A Diplomat’s Solitude

Surprisingly little has been written about William C. Bullitt. A few dull political studies and a single biography don’t do justice to his dazzling, action-packed life in Washington, Moscow, Paris and Vienna. A journalist and a diplomat, a writer and a foreign affairs analyst - the whimsical twists and turns of our hero’s biography found their way into novels by F.Scott Fitzgerald and Mikhail Bulgakov. A student of Freud and one of his exceedingly rare coauthors, Bullitt also managed to save his mentor from inevitable death after Hitler’s annexation of Austria. He was the first U.S. Ambassador to Soviet Russia; indeed, the Nazis blamed Bullitt for being one of the culprits of World War II. During their occupation of France, he became the only American Mayor of Paris.

After being a close friend and employee of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he broke off ties with him in the 1940s, left his service in the capital, and signed up as a volunteer with de Gaulle’s army. In this whirlwind of historical events, we can discern the diplomat’s main character traits: his unique mindset, a rare ability to see far beyond the obvious, and an astuteness occasionally bordering on prophecy.