Courage of Convictions

William E. Dodd, whose story is told in In the Garden of Beasts, was named the US Ambassador to Germany by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the beginning of his first term in 1933. Dodd was a man in his mid-sixties at the time and was very set in his ways and very principled. He felt that living the opulent life that most diplomats led was wrong-headed and set a very bad image for the State Department while the entire world was suffering from the Great Depression.

Even though Dodd was trying to improve the US's standing and reputation at home and abroad, his frugal lifestyle was met with criticism from the State Department and other diplomats who felt that Dodd was showing them up and forcing them to vacate their extravagant lifestyles against their will. Dodd really didn't care what the others did. He refused to...