Franklin And Winston Part 38

gun carriage Newsweek, February 8, 1965.

"He, with Franklin Roosevelt" The New York Times, January 26, 1965.

In a heavy black veil The New York Times, January 31, 1965.

heard a c.o.c.kney dismiss Ibid.

He was buried next to his parents WSC, VIII, 1363. Sir Martin's moving account of Churchill's last days and his funeral can be found in ibid., 13561366. Sir Martin chose to conclude the monumental official biography with a quotation from a note Lady Soames had written to her father in 1964: "In addition to all the feelings a daughter has for a loving, generous father, I owe you what every Englishman, woman & child does-Liberty itself." I am also grateful to Lady Soames for helping me sort out some details of her father's burial.

EPILOGUE: THEM'S MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY Roosevelt dispatched Averell Harriman Harriman and Abel, Special Envoy, 276.

"Mr. Roosevelt gave" Churchill, Closing the Ring, 385.

"He invited" Author interview with John Kenneth Galbraith.

"Churchill has never" BBK G/11/4, LBP.

"From all small things" The Times (London), January 26, 1965.

"He'd like that" James Roosevelt, My Parents: A Differing View, 204205.

"Churchill's att.i.tude toward Roosevelt" Author interview with Anthony Montague Browne.

"What ought we to do?" James, ed., Complete Speeches, VIII, 8627.

"To conclude" Ibid., 8633.

courage, Churchill once said, was the essential virtue The Times (London), January 26, 1965.

"Today, science has brought" Geddes, ed., Franklin Delano Roosevelt: A Memorial, 217218.

"Wishful thinking" TIR, 235.

Randolph Churchill came to Washington Arthur Schlesinger Jr., "Randolph Churchill," in The Grand Original, ed. Halle, 281.

Hopkins noticed a "Notes and Comment" piece RAH, 734.

"Surely the Board knows what democracy is" Ibid., 735.

"I love it!" Ibid.

"must never cease" James, ed., Complete Speeches, VII, 7288.

Eleanor Roosevelt returned to London Eleanor Roosevelt, On My Own (New York, 1958), 37.

"My husband had looked forward" Ibid.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Ma.n.u.sCRIPT COLLECTIONS.

Lord Beaverbrook Papers, House of Lords Archives, London, England John Boettiger Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Wilson Brown Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Howard Bruenn Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Winston Churchill Papers, Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge, England Joseph E. Davies Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Charles Eade Papers, Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge, England Robert D. Graff Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Kay Halle Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts Anna Roosevelt Halsted Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Pamela Harriman Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

W. Averell Harriman Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Harry Hopkins Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Harold L. Ickes Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Tyler Kent Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York Agnes and Eugene Meyer Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Edward R. Murrow Papers, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York Franklin D. Roosevelt Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York Margaret Suckley Papers, Wilderstein Collection, Rhinebeck, New York United States Secret Service Records, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Henry A. Wallace Papers and Diaries, University of Iowa Library Special Collections, Iowa City, Iowa Theodore White Papers, Harvard University, Cambridge, Ma.s.sachusetts AUTHOR INTERVIEWS.

The date and location indicate my initial conversation with these sources; many of them subsequently and generously answered additional questions and shared other insights in person, by letter, and by telephone.

The Lady Soames, DBE (Mary Churchill), August 25, 2000, London Winston S. Churchill, August 26, 2000, London Mrs. Ian Edwards (Anne Curzon-Howe), October 15, 2002, by telephone, New York CitySouthampton, England George M. Elsey, June 5, 2000, Washington, D.C.

John Kenneth Galbraith, October 21, 2002, Cambridge, Ma.s.sachusetts Mrs. Margaret Hendrick (Rollie Hambley), June 26, 2002, by telephone, New York CityAnnapolis, Maryland Robert Hopkins, December 18, 2000, Washington, D.C.

Patrick Kinna, November 11, 2002, Brighton, England Henry A. Kissinger, September 30, 2002, New York City Trude Pratt Lash, November 27, 2000, New York City Carol R. Lubin, September 30, 2002, New York City Sir Anthony Montague Browne, November 11, 2002, London Robert M. Morgenthau, February 27, 2002, New York City Kathleen Harriman Mortimer, January 30, 2002, New York City Curtis Roosevelt, December 9, 2002, by telephone, New York CitySaint-Bonnet- du-Gard, France Elie Wiesel, August 27, 2002, by telephone, New York City.

Rivington Winant, September 10, 2002, New York City.

AUTHOR'S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Composing a tribute to her friend Winston Churchill on his eightieth birthday in 1954, Violet Bonham Carter noted that "though he may be the best Great Man to know, he is the most difficult man to write about-because he has written better of himself than anyone can ever write about him." In reconstructing the Roosevelt-Churchill relationship, I have relied both on Churchill's own brilliant written legacy and on the work of many people.

This book is not intended to be read as a scholarly work. Some readers will wonder how I could fail to address this issue or that controversy. I believe, however, that my rendering of the tale, which draws on new archival research in the United States and in Britain, original interviews, and oral histories, casts fresh light on an old friendship and its relevance in a new century at a time when Americans are rediscovering the importance of war leadership and the art of alliance.

I was fortunate to be able to draw on several previously unavailable or largely untapped sources along the way. Among them: Several unpublished letters of Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, including one to President Roosevelt in 1941, which reveal more detail about her place in Roosevelt's affections and her role in his larger circle than I believe has been previously known. The 1941 letter is riveting (see Chapter 8), and from her correspondence with Margaret "Daisy" Suckley after FDR's death, I discovered that she remembered Roosevelt's 1918 meeting with Churchill (the evening at Gray's Inn that the prime minister failed to recall), even though the summer concluded with the searing event of Eleanor's learning of the Lucy-FDR affair. From Mrs. Rutherfurd's letters I was also able to confirm that she came to Hyde Park after the president's burial and could therefore tell the story of that quiet, poignant episode. The late prime minister's grandson Winston S. Churchill kindly granted me access to the World War II papers of his mother, Pamela Churchill Harriman, who as Mrs. Randolph Churchill was close to Clementine and Winston Churchill during the war. The papers of Washington Post owner Eugene Meyer and of his wife, Agnes, offer insights both on the prewar view of Churchill in America and on how the British attempted to influence American opinion makers in Roosevelt's Washington. The diary of Sunday Dispatch editor Charles Eade, who also edited volumes of Churchill's speeches, gives us a window on Churchill's thoughts and state of mind at several points from his return to the Admiralty in 1939 through the war years. The biographer Geoffrey Ward's edition of Suckley's diaries, Closest Companion, was essential, as was the Wilderstein Collection, where I found several letters of Lucy Rutherfurd's. A distant Roosevelt cousin, Suckley kept Roosevelt's letters to her, and her wartime diaries give us fuller detail about Roosevelt and Churchill up close than we have had before. I also interviewed many of those people still alive who spent time in the men's joint company-conversations that shed light on the social interplay between the two leaders.

The literature on Churchill and Roosevelt is vast, and this book bears the c.u.mulative mark of what has come before. The notes and bibliography list the sources I consulted in whole or in part; a few merit special mention here. Sir Martin Gilbert's landmark Churchill biography-his six narrative volumes and his eleven books of doc.u.ments on Churchill's life and work-is a treasure, as is his memoir, In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey. John Kenneth Galbraith once called Gilbert's Churchill doc.u.ment volumes "the best kept secret in publishing history"; Sir Martin's books are essential reading, and he also gave me wise and generous counsel on many points. Readers and scholars who contemplate Churchill and Roosevelt together owe a great debt to Warren F. Kimball, Robert Treat Professor of History at Rutgers University, who edited the Churchill-Roosevelt correspondence and has written numerous insightful books and essays about their alliance. Professor Kimball was gracious to me in discussing the subject and in reading and commenting on a draft of this book. Michael Beschloss's Kennedy and Roosevelt is an excellent dual biography, and his book on Roosevelt, Churchill, and Truman, The Conquerors, tells an important story with grace and skill. Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s three-volume The Age of Roosevelt is a masterful portrait of Roosevelt's New Deal White House. James MacGregor Burns's two-volume Roosevelt biography remains a wonder: deep, far-reaching, and knowing. Geoffrey Ward's two books on Roosevelt, Before the Trumpet and A First-Cla.s.s Temperament, are powerful and a joy to read; and his edition of the Suckley diaries, Closest Companion, is indispensable to those interested in Roosevelt during the pivotal years of the war. Joseph P. Lash's Eleanor and Franklin is invaluable, as are so many of his books. I learned much from his Roosevelt and Churchill, 19391941: The Partnership That Saved the West, and I treasured my interviews with his widow, Trude. And like so many readers, I cherish the sparkling volumes of William Manchester's The Last Lion.

I owe many thanks to all the people who took the time to be interviewed for this book. For me, these conversations were at once illuminating and fun. My largest debt is to Mary Soames, a loving but not uncritical student of her parents' lives and times. An accomplished biographer, she answered numerous questions over the past three years with candor and grace. I showed her a draft of this book in order to guard against my making any factual errors, and she kindly read the ma.n.u.script with care, writing me a thoughtful letter about several of the issues raised in the book and allowing me to reprint a touching photograph of her parents from her personal collection. Though Lady Soames does not agree with all of my conclusions, she has been unfailingly kind to me, and I am grateful. Winston S. Churchill-author, former member of Parliament, and grandson of the late prime minister-was gracious, talking with me about his grandfather and his family and replying to inquiries with great courtesy. As noted above, he also granted me access to-and permission to quote from-his mother's World War II papers, even taking the trouble to help me fix an elusive date on one of the letters. I am thankful for his help and his hospitality.

The presidential historian Michael Beschloss has been a faithful adviser and reader from the beginning. Scrupulous, selfless, and wise, Michael helped me think through difficult issues and read the ma.n.u.script with care and concern. I am indebted to his scholarship and grateful for his friendship.

Several other distinguished historians and writers went out of their way to read drafts and set me right where I was wrong: John Morton Blum, Richard Breitman, Harold Evans, David Reynolds, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Richard Somerset-Ward, William vanden Heuvel, and Geoffrey Ward. Professor Schlesinger was particularly kind in advising me over several years. Richard Holbrooke kindly offered the perspective of a historian who has been in the arena. Henry Kissinger, diplomat, strategist, and historian, shed light on the connection between the personal and the political for me. Verne Newton, a former director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, directed me to a trove of videotaped interviews he conducted for a Harry Hopkins doc.u.mentary and took the trouble to read and comment on my ma.n.u.script. Charles Peters, the founder of The Washington Monthly, brought me to Washington, nurtured my interest in Roosevelt, and read the ma.n.u.script with his characteristic vigor and wit. Jonathan Alter, Tom Brokaw, Tina Brown, Blanche Weisen Cook, Robert Cowley, Alex Danchev, Ellen Feldman, John Hyde, Walter Isaacson, Daniel Klaidman, William Manchester, Williamson Murray, Peter Osnos, Sally Bedell Smith, Russell F. Weigley, Fareed Zakaria, and the late Roy Jenkins were kind enough to share insights with me about different aspects of the project.

I must add that in the end any mistakes are my own and that the wonderful people who helped me along the way bear no responsibility for anything I may have gotten wrong or for interpretations with which they disagree.

The indefatigable Mike Hill did heroic research for this book. Unflappable, enthusiastic, and kind, Mike is one of the world's great souls, and I will always be grateful for the energy and intelligence he brought to discovering new archival ground. A warm word of thanks to Jack Bales, master of bibliographical detail. Dan Blumenthal and Charles Wilson were tireless fact checkers and a great help in the closing phase of the project, as was David Olivenbaum.

Many terrific people in libraries and archives on both sides of the Atlantic were helpful. At the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, Bob Clark was resourceful, thoughtful, and cheerful. Thanks as well to Raymond Teichman, Alycia Vivona, and Mark Renovitch. Dr. John Haynes and Jeffrey Flannery of the Library of Congress in Washington provided invaluable guidance. The entire staff of the Churchill Archives, Churchill College, Cambridge, was unfailingly helpful; a special word of grat.i.tude to Rachel Lloyd and Jude Brimmer. Thanks to Ms. K. V. Bligh of the House of Lords Record Office, House of Lords, London, and to Brian Sullivan of the Harvard Archives. Duane and Linda Watson of Wilderstein, the home of Daisy Suckley, were generous and thoughtful. I am grateful to Evelyn Small, who led me to the Meyer Papers and helped in several other ways. Thanks, too, to Bryson Clevinger Jr., Roy Strohl of Mary Washington College Library, Louisa Thomas, and Ken Moody.

I am grateful to Winston S. Churchill for permission to quote from works within his copyright; to Kathleen Harriman Mortimer for permission to quote from her wartime letters found in the Pamela Harriman Papers; to Matthew Walton for permission to quote from a letter of his father's; to Nancy Roosevelt Ireland, literary executor for Anna Eleanor Roosevelt's estate, for permission to quote from the writings of the late First Lady; to Her Majesty's Stationery Office for permission to quote from wartime doc.u.ments under Crown copyright; to the Clerk of the Records of the House of Lords Record Office, acting on behalf of the Beaverbrook Foundation Trust, for permission to quote from the Lord Beaverbrook Papers; to the Oral History Collection of Columbia University for permission to quote from the Reminiscences of Sir Norman Angell, Chester Bowles, Marquis Childs, Anna Roosevelt Halsted, W. Averell Harriman, Alan Kirk, Walter Lippmann, Frances Perkins, and Henry A. Wallace; to Christine Eade for permission to quote from her father's papers; to Duane Watson for permission to quote from the Suckley diary and letters, which are part of the Wilderstein Collection at Rhinebeck, New York; and to the Rutherfurd family for permission to quote from the letters of Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd.

One of the most delightful things about this project was seeing the places where Roosevelt and Churchill lived and worked. Many thanks to those who went out of their way to help me, including Anne Jordan and Tara McGill of the National Park Service, who made it possible for me to inspect several rooms at Hyde Park that are ordinarily closed to the public; to Phil Reed of the Cabinet War Rooms, who personally showed me that London warren; to Lady Soames for arranging a before-hours tour of Chartwell in Kent; and to Major General David Jenkins, undertreasurer of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, who allowed me to tour the hall where Roosevelt and Churchill first met.

Lally Weymouth generously helped in her own matchless way, often asking me to move from 1945 into the present. Sofia and Herbert Wentz were unfailing sources of intelligence and good sense, slogging through a particularly long draft early on. For counsel and kindnesses large and small I am also grateful to Richard Abate, Kenneth Auchincloss, Louis Auchincloss, Deborah Baker, Sylvia Baldwin, Robert Batscha, Joe Bingham, Douglas Brinkley, Ginanne Brownell, Douglas Brown, Peter Canby, Geoff Chester, Robert Coles, Catherine and Grant Collins, Michael Elliott, Howard Fineman, John Ghazvinian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ralph Gradilone, David Halberstam, Robert Harling, Dorothy Kalins, Addison Klein, Richard Langworth, Nicholas Lapham, Stryker McGuire, Pamela Macfie, Ted Marmor, Kati Marton, Alice Mayhew, Anthea Morton-Saner, Andrew Nagorski, Holly Peterson, Julia Reed, Dale Richardson, Douglas Robbe, Roger Sherman, Lynn Staley, Sarah Stapleton, Julie Tate, William Underhill, Franceska Macsali Urbin, Manny Vella, Dr. Steve Waddell of West Point, and the staff of the Newsweek research center. Barbara DiVittorio and Deborah Millan were cheerful mainstays, as was Becca Pratt, who straightened out more than a few of my self-created computer tangles.

At Random House, I am grateful to Jonathan Jao, Dennis Ambrose, and Sona Vogel for their patience and wonderful work.

My editor, Jonathan Karp, was astute, witty, and perceptive. He is an extraordinary man. Thanks, too, to Ann G.o.doff, who said yes to this idea. Amanda Urban is, of course, one of a kind: generous, candid, and fun. She is a formidable ally in life's wars.

At Newsweek, I am, as always, grateful to Rick Smith and Mark Whitaker for their kindness, generosity, and friendship. They endured several years of increasingly obscure Roosevelt-Churchill anecdotes with good cheer. They are terrific bosses, and I am lucky to have the chance to work for them, and for Donald Graham, who was enthusiastic about the project.

For almost a decade, Evan Thomas and Ann McDaniel have put up with more of my mumbling than I suspect they would like to recall, but I cannot imagine life without being able to mutter in their charming and rea.s.suring company. Evan and Ann read various drafts with discernment, giving unselfishly of their time and gifts. As great as they are at the craft of editing, however, they are even better at the art of friendship.

My wife, Keith, makes all things possible; I owe her the most, and I always will. Our son was born in the middle of this project, and I knew it was time to wrap things up when he began trying to gnaw on a copy of the third volume of The Churchill War Papers. This book is dedicated to his mother, but both his parents know that everything is now really for Sam.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

JON MEACHAM is the managing editor of Newsweek. Born in Chattanooga in 1969, he is a graduate of The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. The editor of Voices in Our Blood: America's Best on the Civil Rights Movement, Meacham lives in New York City with his wife and son.

Copyright 2003 by Jon Meacham All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Permission acknowledgments to reprint from previously published material can be found on page 471.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meacham, Jon Franklin and Winston: an intimate portrait of an epic friendship/Jon Meacham.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 18821945-Military leadership. 2. Churchill, Winston, Sir, 18741965-Military leadership. 3. World War, 19391945-Diplomatic history. 4. United States-Foreign relations-Great Britain. 5. Great Britain-Foreign relations-United States. I. t.i.tle: Franklin and Winston. II. t.i.tle.

D753.M42 2003 940.53'092-dc21 2003041300 eISBN: 978-1-58836-329-9 v3.0