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Abstract
Colonel Philip Faymonville (U.S. Army) played a significant and controversial role in United States-Soviet relations in the 1930s and 1940s. The first U.S. military attaché to the Soviet Union, Faymonville provided dispassionate, accurate assessments of the Red Army's military worth. Yet he earned the enduring hostility of his military and diplomatic colleagues. During World War II, Faymonville returned to Moscow as lend-lease expediter. He reported directly to the White House, and worked independently from the military attaché and the Embassy, solidifying his position as an outsider and raising questions about the role of military officers in the conduct of diplomacy.
IN 1963, readers of the California Historical Society Quarterly who bothered to peruse the journal's obituaries would have found an intriguing encomium to Philip R. Faymonville.1 A eulogizer's praise for the deceased does not usually evoke curiosity, but in this case the author, Anatole Mazour, hinted at historical injustice and phrased his tribute as a challenge to future historians:
As passions subside and personal sentiment gives way to impartiality, the war year records and accounts of lend-lease aid to Russia during the crucial years will be revaluated, and Faymonville will appear in a different light, far more favorable than has been cast by current writers.2
Over forty years after Mazour wrote these words, that reevaluation has barely begun. Faymonville played a significant and controversial role in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s. Many with whom Faymonville served published memoirs sharply critical of him. Yet Faymonville never published his version of events, and was unwilling to defend himself even in conversations with friends.3 Though a few historians have begun the process of reexamining Faymonville's role in Soviet-American relations, for the most part this history has remained embroiled in the passions and personal sentiments of the Cold War.4 It is now time for a more dispassionate evaluation of this fascinating man and his unique role in U.S.-Soviet relations.
This consideration is long overdue. A careful analysis of Faymonville's military and diplomatic life not only answers Mazour's personal call for historical justice, but also reveals several significant, yet neglected, questions of military and diplomatic history. A series of unique, and at times untenable, positions marked Faymonville's career. As...