He was a prominent member of Congress, a brilliant administrator, an advisor to Presidents, an influential political figure in the old conservative style. He embodied the traits of free thinking and independence that are regarded as emblematic of the American character. He was perhaps the last American ambassador to have any major impact on U.S. foreign policy. Yet, as the authors show in their insightful biography, Lewis Douglas spent the final twenty years of his life disillusioned and disenchanted with the direction of American leadership. The authors focus on what was perhaps the most telling of Douglas's roles : his service under President Truman as ambassador to Great Britain from 1947 to 1950. A popular diplomat and a close friend of Winston Churchill, he played a prominent part in the launching of the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Blockade, the creation of Israel, and the forging of the North Atlantic alliance. The last two decades of his life were a time of frustration and unhappiness with both Republican and Democratic administrations, especially in the area of foreign policy. Browder and Smith have chronicled a remarkable career in a book that sheds new light on many historically significant events, and fully portrays the successes and failures, the determination and integrity, the worth, of a truly independent man. --from inside jacket flap.