or to the Armed Forces. Thousands of people had searched in the libraries, in museums, in the records of business concerns, in consular reports. Millions of details had been gathered and classified, and a P.A. might have sat in that little cubicle for a month or two and compiled material about the places he was going to visit and the people he would meet. But by that time it would be too late. His Boss had allowed him only two or three days in Washington and New York, in order to collect a few yarns to tell to the Führer of the Germans, who was mad north-northwest.

"When the P.A. came back, toward seven o’clock, he found his wife transformed. She was wearing a lovely pale blue evening gown, of that kind of simplicity which costs like smoke. She had followed his instructions and gone to a “good” place; she was proud of herself because she had found a dress that became her and had cost only three hundred dollars. Fortunately you didn’t wear a hat to an evening party, and all she had had to buy were shoes and gloves to match, and, of course, stockings, and a little handbag that had cost fifty dollars, and a handkerchief for thirty-five. She would not attempt to compete with Mrs. McLean’s Hope diamond, said to be worth several millions; Laurel would appear without jewels.

"When the pair came down to the lobby, Jim took one glance at the lady, whom he had never met before; he saw that she was “right,” and Lanny saw that he saw it. That is the way matters go in the smart world; you are “right,” and your woman is “right,” and if you’re not you don’t go but once."

They drove to the party.

"You couldn’t avoid noticing the great lady’s jewelry, nor were you supposed to. Two pear-shaped diamonds hung from her ears, and a great ruby surrounded by diamonds hung by a gold chain across her forehead. Chains of diamonds dangled all over her, and miscellaneous jewels gleamed from her fingers. The pièce de résistance was the famed Hope diamond said to be the largest in the world. It hung from a chain over her bosom and was set off by diamond sunbursts, one pinned to her dress on each side. If you expressed interest in the Hope—and of course that was why it was there—you would be invited to lift it by the chain and feel its weight; but you had to promise not to touch it, because there was an old tradition that ill luck befell anyone who so presumed."

Jim went looking for Italians since Lanny wanted to meet them, although it wasn't easy since ladies were eager to be with Jim, he was unattached post his fourth divorce and very eligible, and kind to them, but he was lucky and met the one.

"Friendship House was the council hall of all the New-Deal haters in the national capital. Here Lanny shook hands with the all-powerful Mr. Harrison Dengue, who not long ago had been working on a plan to have President Roosevelt kidnaped from his Hyde Park home and kept under the orders of persons who wanted to stop lend-lease to Russia. Here he shook hands with Congressman Ham Fish, who had allowed the Nazi agents in this country to use his congressional frank to mail out literature written by a Nazi agent. Here he met multi-millionaire Jimmie Cromwell, and publisher Cissie Patterson, and Igor Cassini, her venomous little “society” columnist.

"But Lanny was looking especially for Italians; and by extraordinary good fortune, when he and his wife entered one of the four big dining-rooms, he discovered himself seated next to the person of all persons whom he would have chosen. What had happened was that Jim had got the ear of the hostess and mentioned that his friend, the son of Budd-Erling, was interested in meeting this product of the melting pot; and Evalyn had beckoned to her steward, or whoever it was that stood near awaiting her orders. The place cards were shifted, and thus Signor Generoso Pope found himself in conversation with an agreeable gentleman who had been raised almost at the front door of Signor Pope’s native land, who had traveled all through it by motorcar, knew its cities, its art treasures and cathedrals, and had met pretty nearly every distinguished person the Signor could name."

Lanny set out to make himself agreeable.

"A warm friendship was struck up; and when the Signor learned that Mr. Budd was proceeding to New York next day, he asked the pleasure of taking him in his car. Lanny said he was delighted, and didn’t mention anything about having a wife and baby and a car of his own. Laurel would drive that car to New York, and Lanny would ride with the publisher; he would deplore the war, and also the New Deal and its extravagances, and lead this exuberant son of the south to pour out his troubled soul. When the ride was over, Lanny would know pretty nearly everything he wanted to know about the near-Fascists and the crypto-Fascists of the Italian colony of New York; and about the nine Italian generals who had been captured in North Africa and were now interned in Tennessee, from where they were diligently working for a separate peace. All this for the price of one evening ensemble, which his wife would carefully preserve for other occasions when it might be necessary to help her husband meet the “right” sort of people."

Laurel saw that Lanny was looking at Italian pamphlets spread on table, and she knew what it meant. Lanny came across an address by Otto Kahn given by him twenty years ago at Wesleyan University advising people to trust Mussolini, and he told Laurel about it. They decided to try a seance, which Laurel now only did in Lanny's presence alone, since his work was confidential and spirits might say something. Otto Kahn came, and Lanny talked with him.

"“By the way, Otto, I just happened to come upon a copy of an address which you delivered at Wesleyan University almost twenty years ago.” ... “I believe the record shows that before he marched on Rome—in a sleeping car—Mussolini got the assurance of the American Ambassador, Richard Washburn Child, that he would get a loan of two hundred million dollars from J. P. Morgan and Company.”"

Otto Kahn was urbane as ever, remarking about one making mistakes.

"“You ought to be ashamed of yourself! My father bought some of those bonds.”

"“Well, Lanny,” was the reply, “they will always be good for wallpaper. I used to have a friend who had covered one wall of his rumpus room with souvenirs of his wrong guesses. It turned out that he had to spoil the job by peeling one of the documents off the wall. It was mining stock, and it paid the cost of the whole house. Tell your father to hold on to his bonds, because Fascism may come back—someday we may find that we need it in our own business.”"

Lanny got serious and told Otto that American forces were about to go over to Italy, and Otto could help by finding someone who knew Italy.

"“There is a man here who was young when he died; he is dark, smooth-shaven, an intellectual; handsome fellow. He says you tried to help him.”

"“What did I do?”

"“He was murdered, and you tried to tell the world about it. He is very grateful.”

"“That must be Matteotti. Can he speak directly to me?”

"“He says he will try, but his English is not good.” Lanny replied in Italian, “My Italian is not good either, but I understand it. You must know that a martyr does not die in vain. The name of Giacomo Matteotti is known not merely in Italy, but also to liberal-minded people throughout the world. They have learned that the cowardly Mussolini ordered your murder because he dared not face the exposure of his regime that you were making in the Chamber of Deputies. The world understands that you spoke for democratic Socialism, the hope of all enlightened elements in Western Europe now.”

"A grave man’s voice replied through the lips of the entranced woman. “The proof of Mussolini’s guilt exists. It is in a memorial of Filippo Filipelli, who was editor of the Fascist newspaper, Corriere Italiano, and the man who provided the assassin Dumini with the car in which I was carried away. That memorial has been suppressed for nineteen years. You should try to get a copy of it. My son Matteo will help you.”

"“I cannot take the chance of meeting members of the underground at present. What I need is the names of those in power who are ready to break with the tyrant.”

"“Galeazzo Ciano is a scoundrel, but he sees that his father-in-law’s days are numbered, and he will seek to save his own skin. One of the men who carried Mussolini’s orders to Dumini is Giovanni Contarelli, and he is one you should meet. He was then Parliamentary Secretary of the Fascist party and served his master well, but now he knows that his idol is about to tumble.”

"“Are there others?”

"The voice replied, “Cesare Rossi, head of the Press Bureau, and Aldo Finzi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, also prepared memorials concerning Mussolini’s guilt. It is necessary to be careful in dealing with these men. They are like weathercocks which turn quickly, according to the shifting of the wind.”"

Lanny was flown via Bermuda and Azores to Marrakech, and they saw a convoy below before Bermuda. He answered his mother's queries about Little Lanny - his hair was still blond, but the blue eyes had turned brown - and about Robbie. Beauty asked if Bienvenu would be safe. Little Marcel Detaze was at home in the hotel and made friends with everybody, and wished uncle Lanny could stay longer. Lanny told Beauty about Vittorio being prisoner of war. Lanny was flown to Algiers and met Bob, and was flown further, with a suitcase and his own passport, in a bomber plane. He intended to be taken for a German by Italians. At Bizerte he was met by someone from navy and taken in a jeep, and asked how he wished to go to Ostia, and they discussed seaplane and submarine. Lieutenant Ferguson had brought a basket of lunch, and they had a picnic while he told Lanny about being a painter in Italy and mimicked Germans speaking Italian. He liked Italians but loathed the Germans, and Italians shared the feelings.

"Italy had been at war for three years and hadn’t been able to beat even the Greeks; the Italians were humiliated, hungry—and helpless.

"The program was to knock out the Mussolini gang and make a deal with the higher Army officers and the big business crowd, who would be ready to come over to our side as soon as we were ashore in force. That was the way to take advantage of the anti-German sentiment in Italy; the way to get the fleet and the air bases and save the lives of American soldiers."

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is from a Tennyson verse, "Sunset, and evening star, and one clear call for me."

One Clear Call begins exactly where the previous volume, Presidential Mission, left the reader, more or less; that is, Lanny and family are in West Coast, Florida, on a much earned holiday. Lanny and Laurel are in a small boat early in the morning, watching the ocean sparkling blue, with occasional colourful fish flying and dropping back into the water.

"Along the shore, lined with palm trees and small houses of white, blue, and coral pink, flew a procession of pelicans, gray birds which moved their wings with slow dignity and permitted nothing to disturb their course."

A call came for Lanny, and they packed up and left to drive back.

"As they drove they listened to the radio, familiar voices of men whom they had never seen, telling them the events of the hour and explaining their import. The Japanese were being cleaned out of the Aleutians, and the Americans were holding on desperately at Guadalcanal in the Solomons; the Allies were bombing the island of Pantelleria in the Mediterranean, also various cities in the Ruhr; the Russians and Germans were sparring like two boxers, all along a two-thousand-mile line, and it was a problem which of them would begin the expected major onslaught. The airwaves echoed with Russian clamor for a second front and their refusal to accept the Mediterranean attack as an equivalent."

They drove into Washington D.C. in time to bathe and dine before Lanny went off for his appointment with the President. FDR said he needed a trusted man in Italy, because the one who'd been sent had passed on due to heart failure. Lanny spoke enough Italian to get along, and wasn't required to pose as a native. This was June 1943, just before U.S. forces were to go into Sicily, and Lanny opined that Italians were unlikely to resist.

"“What we want is to convince the Italians on the mainland that they’ve been backing the wrong horse. We’ve got the big airfields in Tunisia in working order, and we’re turning on the heat. We have grave questions to consider—for example, shall we bomb Rome? We’ll take pains to avoid hitting the Vatican and the churches; but the immense marshaling yards of the railroads are there, serving the whole peninsula to the south. Putting the railroads out of order is our most important single job.”

"“That ought to be easy,” Lanny ventured, “because they have so many tunnels.”

"“Tunnels have proved to be difficult targets for airmen; but saboteurs can get them, and we have people working on that. What I want is to have someone make contacts with the governing class and explain what unconditional surrender will mean to them. We don’t want to humiliate them, we don’t come as conquerors, but as liberators of the Italian people.”

"“But it won’t be so easy in Italy, for there the government people have the Germans on their necks. They’ll be scared as the devil; and they’re not the most dependable people in the world.”"

Lanny told the president about his being escorted out with Marie De Bruyne when fascists had kidnapped and murdered Matteotti, and Lanny tried communicating about it.

"The arrangement was that Lanny was to report to “Wild Bill” Donovan in the morning, and the Italian section of OSS would give him a thorough briefing. How he was to get into Il Duce’s realm, where he was to go and whom he was to meet, all that would be talked out, and then Lanny would report to the Boss for final instructions. His reports would have to come through OSS channels, for, alas, the United States had no ambassador and no consuls anywhere in Italy."

The usual ways of OSS wouldn't do, and Lanny met FDR again to explain he couldn't go with false papers to meet people of aristocracy and others in command in Italy, since there were Germans everywhere and hundreds of people knew him, so if caught he'd be known as a spy. On the other hand he had the perfect cover, having been given errand personally by Hitler recently to bring him information, and he could say he was in Italy on trail of someone from U.S..

"“Can you get him to believe that?”

"“I can make it impossible for him not to believe it, because the OSS can give me facts about loyal Italians here. That won’t do them any harm because Hitler can’t get at them, and his Intelligence doubtless knows about them anyhow. Meantime I have an excuse to meet the Roman governing class and play my double game with them.”

"“You’ll have to give Hitler some results to justify such an effort, won’t you?”

"“I won’t tell him anything that will do him any good, or our friends in Italy any harm. If I tell him that some of his Italian supporters are double-crossing him, how is he going to be sure? In his heart he doesn’t trust any Italian that breathes, and I might find a way to ball up his affairs for quite a time.”

"“All right, Lanny. Have it your way. What do you want from us?”

"“Just to be set ashore from a PT-boat on some beach near Ostia. They’d better carry one of those little kayaks, because I’d like to be dry-shod—there’s a lot in first appearances. I present myself to a German patrol and ask to be taken to Marshal Kesselring—he was a guest at Berchtesgaden the last time I was there. He may remember me, for there were a lot of both Nazis and Junkers who didn’t approve of the Führer’s having an American in his home at that critical time. When I meet him I’ll ask him to call Berlin 116191, and he won’t fail to be impressed by my having the Führer’s private telephone number. I’ll give Hitler my spiel, with the General listening, and the Führer will order me turned loose to do his work.”

"“That may be all right with the Germans, but what about the Italian police?”

"“Kesselring will give me a pass that will be good throughout the country. The Nazis are running it more completely every day.”

"“But that will mean you are stamped as a German agent, and you will meet only the wrong sort of people.”

"“That will serve the purpose pretty nearly as well. It’s like the negative of a photograph—it shows the same details, only everything is in reverse. The pro-German Italians will know who the pro-Americans are and will talk about them. General Donovan will give me the address of our ‘post office’ in Rome, so that I can send messages to you, and if there should be an important reason for my meeting any of our friends in Italy I can make myself known to the ‘post office’ and ask them to check on me with Donovan.”

"“All that’s going to be pretty risky business, Lanny.”

"“I’ll promise to use every precaution. I’ll be guided by circumstances and not take any steps that won’t pay off. When I’ve done all I can, I’ll see what I run into at the Führer’s headquarters.”"

FDR said Jim Stotzlmann was in town, and Lanny called him. They met over breakfast.

"“The Boss told me you’ve been having adventures.” After they had given their orders and the waiter had departed Lanny said, “I’m having an adventure now, and it mustn’t be mentioned. I want to find out something about the Italians in New York—those who are with us and those who are against us.”

"Jim’s face lighted up. “Good! I’ll introduce you to a dozen.”

"“No,” Lanny said, “I don’t want to meet them through you. It has to be by accident.” One secret agent didn’t have to say more to another.

"The heir of the Stotzlmanns thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll tell you. Come to Mrs. McLean’s shindig tonight. Everybody comes, and there’ll surely be one or two sons of sunny Italy among them.”

"“Can you get me an invitation?”

"“You won’t need it. She lets her close friends bring their friends."

"Lanny hesitated, then added, “We’ve just motored up from Florida. My wife is with me.”

"“Bring her along of course.”

"Lanny still hesitated. “My wife is a bit on the formal side. I don’t think she has ever been to an affair where she wasn’t invited.”

"“All right, I’ll get Evalyn to send her a note.”

"So, later on, Lanny went upstairs and told his wife what was coming. Her first remark was, “I have no clothes!”

"Lanny said, “Go and get yourself an outfit this morning. This is a show you mustn’t miss.”

"“I’m nobody to those people, Lanny.”

"“Yes, but they’re somebodies to you. Someday you’ll be writing a novel about Washington, and Evalyn Walsh McLean is made to order for you. Get yourself the right things so that you can look like one of them and feel at home.”

"“That might cost a thousand dollars, Lanny.”

The figure did not startle the son of Beauty Budd. “It’ll come back to you in royalties,” he declared. “Cast your bread upon the waters!”"

Laurel went shopping after Lanny had established his credit and cashed a cheque, while Lanny went to OSS to arrange his being flown to Tunis and dropped at a convenient beach. He was given a stack of documents to study, no notes.

"He found that they had done a thorough job on the aloof Roman aristocracy, also the military, the big industrialists, the political personalities. They had done it for every city, town, and village which could by any chance be involved in the war, pro or anti. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had hunted through their scrapbooks and their attics for photographs and letters, guidebooks, railroad timetables, hotel circulars—everything that might by chance yield a scrap of information useful to a secret agent or to the Armed Forces. Thousands of people had searched in the libraries, in museums, in the records of business concerns, in consular reports. Millions of details had been gathered and classified, and a P.A. might have sat in that little cubicle for a month or two and compiled material about the places he was going to visit and the people he would meet. But by that time it would be too late. His Boss had allowed him only two or three days in Washington and New York, in order to collect a few yarns to tell to the Führer of the Germans, who was mad north-northwest.

"When the P.A. came back, toward seven o’clock, he found his wife transformed. She was wearing a lovely pale blue evening gown, of that kind of simplicity which costs like smoke. She had followed his instructions and gone to a “good” place; she was proud of herself because she had found a dress that became her and had cost only three hundred dollars. Fortunately you didn’t wear a hat to an evening party, and all she had had to buy were shoes and gloves to match, and, of course, stockings, and a little handbag that had cost fifty dollars, and a handkerchief for thirty-five. She would not attempt to compete with Mrs. McLean’s Hope diamond, said to be worth several millions; Laurel would appear without jewels.

"When the pair came down to the lobby, Jim took one glance at the lady, whom he had never met before; he saw that she was “right,” and Lanny saw that he saw it. That is the way matters go in the smart world; you are “right,” and your woman is “right,” and if you’re not you don’t go but once."

They drove to the party.

"You couldn’t avoid noticing the great lady’s jewelry, nor were you supposed to. Two pear-shaped diamonds hung from her ears, and a great ruby surrounded by diamonds hung by a gold chain across her forehead. Chains of diamonds dangled all over her, and miscellaneous jewels gleamed from her fingers. The pièce de résistance was the famed Hope diamond said to be the largest in the world. It hung from a chain over her bosom and was set off by diamond sunbursts, one pinned to her dress on each side. If you expressed interest in the Hope—and of course that was why it was there—you would be invited to lift it by the chain and feel its weight; but you had to promise not to touch it, because there was an old tradition that ill luck befell anyone who so presumed."

Jim went looking for Italians since Lanny wanted to meet them, although it wasn't easy since ladies were eager to be with Jim, he was unattached post his fourth divorce and very eligible, and kind to them, but he was lucky and met the one.

"Friendship House was the council hall of all the New-Deal haters in the national capital. Here Lanny shook hands with the all-powerful Mr. Harrison Dengue, who not long ago had been working on a plan to have President Roosevelt kidnaped from his Hyde Park home and kept under the orders of persons who wanted to stop lend-lease to Russia. Here he shook hands with Congressman Ham Fish, who had allowed the Nazi agents in this country to use his congressional frank to mail out literature written by a Nazi agent. Here he met multi-millionaire Jimmie Cromwell, and publisher Cissie Patterson, and Igor Cassini, her venomous little “society” columnist.

"But Lanny was looking especially for Italians; and by extraordinary good fortune, when he and his wife entered one of the four big dining-rooms, he discovered himself seated next to the person of all persons whom he would have chosen. What had happened was that Jim had got the ear of the hostess and mentioned that his friend, the son of Budd-Erling, was interested in meeting this product of the melting pot; and Evalyn had beckoned to her steward, or whoever it was that stood near awaiting her orders. The place cards were shifted, and thus Signor Generoso Pope found himself in conversation with an agreeable gentleman who had been raised almost at the front door of Signor Pope’s native land, who had traveled all through it by motorcar, knew its cities, its art treasures and cathedrals, and had met pretty nearly every distinguished person the Signor could name."

Lanny set out to make himself agreeable.

"A warm friendship was struck up; and when the Signor learned that Mr. Budd was proceeding to New York next day, he asked the pleasure of taking him in his car. Lanny said he was delighted, and didn’t mention anything about having a wife and baby and a car of his own. Laurel would drive that car to New York, and Lanny would ride with the publisher; he would deplore the war, and also the New Deal and its extravagances, and lead this exuberant son of the south to pour out his troubled soul. When the ride was over, Lanny would know pretty nearly everything he wanted to know about the near-Fascists and the crypto-Fascists of the Italian colony of New York; and about the nine Italian generals who had been captured in North Africa and were now interned in Tennessee, from where they were diligently working for a separate peace. All this for the price of one evening ensemble, which his wife would carefully preserve for other occasions when it might be necessary to help her husband meet the “right” sort of people."

Laurel saw that Lanny was looking at Italian pamphlets spread on table, and she knew what it meant. Lanny came across an address by Otto Kahn given by him twenty years ago at Wesleyan University advising people to trust Mussolini, and he told Laurel about it. They decided to try a seance, which Laurel now only did in Lanny's presence alone, since his work was confidential and spirits might say something. Otto Kahn came, and Lanny talked with him.

"“By the way, Otto, I just happened to come upon a copy of an address which you delivered at Wesleyan University almost twenty years ago.” ... “I believe the record shows that before he marched on Rome—in a sleeping car—Mussolini got the assurance of the American Ambassador, Richard Washburn Child, that he would get a loan of two hundred million dollars from J. P. Morgan and Company.”"

Otto Kahn was urbane as ever, remarking about one making mistakes.

"“You ought to be ashamed of yourself! My father bought some of those bonds.”

"“Well, Lanny,” was the reply, “they will always be good for wallpaper. I used to have a friend who had covered one wall of his rumpus room with souvenirs of his wrong guesses. It turned out that he had to spoil the job by peeling one of the documents off the wall. It was mining stock, and it paid the cost of the whole house. Tell your father to hold on to his bonds, because Fascism may come back—someday we may find that we need it in our own business.”"

Lanny got serious and told Otto that American forces were about to go over to Italy, and Otto could help by finding someone who knew Italy.

"“There is a man here who was young when he died; he is dark, smooth-shaven, an intellectual; handsome fellow. He says you tried to help him.”

"“What did I do?”

"“He was murdered, and you tried to tell the world about it. He is very grateful.”

"“That must be Matteotti. Can he speak directly to me?”

"“He says he will try, but his English is not good.” Lanny replied in Italian, “My Italian is not good either, but I understand it. You must know that a martyr does not die in vain. The name of Giacomo Matteotti is known not merely in Italy, but also to liberal-minded people throughout the world. They have learned that the cowardly Mussolini ordered your murder because he dared not face the exposure of his regime that you were making in the Chamber of Deputies. The world understands that you spoke for democratic Socialism, the hope of all enlightened elements in Western Europe now.”

"A grave man’s voice replied through the lips of the entranced woman. “The proof of Mussolini’s guilt exists. It is in a memorial of Filippo Filipelli, who was editor of the Fascist newspaper, Corriere Italiano, and the man who provided the assassin Dumini with the car in which I was carried away. That memorial has been suppressed for nineteen years. You should try to get a copy of it. My son Matteo will help you.”

"“I cannot take the chance of meeting members of the underground at present. What I need is the names of those in power who are ready to break with the tyrant.”

"“Galeazzo Ciano is a scoundrel, but he sees that his father-in-law’s days are numbered, and he will seek to save his own skin. One of the men who carried Mussolini’s orders to Dumini is Giovanni Contarelli, and he is one you should meet. He was then Parliamentary Secretary of the Fascist party and served his master well, but now he knows that his idol is about to tumble.”

"“Are there others?”

"The voice replied, “Cesare Rossi, head of the Press Bureau, and Aldo Finzi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, also prepared memorials concerning Mussolini’s guilt. It is necessary to be careful in dealing with these men. They are like weathercocks which turn quickly, according to the shifting of the wind.”"

Lanny was flown via Bermuda and Azores to Marrakech, and they saw a convoy below before Bermuda. He answered his mother's queries about Little Lanny - his hair was still blond, but the blue eyes had turned brown - and about Robbie. Beauty asked if Bienvenu would be safe. Little Marcel Detaze was at home in the hotel and made friends with everybody, and wished uncle Lanny could stay longer. Lanny told Beauty about Vittorio being prisoner of war. Lanny was flown to Algiers and met Bob, and was flown further, with a suitcase and his own passport, in a bomber plane. He intended to be taken for a German by Italians. At Bizerte he was met by someone from navy and taken in a jeep, and asked how he wished to go to Ostia, and they discussed seaplane and submarine. Lieutenant Ferguson had brought a basket of lunch, and they had a picnic while he told Lanny about being a painter in Italy and mimicked Germans speaking Italian. He liked Italians but loathed the Germans, and Italians shared the feelings.

"Italy had been at war for three years and hadn’t been able to beat even the Greeks; the Italians were humiliated, hungry—and helpless.

"The program was to knock out the Mussolini gang and make a deal with the higher Army officers and the big business crowd, who would be ready to come over to our side as soon as we were ashore in force. That was the way to take advantage of the anti-German sentiment in Italy; the way to get the fleet and the air bases and save the lives of American soldiers."

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is from a Tennyson verse, "Sunset, and evening star, and one clear call for me."

One Clear Call begins exactly where the previous volume, Presidential Mission, left the reader, more or less; that is, Lanny and family are in West Coast, Florida, on a much earned holiday. Lanny and Laurel are in a small boat early in the morning, watching the ocean sparkling blue, with occasional colourful fish flying and dropping back into the water.

"Along the shore, lined with palm trees and small houses of white, blue, and coral pink, flew a procession of pelicans, gray birds which moved their wings with slow dignity and permitted nothing to disturb their course."

A call came for Lanny, and they packed up and left to drive back.

"As they drove they listened to the radio, familiar voices of men whom they had never seen, telling them the events of the hour and explaining their import. The Japanese were being cleaned out of the Aleutians, and the Americans were holding on desperately at Guadalcanal in the Solomons; the Allies were bombing the island of Pantelleria in the Mediterranean, also various cities in the Ruhr; the Russians and Germans were sparring like two boxers, all along a two-thousand-mile line, and it was a problem which of them would begin the expected major onslaught. The airwaves echoed with Russian clamor for a second front and their refusal to accept the Mediterranean attack as an equivalent."

They drove into Washington D.C. in time to bathe and dine before Lanny went off for his appointment with the President. FDR said he needed a trusted man in Italy, because the one who'd been sent had passed on due to heart failure. Lanny spoke enough Italian to get along, and wasn't required to pose as a native. This was June 1943, just before U.S. forces were to go into Sicily, and Lanny opined that Italians were unlikely to resist.

"“What we want is to convince the Italians on the mainland that they’ve been backing the wrong horse. We’ve got the big airfields in Tunisia in working order, and we’re turning on the heat. We have grave questions to consider—for example, shall we bomb Rome? We’ll take pains to avoid hitting the Vatican and the churches; but the immense marshaling yards of the railroads are there, serving the whole peninsula to the south. Putting the railroads out of order is our most important single job.”

"“That ought to be easy,” Lanny ventured, “because they have so many tunnels.”

"“Tunnels have proved to be difficult targets for airmen; but saboteurs can get them, and we have people working on that. What I want is to have someone make contacts with the governing class and explain what unconditional surrender will mean to them. We don’t want to humiliate them, we don’t come as conquerors, but as liberators of the Italian people.”

"“But it won’t be so easy in Italy, for there the government people have the Germans on their necks. They’ll be scared as the devil; and they’re not the most dependable people in the world.”"

Lanny told the president about his being escorted out with Marie De Bruyne when fascists had kidnapped and murdered Matteotti, and Lanny tried communicating about it.

"The arrangement was that Lanny was to report to “Wild Bill” Donovan in the morning, and the Italian section of OSS would give him a thorough briefing. How he was to get into Il Duce’s realm, where he was to go and whom he was to meet, all that would be talked out, and then Lanny would report to the Boss for final instructions. His reports would have to come through OSS channels, for, alas, the United States had no ambassador and no consuls anywhere in Italy."

The usual ways of OSS wouldn't do, and Lanny met FDR again to explain he couldn't go with false papers to meet people of aristocracy and others in command in Italy, since there were Germans everywhere and hundreds of people knew him, so if caught he'd be known as a spy. On the other hand he had the perfect cover, having been given errand personally by Hitler recently to bring him information, and he could say he was in Italy on trail of someone from U.S..

"“Can you get him to believe that?”

"“I can make it impossible for him not to believe it, because the OSS can give me facts about loyal Italians here. That won’t do them any harm because Hitler can’t get at them, and his Intelligence doubtless knows about them anyhow. Meantime I have an excuse to meet the Roman governing class and play my double game with them.”

"“You’ll have to give Hitler some results to justify such an effort, won’t you?”

"“I won’t tell him anything that will do him any good, or our friends in Italy any harm. If I tell him that some of his Italian supporters are double-crossing him, how is he going to be sure? In his heart he doesn’t trust any Italian that breathes, and I might find a way to ball up his affairs for quite a time.”

"“All right, Lanny. Have it your way. What do you want from us?”

"“Just to be set ashore from a PT-boat on some beach near Ostia. They’d better carry one of those little kayaks, because I’d like to be dry-shod—there’s a lot in first appearances. I present myself to a German patrol and ask to be taken to Marshal Kesselring—he was a guest at Berchtesgaden the last time I was there. He may remember me, for there were a lot of both Nazis and Junkers who didn’t approve of the Führer’s having an American in his home at that critical time. When I meet him I’ll ask him to call Berlin 116191, and he won’t fail to be impressed by my having the Führer’s private telephone number. I’ll give Hitler my spiel, with the General listening, and the Führer will order me turned loose to do his work.”

"“That may be all right with the Germans, but what about the Italian police?”

"“Kesselring will give me a pass that will be good throughout the country. The Nazis are running it more completely every day.”

"“But that will mean you are stamped as a German agent, and you will meet only the wrong sort of people.”

"“That will serve the purpose pretty nearly as well. It’s like the negative of a photograph—it shows the same details, only everything is in reverse. The pro-German Italians will know who the pro-Americans are and will talk about them. General Donovan will give me the address of our ‘post office’ in Rome, so that I can send messages to you, and if there should be an important reason for my meeting any of our friends in Italy I can make myself known to the ‘post office’ and ask them to check on me with Donovan.”

"“All that’s going to be pretty risky business, Lanny.”

"“I’ll promise to use every precaution. I’ll be guided by circumstances and not take any steps that won’t pay off. When I’ve done all I can, I’ll see what I run into at the Führer’s headquarters.”"

FDR said Jim Stotzlmann was in town, and Lanny called him. They met over breakfast.

"“The Boss told me you’ve been having adventures.” After they had given their orders and the waiter had departed Lanny said, “I’m having an adventure now, and it mustn’t be mentioned. I want to find out something about the Italians in New York—those who are with us and those who are against us.”

"Jim’s face lighted up. “Good! I’ll introduce you to a dozen.”

"“No,” Lanny said, “I don’t want to meet them through you. It has to be by accident.” One secret agent didn’t have to say more to another.

"The heir of the Stotzlmanns thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll tell you. Come to Mrs. McLean’s shindig tonight. Everybody comes, and there’ll surely be one or two sons of sunny Italy among them.”

"“Can you get me an invitation?”

"“You won’t need it. She lets her close friends bring their friends."

"Lanny hesitated, then added, “We’ve just motored up from Florida. My wife is with me.”

"“Bring her along of course.”

"Lanny still hesitated. “My wife is a bit on the formal side. I don’t think she has ever been to an affair where she wasn’t invited.”

"“All right, I’ll get Evalyn to send her a note.”

"So, later on, Lanny went upstairs and told his wife what was coming. Her first remark was, “I have no clothes!”

"Lanny said, “Go and get yourself an outfit this morning. This is a show you mustn’t miss.”

"“I’m nobody to those people, Lanny.”

"“Yes, but they’re somebodies to you. Someday you’ll be writing a novel about Washington, and Evalyn Walsh McLean is made to order for you. Get yourself the right things so that you can look like one of them and feel at home.”

"“That might cost a thousand dollars, Lanny.”

The figure did not startle the son of Beauty Budd. “It’ll come back to you in royalties,” he declared. “Cast your bread upon the waters!”"

Laurel went shopping after Lanny had established his credit and cashed a cheque, while Lanny went to OSS to arrange his being flown to Tunis and dropped at a convenient beach. He was given a stack of documents to study, no notes.

"He found that they had done a thorough job on the aloof Roman aristocracy, also the military, the big industrialists, the political personalities. They had done it for every city, town, and village which could by any chance be involved in the war, pro or anti. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had hunted through their scrapbooks and their attics for photographs and letters, guidebooks, railroad timetables, hotel circulars—everything that might by chance yield a scrap of information useful to a secret agent or to the Armed Forces. Thousands of people had searched in the libraries, in museums, in the records of business concerns, in consular reports. Millions of details had been gathered and classified, and a P.A. might have sat in that little cubicle for a month or two and compiled material about the places he was going to visit and the people he would meet. But by that time it would be too late. His Boss had allowed him only two or three days in Washington and New York, in order to collect a few yarns to tell to the Führer of the Germans, who was mad north-northwest.

"When the P.A. came back, toward seven o’clock, he found his wife transformed. She was wearing a lovely pale blue evening gown, of that kind of simplicity which costs like smoke. She had followed his instructions and gone to a “good” place; she was proud of herself because she had found a dress that became her and had cost only three hundred dollars. Fortunately you didn’t wear a hat to an evening party, and all she had had to buy were shoes and gloves to match, and, of course, stockings, and a little handbag that had cost fifty dollars, and a handkerchief for thirty-five. She would not attempt to compete with Mrs. McLean’s Hope diamond, said to be worth several millions; Laurel would appear without jewels.

"When the pair came down to the lobby, Jim took one glance at the lady, whom he had never met before; he saw that she was “right,” and Lanny saw that he saw it. That is the way matters go in the smart world; you are “right,” and your woman is “right,” and if you’re not you don’t go but once."

They drove to the party.

"You couldn’t avoid noticing the great lady’s jewelry, nor were you supposed to. Two pear-shaped diamonds hung from her ears, and a great ruby surrounded by diamonds hung by a gold chain across her forehead. Chains of diamonds dangled all over her, and miscellaneous jewels gleamed from her fingers. The pièce de résistance was the famed Hope diamond said to be the largest in the world. It hung from a chain over her bosom and was set off by diamond sunbursts, one pinned to her dress on each side. If you expressed interest in the Hope—and of course that was why it was there—you would be invited to lift it by the chain and feel its weight; but you had to promise not to touch it, because there was an old tradition that ill luck befell anyone who so presumed."

Jim went looking for Italians since Lanny wanted to meet them, although it wasn't easy since ladies were eager to be with Jim, he was unattached post his fourth divorce and very eligible, and kind to them, but he was lucky and met the one.

"Friendship House was the council hall of all the New-Deal haters in the national capital. Here Lanny shook hands with the all-powerful Mr. Harrison Dengue, who not long ago had been working on a plan to have President Roosevelt kidnaped from his Hyde Park home and kept under the orders of persons who wanted to stop lend-lease to Russia. Here he shook hands with Congressman Ham Fish, who had allowed the Nazi agents in this country to use his congressional frank to mail out literature written by a Nazi agent. Here he met multi-millionaire Jimmie Cromwell, and publisher Cissie Patterson, and Igor Cassini, her venomous little “society” columnist.

"But Lanny was looking especially for Italians; and by extraordinary good fortune, when he and his wife entered one of the four big dining-rooms, he discovered himself seated next to the person of all persons whom he would have chosen. What had happened was that Jim had got the ear of the hostess and mentioned that his friend, the son of Budd-Erling, was interested in meeting this product of the melting pot; and Evalyn had beckoned to her steward, or whoever it was that stood near awaiting her orders. The place cards were shifted, and thus Signor Generoso Pope found himself in conversation with an agreeable gentleman who had been raised almost at the front door of Signor Pope’s native land, who had traveled all through it by motorcar, knew its cities, its art treasures and cathedrals, and had met pretty nearly every distinguished person the Signor could name."

Lanny set out to make himself agreeable.

"A warm friendship was struck up; and when the Signor learned that Mr. Budd was proceeding to New York next day, he asked the pleasure of taking him in his car. Lanny said he was delighted, and didn’t mention anything about having a wife and baby and a car of his own. Laurel would drive that car to New York, and Lanny would ride with the publisher; he would deplore the war, and also the New Deal and its extravagances, and lead this exuberant son of the south to pour out his troubled soul. When the ride was over, Lanny would know pretty nearly everything he wanted to know about the near-Fascists and the crypto-Fascists of the Italian colony of New York; and about the nine Italian generals who had been captured in North Africa and were now interned in Tennessee, from where they were diligently working for a separate peace. All this for the price of one evening ensemble, which his wife would carefully preserve for other occasions when it might be necessary to help her husband meet the “right” sort of people."

Laurel saw that Lanny was looking at Italian pamphlets spread on table, and she knew what it meant. Lanny came across an address by Otto Kahn given by him twenty years ago at Wesleyan University advising people to trust Mussolini, and he told Laurel about it. They decided to try a seance, which Laurel now only did in Lanny's presence alone, since his work was confidential and spirits might say something. Otto Kahn came, and Lanny talked with him.

"“By the way, Otto, I just happened to come upon a copy of an address which you delivered at Wesleyan University almost twenty years ago.” ... “I believe the record shows that before he marched on Rome—in a sleeping car—Mussolini got the assurance of the American Ambassador, Richard Washburn Child, that he would get a loan of two hundred million dollars from J. P. Morgan and Company.”"

Otto Kahn was urbane as ever, remarking about one making mistakes.

"“You ought to be ashamed of yourself! My father bought some of those bonds.”

"“Well, Lanny,” was the reply, “they will always be good for wallpaper. I used to have a friend who had covered one wall of his rumpus room with souvenirs of his wrong guesses. It turned out that he had to spoil the job by peeling one of the documents off the wall. It was mining stock, and it paid the cost of the whole house. Tell your father to hold on to his bonds, because Fascism may come back—someday we may find that we need it in our own business.”"

Lanny got serious and told Otto that American forces were about to go over to Italy, and Otto could help by finding someone who knew Italy.

"“There is a man here who was young when he died; he is dark, smooth-shaven, an intellectual; handsome fellow. He says you tried to help him.”

"“What did I do?”

"“He was murdered, and you tried to tell the world about it. He is very grateful.”

"“That must be Matteotti. Can he speak directly to me?”

"“He says he will try, but his English is not good.” Lanny replied in Italian, “My Italian is not good either, but I understand it. You must know that a martyr does not die in vain. The name of Giacomo Matteotti is known not merely in Italy, but also to liberal-minded people throughout the world. They have learned that the cowardly Mussolini ordered your murder because he dared not face the exposure of his regime that you were making in the Chamber of Deputies. The world understands that you spoke for democratic Socialism, the hope of all enlightened elements in Western Europe now.”

"A grave man’s voice replied through the lips of the entranced woman. “The proof of Mussolini’s guilt exists. It is in a memorial of Filippo Filipelli, who was editor of the Fascist newspaper, Corriere Italiano, and the man who provided the assassin Dumini with the car in which I was carried away. That memorial has been suppressed for nineteen years. You should try to get a copy of it. My son Matteo will help you.”

"“I cannot take the chance of meeting members of the underground at present. What I need is the names of those in power who are ready to break with the tyrant.”

"“Galeazzo Ciano is a scoundrel, but he sees that his father-in-law’s days are numbered, and he will seek to save his own skin. One of the men who carried Mussolini’s orders to Dumini is Giovanni Contarelli, and he is one you should meet. He was then Parliamentary Secretary of the Fascist party and served his master well, but now he knows that his idol is about to tumble.”

"“Are there others?”

"The voice replied, “Cesare Rossi, head of the Press Bureau, and Aldo Finzi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, also prepared memorials concerning Mussolini’s guilt. It is necessary to be careful in dealing with these men. They are like weathercocks which turn quickly, according to the shifting of the wind.”"

Lanny was flown via Bermuda and Azores to Marrakech, and they saw a convoy below before Bermuda. He answered his mother's queries about Little Lanny - his hair was still blond, but the blue eyes had turned brown - and about Robbie. Beauty asked if Bienvenu would be safe. Little Marcel Detaze was at home in the hotel and made friends with everybody, and wished uncle Lanny could stay longer. Lanny told Beauty about Vittorio being prisoner of war. Lanny was flown to Algiers and met Bob, and was flown further, with a suitcase and his own passport, in a bomber plane. He intended to be taken for a German by Italians. At Bizerte he was met by someone from navy and taken in a jeep, and asked how he wished to go to Ostia, and they discussed seaplane and submarine. Lieutenant Ferguson had brought a basket of lunch, and they had a picnic while he told Lanny about being a painter in Italy and mimicked Germans speaking Italian. He liked Italians but loathed the Germans, and Italians shared the feelings.

"Italy had been at war for three years and hadn’t been able to beat even the Greeks; the Italians were humiliated, hungry—and helpless.

"The program was to knock out the Mussolini gang and make a deal with the higher Army officers and the big business crowd, who would be ready to come over to our side as soon as we were ashore in force. That was the way to take advantage of the anti-German sentiment in Italy; the way to get the fleet and the air bases and save the lives of American soldiers."

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is from a Tennyson verse, "Sunset, and evening star, and one clear call for me."

One Clear Call begins exactly where the previous volume, Presidential Mission, left the reader, more or less; that is, Lanny and family are in West Coast, Florida, on a much earned holiday. Lanny and Laurel are in a small boat early in the morning, watching the ocean sparkling blue, with occasional colourful fish flying and dropping back into the water.

"Along the shore, lined with palm trees and small houses of white, blue, and coral pink, flew a procession of pelicans, gray birds which moved their wings with slow dignity and permitted nothing to disturb their course."

A call came for Lanny, and they packed up and left to drive back.

"As they drove they listened to the radio, familiar voices of men whom they had never seen, telling them the events of the hour and explaining their import. The Japanese were being cleaned out of the Aleutians, and the Americans were holding on desperately at Guadalcanal in the Solomons; the Allies were bombing the island of Pantelleria in the Mediterranean, also various cities in the Ruhr; the Russians and Germans were sparring like two boxers, all along a two-thousand-mile line, and it was a problem which of them would begin the expected major onslaught. The airwaves echoed with Russian clamor for a second front and their refusal to accept the Mediterranean attack as an equivalent."

They drove into Washington D.C. in time to bathe and dine before Lanny went off for his appointment with the President. FDR said he needed a trusted man in Italy, because the one who'd been sent had passed on due to heart failure. Lanny spoke enough Italian to get along, and wasn't required to pose as a native. This was June 1943, just before U.S. forces were to go into Sicily, and Lanny opined that Italians were unlikely to resist.

"“What we want is to convince the Italians on the mainland that they’ve been backing the wrong horse. We’ve got the big airfields in Tunisia in working order, and we’re turning on the heat. We have grave questions to consider—for example, shall we bomb Rome? We’ll take pains to avoid hitting the Vatican and the churches; but the immense marshaling yards of the railroads are there, serving the whole peninsula to the south. Putting the railroads out of order is our most important single job.”

"“That ought to be easy,” Lanny ventured, “because they have so many tunnels.”

"“Tunnels have proved to be difficult targets for airmen; but saboteurs can get them, and we have people working on that. What I want is to have someone make contacts with the governing class and explain what unconditional surrender will mean to them. We don’t want to humiliate them, we don’t come as conquerors, but as liberators of the Italian people.”

"“But it won’t be so easy in Italy, for there the government people have the Germans on their necks. They’ll be scared as the devil; and they’re not the most dependable people in the world.”"

Lanny told the president about his being escorted out with Marie De Bruyne when fascists had kidnapped and murdered Matteotti, and Lanny tried communicating about it.

"The arrangement was that Lanny was to report to “Wild Bill” Donovan in the morning, and the Italian section of OSS would give him a thorough briefing. How he was to get into Il Duce’s realm, where he was to go and whom he was to meet, all that would be talked out, and then Lanny would report to the Boss for final instructions. His reports would have to come through OSS channels, for, alas, the United States had no ambassador and no consuls anywhere in Italy."

The usual ways of OSS wouldn't do, and Lanny met FDR again to explain he couldn't go with false papers to meet people of aristocracy and others in command in Italy, since there were Germans everywhere and hundreds of people knew him, so if caught he'd be known as a spy. On the other hand he had the perfect cover, having been given errand personally by Hitler recently to bring him information, and he could say he was in Italy on trail of someone from U.S..

"“Can you get him to believe that?”

"“I can make it impossible for him not to believe it, because the OSS can give me facts about loyal Italians here. That won’t do them any harm because Hitler can’t get at them, and his Intelligence doubtless knows about them anyhow. Meantime I have an excuse to meet the Roman governing class and play my double game with them.”

"“You’ll have to give Hitler some results to justify such an effort, won’t you?”

"“I won’t tell him anything that will do him any good, or our friends in Italy any harm. If I tell him that some of his Italian supporters are double-crossing him, how is he going to be sure? In his heart he doesn’t trust any Italian that breathes, and I might find a way to ball up his affairs for quite a time.”

"“All right, Lanny. Have it your way. What do you want from us?”

"“Just to be set ashore from a PT-boat on some beach near Ostia. They’d better carry one of those little kayaks, because I’d like to be dry-shod—there’s a lot in first appearances. I present myself to a German patrol and ask to be taken to Marshal Kesselring—he was a guest at Berchtesgaden the last time I was there. He may remember me, for there were a lot of both Nazis and Junkers who didn’t approve of the Führer’s having an American in his home at that critical time. When I meet him I’ll ask him to call Berlin 116191, and he won’t fail to be impressed by my having the Führer’s private telephone number. I’ll give Hitler my spiel, with the General listening, and the Führer will order me turned loose to do his work.”

"“That may be all right with the Germans, but what about the Italian police?”

"“Kesselring will give me a pass that will be good throughout the country. The Nazis are running it more completely every day.”

"“But that will mean you are stamped as a German agent, and you will meet only the wrong sort of people.”

"“That will serve the purpose pretty nearly as well. It’s like the negative of a photograph—it shows the same details, only everything is in reverse. The pro-German Italians will know who the pro-Americans are and will talk about them. General Donovan will give me the address of our ‘post office’ in Rome, so that I can send messages to you, and if there should be an important reason for my meeting any of our friends in Italy I can make myself known to the ‘post office’ and ask them to check on me with Donovan.”

"“All that’s going to be pretty risky business, Lanny.”

"“I’ll promise to use every precaution. I’ll be guided by circumstances and not take any steps that won’t pay off. When I’ve done all I can, I’ll see what I run into at the Führer’s headquarters.”"

FDR said Jim Stotzlmann was in town, and Lanny called him. They met over breakfast.

"“The Boss told me you’ve been having adventures.” After they had given their orders and the waiter had departed Lanny said, “I’m having an adventure now, and it mustn’t be mentioned. I want to find out something about the Italians in New York—those who are with us and those who are against us.”

"Jim’s face lighted up. “Good! I’ll introduce you to a dozen.”

"“No,” Lanny said, “I don’t want to meet them through you. It has to be by accident.” One secret agent didn’t have to say more to another.

"The heir of the Stotzlmanns thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll tell you. Come to Mrs. McLean’s shindig tonight. Everybody comes, and there’ll surely be one or two sons of sunny Italy among them.”

"“Can you get me an invitation?”

"“You won’t need it. She lets her close friends bring their friends."

"Lanny hesitated, then added, “We’ve just motored up from Florida. My wife is with me.”

"“Bring her along of course.”

"Lanny still hesitated. “My wife is a bit on the formal side. I don’t think she has ever been to an affair where she wasn’t invited.”

"“All right, I’ll get Evalyn to send her a note.”

"So, later on, Lanny went upstairs and told his wife what was coming. Her first remark was, “I have no clothes!”

"Lanny said, “Go and get yourself an outfit this morning. This is a show you mustn’t miss.”

"“I’m nobody to those people, Lanny.”

"“Yes, but they’re somebodies to you. Someday you’ll be writing a novel about Washington, and Evalyn Walsh McLean is made to order for you. Get yourself the right things so that you can look like one of them and feel at home.”

"“That might cost a thousand dollars, Lanny.”

The figure did not startle the son of Beauty Budd. “It’ll come back to you in royalties,” he declared. “Cast your bread upon the waters!”"

Laurel went shopping after Lanny had established his credit and cashed a cheque, while Lanny went to OSS to arrange his being flown to Tunis and dropped at a convenient beach. He was given a stack of documents to study, no notes.

"He found that they had done a thorough job on the aloof Roman aristocracy, also the military, the big industrialists, the political personalities. They had done it for every city, town, and village which could by any chance be involved in the war, pro or anti. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had hunted through their scrapbooks and their attics for photographs and letters, guidebooks, railroad timetables, hotel circulars—everything that might by chance yield a scrap of information useful to a secret agent or to the Armed Forces. Thousands of people had searched in the libraries, in museums, in the records of business concerns, in consular reports. Millions of details had been gathered and classified, and a P.A. might have sat in that little cubicle for a month or two and compiled material about the places he was going to visit and the people he would meet. But by that time it would be too late. His Boss had allowed him only two or three days in Washington and New York, in order to collect a few yarns to tell to the Führer of the Germans, who was mad north-northwest.

"When the P.A. came back, toward seven o’clock, he found his wife transformed. She was wearing a lovely pale blue evening gown, of that kind of simplicity which costs like smoke. She had followed his instructions and gone to a “good” place; she was proud of herself because she had found a dress that became her and had cost only three hundred dollars. Fortunately you didn’t wear a hat to an evening party, and all she had had to buy were shoes and gloves to match, and, of course, stockings, and a little handbag that had cost fifty dollars, and a handkerchief for thirty-five. She would not attempt to compete with Mrs. McLean’s Hope diamond, said to be worth several millions; Laurel would appear without jewels.

"When the pair came down to the lobby, Jim took one glance at the lady, whom he had never met before; he saw that she was “right,” and Lanny saw that he saw it. That is the way matters go in the smart world; you are “right,” and your woman is “right,” and if you’re not you don’t go but once."

They drove to the party.

"You couldn’t avoid noticing the great lady’s jewelry, nor were you supposed to. Two pear-shaped diamonds hung from her ears, and a great ruby surrounded by diamonds hung by a gold chain across her forehead. Chains of diamonds dangled all over her, and miscellaneous jewels gleamed from her fingers. The pièce de résistance was the famed Hope diamond said to be the largest in the world. It hung from a chain over her bosom and was set off by diamond sunbursts, one pinned to her dress on each side. If you expressed interest in the Hope—and of course that was why it was there—you would be invited to lift it by the chain and feel its weight; but you had to promise not to touch it, because there was an old tradition that ill luck befell anyone who so presumed."

Jim went looking for Italians since Lanny wanted to meet them, although it wasn't easy since ladies were eager to be with Jim, he was unattached post his fourth divorce and very eligible, and kind to them, but he was lucky and met the one.

"Friendship House was the council hall of all the New-Deal haters in the national capital. Here Lanny shook hands with the all-powerful Mr. Harrison Dengue, who not long ago had been working on a plan to have President Roosevelt kidnaped from his Hyde Park home and kept under the orders of persons who wanted to stop lend-lease to Russia. Here he shook hands with Congressman Ham Fish, who had allowed the Nazi agents in this country to use his congressional frank to mail out literature written by a Nazi agent. Here he met multi-millionaire Jimmie Cromwell, and publisher Cissie Patterson, and Igor Cassini, her venomous little “society” columnist.

"But Lanny was looking especially for Italians; and by extraordinary good fortune, when he and his wife entered one of the four big dining-rooms, he discovered himself seated next to the person of all persons whom he would have chosen. What had happened was that Jim had got the ear of the hostess and mentioned that his friend, the son of Budd-Erling, was interested in meeting this product of the melting pot; and Evalyn had beckoned to her steward, or whoever it was that stood near awaiting her orders. The place cards were shifted, and thus Signor Generoso Pope found himself in conversation with an agreeable gentleman who had been raised almost at the front door of Signor Pope’s native land, who had traveled all through it by motorcar, knew its cities, its art treasures and cathedrals, and had met pretty nearly every distinguished person the Signor could name."

Lanny set out to make himself agreeable.

"A warm friendship was struck up; and when the Signor learned that Mr. Budd was proceeding to New York next day, he asked the pleasure of taking him in his car. Lanny said he was delighted, and didn’t mention anything about having a wife and baby and a car of his own. Laurel would drive that car to New York, and Lanny would ride with the publisher; he would deplore the war, and also the New Deal and its extravagances, and lead this exuberant son of the south to pour out his troubled soul. When the ride was over, Lanny would know pretty nearly everything he wanted to know about the near-Fascists and the crypto-Fascists of the Italian colony of New York; and about the nine Italian generals who had been captured in North Africa and were now interned in Tennessee, from where they were diligently working for a separate peace. All this for the price of one evening ensemble, which his wife would carefully preserve for other occasions when it might be necessary to help her husband meet the “right” sort of people."

Laurel saw that Lanny was looking at Italian pamphlets spread on table, and she knew what it meant. Lanny came across an address by Otto Kahn given by him twenty years ago at Wesleyan University advising people to trust Mussolini, and he told Laurel about it. They decided to try a seance, which Laurel now only did in Lanny's presence alone, since his work was confidential and spirits might say something. Otto Kahn came, and Lanny talked with him.

"“By the way, Otto, I just happened to come upon a copy of an address which you delivered at Wesleyan University almost twenty years ago.” ... “I believe the record shows that before he marched on Rome—in a sleeping car—Mussolini got the assurance of the American Ambassador, Richard Washburn Child, that he would get a loan of two hundred million dollars from J. P. Morgan and Company.”"

Otto Kahn was urbane as ever, remarking about one making mistakes.

"“You ought to be ashamed of yourself! My father bought some of those bonds.”

"“Well, Lanny,” was the reply, “they will always be good for wallpaper. I used to have a friend who had covered one wall of his rumpus room with souvenirs of his wrong guesses. It turned out that he had to spoil the job by peeling one of the documents off the wall. It was mining stock, and it paid the cost of the whole house. Tell your father to hold on to his bonds, because Fascism may come back—someday we may find that we need it in our own business.”"

Lanny got serious and told Otto that American forces were about to go over to Italy, and Otto could help by finding someone who knew Italy.

"“There is a man here who was young when he died; he is dark, smooth-shaven, an intellectual; handsome fellow. He says you tried to help him.”

"“What did I do?”

"“He was murdered, and you tried to tell the world about it. He is very grateful.”

"“That must be Matteotti. Can he speak directly to me?”

"“He says he will try, but his English is not good.” Lanny replied in Italian, “My Italian is not good either, but I understand it. You must know that a martyr does not die in vain. The name of Giacomo Matteotti is known not merely in Italy, but also to liberal-minded people throughout the world. They have learned that the cowardly Mussolini ordered your murder because he dared not face the exposure of his regime that you were making in the Chamber of Deputies. The world understands that you spoke for democratic Socialism, the hope of all enlightened elements in Western Europe now.”

"A grave man’s voice replied through the lips of the entranced woman. “The proof of Mussolini’s guilt exists. It is in a memorial of Filippo Filipelli, who was editor of the Fascist newspaper, Corriere Italiano, and the man who provided the assassin Dumini with the car in which I was carried away. That memorial has been suppressed for nineteen years. You should try to get a copy of it. My son Matteo will help you.”

"“I cannot take the chance of meeting members of the underground at present. What I need is the names of those in power who are ready to break with the tyrant.”

"“Galeazzo Ciano is a scoundrel, but he sees that his father-in-law’s days are numbered, and he will seek to save his own skin. One of the men who carried Mussolini’s orders to Dumini is Giovanni Contarelli, and he is one you should meet. He was then Parliamentary Secretary of the Fascist party and served his master well, but now he knows that his idol is about to tumble.”

"“Are there others?”

"The voice replied, “Cesare Rossi, head of the Press Bureau, and Aldo Finzi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, also prepared memorials concerning Mussolini’s guilt. It is necessary to be careful in dealing with these men. They are like weathercocks which turn quickly, according to the shifting of the wind.”"

Lanny was flown via Bermuda and Azores to Marrakech, and they saw a convoy below before Bermuda. He answered his mother's queries about Little Lanny - his hair was still blond, but the blue eyes had turned brown - and about Robbie. Beauty asked if Bienvenu would be safe. Little Marcel Detaze was at home in the hotel and made friends with everybody, and wished uncle Lanny could stay longer. Lanny told Beauty about Vittorio being prisoner of war. Lanny was flown to Algiers and met Bob, and was flown further, with a suitcase and his own passport, in a bomber plane. He intended to be taken for a German by Italians. At Bizerte he was met by someone from navy and taken in a jeep, and asked how he wished to go to Ostia, and they discussed seaplane and submarine. Lieutenant Ferguson had brought a basket of lunch, and they had a picnic while he told Lanny about being a painter in Italy and mimicked Germans speaking Italian. He liked Italians but loathed the Germans, and Italians shared the feelings.

"Italy had been at war for three years and hadn’t been able to beat even the Greeks; the Italians were humiliated, hungry—and helpless.

"The program was to knock out the Mussolini gang and make a deal with the higher Army officers and the big business crowd, who would be ready to come over to our side as soon as we were ashore in force. That was the way to take advantage of the anti-German sentiment in Italy; the way to get the fleet and the air bases and save the lives of American soldiers."

[Eugenea Pollock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit heavy on his political preference for Socialism, but it ends ominously with the fourth and last election of FDR. So after a break for another sort of book or two, I’ll have to go on into Truman’s administration sooner or later. Though Lanny reveals a few annoying 1940s attitudes herein, he’s still a compelling protagonist.

[John R. Goyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable and historic read - Lanny seems to be everywhere something pivotal is happening during WWII, and knows all the players - of all sides. Writing is a bit dated, but the story is good, and the characters interesting enough to make me want to read more of this epic series.

[DanielL · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the first 9 books in the series, I finally realized that each book is a collection of many different short stories in the life and adventures Lanny Budd. This is especially true in One Clear Call (Book 9).

The FIRST storyline is Lanny Budd’s mission to Italy to persuade the Italian leadership (excluding Benito Mussolini) to NOT oppose the Allied invasion of Italy. His mission is similar to one that he undertook to persuade the French in North Africa. I found the many different opposition politicians and influencers that Lanny Budd has to deal with a bit overwhelming and confusing at times.

The SECOND storyline is Lanny Budd’s mission to re-enter and learn about the Nazi V1, V2, V3 rocket and jet programs. By now, everyone suspects Lanny Budd is more than an “art expert”. The cat-and-mouse chase and escape from the Nazis becomes a thriller and the most exciting storyline in the book.

The THIRD storyline is Lanny Budd and his wife’s cross-country automobile trip hauling a camper trailer to California. By writing this storyline, author Upton Sinclair is given another opportunity to throw barbs at his lifelong nemesis William Randolph Hearst. This is another colorful travelogue as the Budd’s explore the USA homefront during WW2.

The FOURTH storyline is Lanny Budd and his wife’s journey to the Middle East (Palestine) to report on the never-ending Jewish and Arab conflict over lands and shrines that both religions (and Christians) covet. It seems all of the problems, disputes, and conflicts that existed in the early 1940’s still exist today. This storyline is more educational and a vivid travelogue that gave me a new perspective of the past and current problems in the Middle East.

The FIFTH storyline is Lanny Budd’s return to Fascist Spain to spread misinformation about the upcoming Allied invasion of France. Lanny Budd also has to dodge getting lured or forced back to Nazi Germany.

The SIXTH storyline is Lanny Budd joining his wife in England as Allied forces prepare and invade France. His wife is now a war correspondent. England is now being bombarded with V-1 rockets.

The SEVENTH storyline is after D-Day when Lanny Budd is infiltrated into France in preparation for the Allied invasion of southern France. After the invasion, Lanny Budd remains in France to serve as a US Army interpreter and interrogator of Nazi POWs; and he learns details of the attempted assignation Hitler.

There are other minor storylines. One is Lanny Budd is tasked to help “The Monuments Men” recover looted art treasures by the Nazis. Another brief storyline is FDR’s election to a fourth term.

[Milan Homola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable historical novel. Interesting insight from a famous author from the WWII era. Because it was written in the 40’s there are some great perspectives and historical references that haven’t made it into 21st century history lessons. Its a long read but engaging not only on war but also mid-20th century political divides

[Iluta Abolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat dry and highly affirmative of the prejudice that the wealthy and privileged will always have options, connections, support, means and resources, and access at their disposal - even to the extent that coming out of overwhelming hardship unscathed is predictable to a T. The predecessors in the series got some kick of adrenaline to 'em, you could taste humanity in the adventure whilst the author kept you on the edge of your seat with the textual dynamics. The richness of the earlier texts are absent to a great extent, here, generally making do w/ detached generalities in the "oh well, that sucks" realm. Still cool with its healthy share of elegant irony and flaneurish observer of a protagonist, this one's rather "meh!".

[Len Knighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The saga of Lanny Budd continues, taking us through the D-Day invasion, the liberation of Paris and France and finally the reelection of Franklin D. Roosevelt for the final time.
We learn that their are casualties in war not covered in the statistics and body counts. Lanny’s ledger will look positive but the red entries may create deep wounds. The last two books will tell that tale.
Indeed, the mood coming out of One Clear Call is of victory, an election won and a war near its end, but those of us who know history recognize that the next ten months will see at least four monumental events, three of which even this war cannot contain.

Four stars slightly waning

[alison mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

an amazing read

The scope and depth of this book is incredible. And it speaks to the issues of today just as clearly as it does to those same issues of decades gone by. Sinclair’s ability to incorporate layers of human desires, beliefs and cares - across the board in all its many forms - is what compelled me to keep turning the pages late into the night without being aware of time - nor particularly caring. The entire series of the Lanny Budd Novels is worth reading for people of all ages and backgrounds. Thank you for making it available on Kindle.

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

Another excellent chapter in the Lanny Budd series

Although there are only a couple of books to go in the epic series, I continue to be amazed at the detailed description and information that I have been exposed to, about the period from before WWI to after WWII. The author is heavily influenced by his socialist preferences, but the story is saturated with the facts and history of the period. I can't believe that I didn't read this series, in my youth.

[Sekhar N Banerjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK

This volume, even though it covered the climactic phase of the European war, was very bland . Some of the episodes were portrayed very amateurish like, the episodes with George Patton - it was almost hilarious.
I do not know what objective the author had in mind when the travel to Palestine was brought in. The topic was dealt very superficially and will not even register with the reader.
This volume though very readable, was not up to the mark.

[Deborah Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

WWII is emding

Lanny Budd managed to take part in ending the war and begins slowly to come out from hiding his real beliefs. Meanwhile, his wife becomes much more active in writing about the war.

[Christine M. Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

history repeats

I have read all of the preceding Lanny Budd novels. I think Sinclair’s insights about political forces is spot on. I highlighted many passages that seem relevant to the political climate in the US today. It’s an unfortunate prescience.

[Kim Wingerei · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to read some of the history of WWII

Lanny Budd is, of course, too good to be true, but it is yet another great yarn with fascinating perspectives on how the war unfolded in Europe as Hitler’s grotesque folly slowly - far too slowly - unravelled.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another exciting, detailed Lanny Budd book, meeting all the important, nasty figures of World War 2.

[Ken Hatfield]

Good book I enjoyed it!

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

At 662 pages, this novel about a Presidential Assistant going undercover as a spy in Nazi Germany is overlong and exceedingly boring.

[Elaine Mikkelborg · Rating 3 out of 5]

gave up on it

[Mark Zodda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good entry in the series though once again not as good as those written before the author knew the outcome of the second world war and used that point of view to foreshadow coming events.

[Rosemary Dreyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel about an OSS agent during WWII. The writing is somewhat stilted but the topic is fascinating. It covers behind enemy lines to personal interactions with FDR. I liked the characters, the history, and the behind-the-scenes look at what happened during the war. Today marks the 75th anniversary of the rescue at Auschwitz.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I should not have delayed writing this review as I am one quarter thru the next book in the series.
Again Lanny is involved, sometimes in danger, with all sorts of well known personalities - this book was published in 1946 - so after the death of Roosevelt and after the war was won - but I will bet before the Churchill “iron curtain” speech and the apparent beginnings of the cold war.
While Sinclair continues to be an absolute FDR fan now, with this book, he seems to take more liberty in putting words into FDR’s mouth and he also seems to reinforce his, Sinclair’s, belief and wish that socialism would gain more strength in the world - so capitalists are a bit greedier than before - but they were greedy then too.
The series is a great way to read about WW2, especially the European theatre - do it with a reference to check up on some of the characters if they make you more curious.
The resistance movements seem to get more credence from Sinclair than they might really have earned and I question how strong the socialists were as a part of the resistance movements.
I gave it four stars- I will finish the series - on the tenth only the eleventh after this one. A worthwhile investment of my time. Actually at this point Lanny Budd has been my daily “buddy” for about 15 months.

[Stephen Courts · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Clear Call is the ninth in the eleven book Upton Sinclair

[Andrea]

well, i read 9 books--2 to go.