One Christmas in Washington: Churchill and Roosevelt Forge the Grand Alliance |
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David J. Bercuson, Holger H. Herwig
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Pages: 352 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0297846310
Pub: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Pub date: 2005-11-10
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 258227
Reader Reviews:
A MOMENTOUS TIME IN HISTORY VIVIDLY RECALLED (8/10 people found this helpful)
With the opening words, "Christmas Eve 1941 broke cloudy and rainy in Washington, D.C. Since the dastardly Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor seventeen days earlier.....," readers became privy to, no, almost a party to the momentous meeting between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. It lasted only ten days, but those were days that gave birth to the Grand Alliance and paved the way to victory in war some four years later.
History has well recorded the results of this conference, which went by the code name ARCADIA, yet readers will be fascinated by the intimate details of those days in the White House as unearthed by Bercuson and Herwig through diaries, meeting notes, letters and minutes.
We're reminded that a meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill might be subtitled "The clash of the titans." Both were world leaders with healthy egos and wary of one another, yet they worked together to hammer out this agreement despite the posturing of other officials in attendance and a less than warm relationship between Churchill and Eleanor Roosevelt.
It will come as scant surprise to most that Churchill could be a challenging house guest. We hear, "The White House was a changed place with Churchill in residence. Simply put, he turned it into the staff headquarters of the British Empire." Opinions of him among the White House staff were divided. Mrs. Nesbitt, reputedly the worst cook in White House history, had done little to please FDR. However, she took great pleasure and pains to serve special meals during Churchill's visit determining that their guest had a "poor-colored and hungry" appearance.
On the other hand, Lillian Rogers Parks, a maid, caused a ruckus upon learning that Churchill always needed a hot water bottle in bed, and had his Scotland Yard bodyguard inject mice with samples from his cigars. If the mouse didn't fall over dead, Churchill would smoke them.
It is such observations that make "One Christmas In Washington"vivid and colorful, it's a remarkable piece of history related in intimate detail. Don't miss it!
- Gail Cooke
Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945