This book deals with the unique role of the first U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, John Jay McCloy, during the period 1949-1952. The authors not only used printed as well as unpublished sources from archives in the United States and Germany, but they also assembled statements about McCloy's merits, written by prominent German figures from Konrad Adenauer to Richard von Weizsaecker. In its main part, the volume presents a day-to-day account of McCloy's activities during those years, based on an Office Journal, which shows his multiple contacts with numerous politicians, business people and media representatives.