4/8 Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue Paperback – Large Print, October 8, 2024 by Sonia Purnell (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
by Sonia Purnell (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Kingmaker-Harrimans-Astonishing-Seduction-Intrigue-ebook/dp/B0CQJHTHGY/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=mGORW&content-id=amzn1.sym.bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&pf_rd_p=bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&pf_rd_r=131-1534402-8294242&pd_rd_wg=oGjro&pd_rd_r=28fc36b7-6eda-4621-b633-8a670774f5f4&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk
When Pamela Churchill Harriman died in 1997, the obituaries that followed were predictably scathing – and many were downright sexist. Written off as a mere courtesan and social climber, her true legacy was overshadowed by a glamorous social life and her infamous erotic adventures. Much of what she did behind the scenes – on both sides of the Atlantic - remained invisible and secret. That is, until now: with a wealth of fresh research, interviews and newly discovered sources, Sonia Purnell unveils for the first time the full, spectacular story of how she left an indelible mark on the world today.
At age 20 Churchill’s beloved daughter-in-law became a “secret weapon” during World War II, strategically wining, dining, and seducing diplomats and generals to help win over American sentiment (and secrets) to the British cause against Hitler. After the war, she helped to transform Fiat heir Gianni Agnelli into Italy’s ‘uncrowned king’ on the international stage and after moving to the US brought a struggling Democratic party back to life, hand-picking Bill Clinton from obscurity and vaulting him to the presidency.
Picked as Ambassador to France, she deployed her legendary subtle powers to charm world leaders and help efforts to bring peace to Bosnia, playing her part in what was arguably the high-water mark of American global supremacy.
There are few at any time who have operated as close to the center of power over five decades and two continents, and there is practically no one in 20th Century politics, culture, and fashion whose lives she did not touch, including the Kennedys, Truman Capote, Aly Khan, Kay Graham, Gloria Steinem, Ed Murrow, and Frank Sinatra. Written with the novelistic richness and investigative rigor that only Sonia Purnell could bring to this story full of sex, politics, yachts, palaces and fabulous clothes, KINGMAKER re-asserts Harriman’s rightful place at the heart of history.
1945 Trumman Cabinet including Averell Harriman, Secretary of Commerce
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Baxter. |
| 0:05.3 | Sonia Pernel is the author of Kingmaker, Pamela Harriman's astonishing life of power, seduction, and intrigue. |
| 0:12.2 | But the war is now done, and Pamela Harriman's skill of taking really good information, |
| 0:20.8 | to Max Beaverbrook so he can gossip about it, |
| 0:23.7 | and to Winston Churchill so he can act upon it, |
| 0:26.2 | comes to an end. |
| 0:27.7 | There's no longer a need to know what the Americans are thinking. |
| 0:31.2 | The Americans are taking over the world. |
| 0:33.4 | And Pamela goes to the world. |
| 0:35.3 | Now, quickly, because there are a number of high points here, |
| 0:38.9 | and we need to get on to the 1960s, |
| 0:42.4 | and her introduction into being an American wife, |
| 0:46.8 | Pamela is most taken of all the men you introduce me to, |
| 0:52.3 | to Agnelli. |
| 0:53.3 | Johnny Agnelli, who is he? He is the young heir to the |
| 0:58.7 | Fiat Empire that Fiat, the car corporation, the biggest corporation in Italy. But obviously, |
| 1:03.9 | the Italians had fought on the wrong side of the war, and Fiat had prospered greatly from |
| 1:08.6 | supplying tanks and trucks to both the Italian and German |
| 1:12.8 | armies. He has a lot of rehabilitation to do for his own name and for Fiat's name. And it is |
| 1:19.1 | quite likely that the Allies are going to confiscate Fiat altogether. So he also has to |
| 1:24.8 | persuade London, but even more importantly, Washington, that he, his family should keep hold of fear because that will be a way of stopping communism really kind of taking a huge foothold in Italy. |
| 1:37.3 | So he has a lot of explaining to do, and he's a young man, he has no idea how to do this. |
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