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A Question of Trust: The Origins of U.S.-Soviet Diplomatic Relations : The Memoirs of Loy W. Henderson
Book by Henderson, Loy Wesley, Baer, George W.
579 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1986
11 people want to read
About the author
Loy Wesley Henderson
2 booksLoy Wesley Henderson was a United States Foreign Service Officer and diplomat.
After an initial consular tour in Ireland, Henderson began a 24-year focus on Soviet and Eastern European Affairs. He then investigated the connection between the Soviet Comintern and left wing organizations in the United States while serving in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. In 1933, the Roosevelt Administration extended diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union and Henderson was assigned to Russia to help reopen the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. As chargé, Henderson warned Washington that the Soviet Union was likely to cooperate with Nazi Germany.
In 1942 Henderson was sent to Baghdad as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. He returned to Washington in 1945 to serve at the State Department as the director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs.
In 1948, Henderson clashed with domestic groups lobbying for the creation of the state of Israel. Secretary of State George C. Marshall and Henderson, speaking for the Department of State, opposed the United Nations resolution dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, as they felt Israel would not be able to defend itself and would ruin Washington's relationships with the Arab world; their view was that the area should remain a trust under the UN. On the other side, Presidential advisors such as David Niles and Clark Clifford, along with American Jewish groups and much of the general public, favored the partition of Palestine into the State of Israel and an Arab state. Henderson was harshly criticized for his opposition to the creation of Israel. His views did not prevail in 1948 and his transfer to the ambassadorship for India was rumored by his supporters to have been the result of political pressure from the pro-Zionist groups.
After an initial consular tour in Ireland, Henderson began a 24-year focus on Soviet and Eastern European Affairs. He then investigated the connection between the Soviet Comintern and left wing organizations in the United States while serving in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. In 1933, the Roosevelt Administration extended diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union and Henderson was assigned to Russia to help reopen the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. As chargé, Henderson warned Washington that the Soviet Union was likely to cooperate with Nazi Germany.
In 1942 Henderson was sent to Baghdad as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. He returned to Washington in 1945 to serve at the State Department as the director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs.
In 1948, Henderson clashed with domestic groups lobbying for the creation of the state of Israel. Secretary of State George C. Marshall and Henderson, speaking for the Department of State, opposed the United Nations resolution dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, as they felt Israel would not be able to defend itself and would ruin Washington's relationships with the Arab world; their view was that the area should remain a trust under the UN. On the other side, Presidential advisors such as David Niles and Clark Clifford, along with American Jewish groups and much of the general public, favored the partition of Palestine into the State of Israel and an Arab state. Henderson was harshly criticized for his opposition to the creation of Israel. His views did not prevail in 1948 and his transfer to the ambassadorship for India was rumored by his supporters to have been the result of political pressure from the pro-Zionist groups.
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