The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War

Anna Roosevelt (1906-1975) was born in Hyde Park, New York, to Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was educated at the Chapin school and pursued a career as an editor, writer, and newspaper owner. Later in life, she became involved in human rights work as the vice-chair of the President’s Commission for the Observance of Human Rights, and she served on the Citizens Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

In Daughters of Yalta, Katz emphasizes Anna Roosevelt’s admiration for her father, which began in her early childhood. Anna and her father shared a love of nature, and Anna wanted to someday manage the family property with him. A significant turning point in their relationship occurred when Franklin Roosevelt was suddenly ill with polio and developed paralysis when Anna was 15. Katz claims that Anna’s close bond with her father was then inhibited by his busy political career and his health issues, which caused him to be constantly surrounded by helpers and advisors.

The author uses this personal context as a backdrop for Anna’s actions at Yalta, where she embraced her role as her father’s closest aide, and was pleased to finally be entrusted with these responsibilities after years of being passed up for her brothers. At the end of her father’s life, Anna was so involved in Roosevelt’s administration that some papers raised questions about her role in the White House and her influence on the president. In her work, Katz characterizes Anna as loyal, loving, and protective, and eager to please her father in spite of his emotional distance.

Kathleen Harriman (1917-2011) was the daughter of Kitty Lanier Lawrence and Averell Harriman, a businessperson and later American ambassador to the Soviet Union. Harriman attended the Foxcroft School and Bennington College. She was a talented athlete and enjoyed spending time at her father’s resort, Sun Valley, where she learned how to excel at skiing.

Harriman traveled with her father to London in the early years of World War ll, working as a journalist so she could have permission to travel abroad. Harriman then accompanied her father to his new posting in Moscow, where he was the American Ambassador to Stalin’s Soviet Union. She accompanied her father as part of the American delegation at Yalta, and helped to prepare the palace before the conference began.

Katz characterizes Harriman as an independent and hardworking young woman. She emphasizes her intellect and her insistence on doing professional work rather than simply being her father’s housekeeper. Harriman was dedicated to her work; she learned Russian to better communicate with the Soviet members of government that she and her father met. The author portrays Harriman as resilient and brave for facing a myriad of problems such as cultural issues, bed bugs, scurvy, and frightening scenes of war, murder and destruction.