The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy, Roosevelt’s Chief of Staff

Military historian O’Brien (How the War Was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II) serves up an engaging biography of the under-the-radar WWII power broker, William D. Leahy (1875–1959). O’Brien traces Leahy’s path from naval cadet to his increasingly important combat and administrative posts, culminating in his appointment by FDR to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff after the U.S. entered WWII. As the country’s highest-ranking military official, he became FDR’s top adviser and later advocated policies to ensure that in the future no one occupying the role would hold a similar amount of power. Leahy is drawn as a complex character who thrived in positions of authority, but who preferred to avoid the spotlight; the book excels at relating the political maneuvering that allowed him to repeatedly upstage better-known historical figures including George Marshall and Douglas MacArthur (whom Leahy called out in front of the president for his nonstandard uniform). O’Brien provides little analysis of the underlying motivations for Leahy’s actions and can occasionally veers into the realm of hyperbole (“He might as well have said: No, Mrs. Roosevelt, I am the acting president of the United States”). But this is a solid and informative account of a relatively underdiscussed influence on Cold War policies, worldviews, and relationships that still matter today. Agents: Alexa Stark and Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group. (May)