Last week, I heard Michael Beschloss give a talk based on his book, "The Conquerors." Beschloss is a very effective speaker. He made the history come alive. If I had history teachers like that, I probably would have wanted to be a historian!

Several points that were interesting... FDR was very ill in the latter part of his presidency. This is interesting in light of the recent release of JFK's medical records. Will this mean that health concerns about Presidents and candidates will diminish? Certainly, in those old days, it was easier to "cover up" health stories. Not so today. Yet, now that we know how sickly FDR and JFK were and we regard them highly, will we be less worried about health issues?

Most disturbing was FDR's knowledge of the Holocaust and relative inaction to it. Churchill wanted to bomb the rail lines and the camps to stop the horror but apparently wasn't able to convice FDR.

The key decision by FDR was to defeat Germany totally to hopefully prevent Germany from rising again to threaten Europe and the World again. However, he always feared that Hitler (or if Hitler got removed in a coup, a subsequent regime) would make a deal with Stalin and the USA and British would have to fight both the Red Army and the Nazis. Thus, FDR often accomodated Stalin in their negotiations.

Beschloss was asked about Iraq. He acknowledged that he has heard rumors that his book is in the hands of Bush administration officials and indeed they may absorb the lesson tha unconditional victory was only the first key to a reformed Germany. The other key was that the USA and the West stayed in Germany for many decades to help rebuild the nation.