Hands Across the Caviar

London: Michael Joseph, 1952. Presumed U. K. First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good/Good. 222, [2] pages. DJ has some wear, soiling, tears, and chips. Sticker inside board. Slightly cocked. Charles W. Thayer (February 9, 1910- August 27, 1969) was an American diplomat and author. He was an expert on Soviet-American relations and headed the Voice of America. In 1937, Thayer became a Foreign Service Officer, after passing his exams. In 1942, he was appointed chargé d'affaires in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1942. He was assigned for a time to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in Belgrade. Thayer served in London on the European Advisors Committee which drafted the German terms of surrender at the end of World War II. He attended the Naval War College. After the war, Thayer headed the OSS in Austria and served on the Joint United States-Soviet Commission on Korea. He played a key role in developing the Office of Policy Coordination, later merged into the CIA, to counter and destabilize the Soviets. Diplomat Charles Thayer recalls his experiences in eastern Europe towards the end of WWII. Stationed in the Balkans, he had the opportunity to observe the Red Army in operation as few Americans or Allied officers did. His tales shed light on the background events that led up to the Cold War. At the end of the Second World War, Thayer joined the Anglo-American Mission in Yugoslavia. This work tells what happened when he got there. This work also establishes his reputation as a raconteur and an irrepressible dispeller of diplomatic solemnity. He headed the American mission with the partisans. They he served as a Russian expert on the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Commission that was supported to arrange a government for a united Korea. He observed the behavior of the Red Army abroad. Hands-across-the-caviar diplomacy is shown through numerous graphic and entertaining anecdotes. It has an unescapably Alice in Wonderland quality.