The Third Man

The book “The Third Man” is a historical venture examining World War II diplomacy through the lens of a Canadian prime minister’s diary. As the leader of Canada’s governing Liberal Party for nearly three decades and as prime minister through the entirety of World War II, Mackenzie King was a vital link between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. King’s diary provides a unique perspective on the American president and the British prime minister, who was loath to admit he needed a mediator between himself and Roosevelt. The diary challenges the prevailing notions, largely crafted by Churchill himself, of American and British diplomacy during the war. King, who was present during closed-door conversations, knew Roosevelt and Churchill better than they knew each other. Indeed, while Roosevelt and Churchill put on public faces of unity, strengthened by their mutual talents for rhetorical eloquence, behind the scenes both men had different visions of the postwar world. Whereas Churchill clung to past imagery of British Empire, Roosevelt saw the war as an opportunity to build a new world order. The book also delivers revealing personal details, such as King’s concerns over Churchill’s drinking habits that included half a bottle of brandy a day. By placing King as “The Third Man” alongside Roosevelt and Churchill, the book tells the Canadian leader’s own story as a man who felt “more at home in London, Washington, or New York” than he did in Toronto or Ottawa. The book is an impressive narrative presenting a reinterpretation of World War II diplomatic relations. TW