Admiral Leahy: Second Most Powerful Man in the World (Blue and Gold)

Admiral William Daniel Leahy has not garnered the same fame as other admirals and generals of World War II, yet he played a critical role in shaping American strategies to defeat the Axis powers. Midshipmen Nathan Scherry and Sebastian Scherry collaborated to produce this short documentary to address Admiral Leahy's enormous contribution to American efforts in the 1940s to defeat Fascism.
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[@danwallach8826]

Great summation of a key figure in our history.
Thank you.

[@easoga]

Thank you, very informative.

[@markbrisec3972]

One thing about Adm Leahy wasn't mentioned here and that is the view he held, together with FDR, towards USSR and Stalin in particular. Leahy and FDR were fooled and played by Stalin during the Tehran, and especially during the Yalta Conference. They believed Stalin when he said that he doesn't have any territorial pretensions over Eastern Europe and that he'll allow free and fair elections in Poland, Hungary and the rest of the East European countries post WW2. We all know how that turned out. Churchill tried to warn them about who Stalin is but they refused to listen to him. After FDR's death Truman took a much more realistic stance towards Stalin and wouldn't allow him being played by the Soviet leader at the Potsdam conference. Leahy was there with Truman and his advice was shunned as Truman and his new advisers realized the danger that USSR represented for Europe.. Leahy was dead wrong regarding that, despite how he influenced the famous "Cold War" speech by Churchill (although his influence is now in doubt by several modern historians).

[@DoubleMrE]

He died 4 days before I was born.

[@edwardloomis887]

An impressive son of Iowa who reached the halls of power but doesn't seem to have wanted the high public profile and adoration sought by others (i.e. MacArthur, Halsey, Mark Clark).

[@kontoru22]

Then who's the 1st most powerful ?

[@JeffStevens]

That would be FDR.
It would be arguable that Stalin would be second, not Leahy.

[@JeffStevens]

It is interesting that I have read a full biography of Roosevelt which barely mentions Leahy. I am not convinced he was as important to the administration as is implied here.

[@DiviAugusti]

Read the Pacific Trilogy by Ian W Toll if you ever have a chance. It gets into the Leahy/FDR relationship quite a lot.