Oliver Franks

Résumé du livre

It has been said that if Britain were a republic Oliver Franks would have been president. This is the first biography of this remarkable man, written by a leading historian and specialist in international relations. Lord Franks was an exceedingly deliberate man who, paradoxically, embarked upon his various careers - as don, mandarin, diplomat, banker, provost, pillar of state - almost by accident. A moral philosopher by training and inclination, Franks had a hand in the making of both war and peace in the middle decades of the twentieth century. He secured Marshall Aid for Europe's post-war recovery proramme. He had a major role in negotiating the North Atlantic Treaty. Later, he was responsible for several unusually influential official reports, including that on Oxford University in the 1960s, and, most recently and controversially, on the British Government's handling of the Falklands crisis. This is an extensively researched and thoroughly readable study of the life of a man who succeeded in combining great intellect and public service to a rare degree. Oliver Franks, though personally self-effacing was an immensely influential figure at the centre of public life for many years. Alex Danchev has approached his subject with insight and meticulous scholarship, and the result is a study which does justice to one of the leading public figures of the twentieth century.