Diplomat and "wise man" George Ball wielded enormous influence in American foreign policy for more than forty years. Best known for his dissent from U.S. Vietnam policy when he was under secretary of state during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, he also helped those administrations formulate policy concerning the European Community, the Congo, the Cuban missile crisis, and Cyprus. His last formal appointment was in 1968 as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, but he continued to advise and unofficially assist presidents and members of the American political elite for another twenty-five years, often taking contrary and critical positions on the major issues of the day. In this book James Bill offers fascinating new insights into the inner workings of foreign policy by examining Ball's career and the political problems with which he grappled. Drawing on Ball's personal archive as well as extensive interviews with Ball and with dozens of his associates, Bill traces Ball's involvement with foreign policy. He begins in the 1940s, when Ball was a close associate of Jean Monnet, chief architect of the European Community, and ends with Ball's death in 1994. He also chronicles Ball's forty-year involvement as a founding member of the Bilderberg group, an international clique of powerful European and American leaders. The book stresses a seldom-recognized dimension of the U.S. foreign policymaking process: the importance of the second tier of officialdom, the level just below that of cabinet secretary. And it provides a thoughtful comparison of the realpolitik model of statesmanship practiced by Henry Kissinger and the phronesis practiced by Ball, who was a prudent statesman guided bypractical wisdom within a moral framework.

A thought-provoking exploration of the American-Iranian relationship, from the 1940s through the Iran-Contra affair and its aftermath. James Bill, a well-known authority on the Middle East, has not only lived in Iran but also closely observed U.S. policy-making toward that country. He draws on interviews with many of the key American and Iranian figures, embassy files, Persian sources, archival records, and other sources from both countries to write this definitive analysis of American-Iranian relations. "A surprisingly fresh rendition of events. ... Bill's well-constructed narrative will hold the non-expert reader's interest."-Jim Hoagland, Washington Post Book World "A searching study of America's relations with Iran since World War II. ... A powerful book that should be widely read and taken seriously."-John C. Campbell, Foreign Affairs "Essential reading."-Andrew Gowers, Financial Times "By far the most searching study of contemporary United States-Iranian relations I have encountered."-George W. Ball "A carefully documented hard-hitting case study of the reasons behind America's trials and tribulations in the Third World."-Melvin R. Laird "The most detailed and vivid account yet of America's encounter with Iran."-Fouad Ajami, New York Times Book Review Selected by Library Journal as one of their Best Books of 1988.