38 Quotes by W. Averell Harriman

The Russians often took advantage of Lend-Lease.

No foreign policy will stick unless the American people are behind it. And unless Congress understands it. And unless Congress understands it, the American people aren't going to understand it.

I think Stalin was afraid of Roosevelt. Whenever Roosevelt spoke, he sort of watched him with a certain awe. He was afraid of Roosevelt’s influence in the world.

We became convinced that, regardless of Stalin’s awful brutality and his reign of terror, he was a great war leader. Without Stalin, they never would have held.

The war changed everybody’s attitude. We became international almost overnight.

Actually I’d had a certain amount of experience in Europe in the inter-war period, as a banker, and I was also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Chamber of Commerce.

There’s a myth that Roosevelt gave Stalin Eastern Europe. I was with Roosevelt every day at Yalta.

We both agreed that Stalin was determined to hold out against the Germans. He told us he’d never let them get to Moscow. But if he was wrong, they’d go back to the Urals and fight. They’d never surrender.

As far as the Russians were concerned, I felt the reverse; they had adequate gold, if they wanted to buy, and they weren’t dependent upon international trade. I felt they were more self-sufficient.