William C. Bullitt

First U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union

From 1933 until 1936, William C. Bullitt served as the first U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. From 1936 to 1940, he was the U.S. ambassador to France.

During World War II, he served as a “roving ambassador” to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Throughout his service to Roosevelt during the war years, Mr. Bullitt consistently argued for the United States to think about the postwar situation when planning during the war. At odds with Roosevelt, Mr. Bullitt became a harsh critic of the president’s wartime diplomacy and his lack of foresight of the postwar balance of power.

In 1946, he wrote “The Great Globe Itself,” an analysis of the emerging Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.