Sublime

When generals in Europe were disappointed in decisions made at SHAEF, they usually blamed Bedell rather than Ike. So, too, in Washington. Politicians of both parties focused their ire on Sherman Adams when their requests were denied by the White House.

For Luis Muñoz Marín, this all hung together. Turning Puerto Rico from an “unsolvable problem” into a viable economy meant doing a lot of things at once: tamping down birthrates, ushering the surplus population off the island, and channeling profits from tariff-free trade into economic development. More food, fewer mouths. It was a Faustian bargain

“Liberal?” Major Hackensack said it like the word “pedophile.” “You a liberal, British journalist?” I swallowed. The Iraqis were watching us too, wondering if their fates were being decided by this incomprehensible but clearly ill-tempered exchange. “You’ve been sent here because of the most conservative White House in living memory. Truly, Major,