Mr. Churchill in the White House: The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents

Mr. Churchill in the White House: The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents
Author: Robert Schmuhl
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2024-07-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1324093439

“Robert Schmuhl admirably captures the vitality and cunning of Churchill’s D.C. residency with consummate skill, colorful anecdotes, and crisp historical analysis.” —Douglas Brinkley Well into the twenty-first century, Winston Churchill continues to be the subject of scores of books. Biographers portray him as a soldier, statesman, writer, painter, and even a daredevil, but Robert Schmuhl, the noted author and journalist, may be the first to depict him as a demanding, indeed exhausting White House guest. For the British prime minister, America’s most famous residence was “the summit of the United States,” and staying weeks on end with the president as host enhanced his global influence and prestige, yet what makes Churchill’s sojourns so remarkable are their duration at critical moments in twentieth-century history. From his first visit in 1941 to his last one eighteen years later, Churchill made himself at home in the White House, seeking to disprove Benjamin Franklin’s adage that guests, like fish, smell after three days. When obliged to be attired, Churchill shuffled about in velvet slippers and a tailored-for-air-raids “siren suit,” resembling a romper. In retrospect, these extended stays at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue take on a new level of diplomatic and military significance. Just imagine, for example, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky spending weeks at America’s most powerful address, discussing war strategy and access to weaponry, as Churchill did during the 1940s. Drawing on years of research, Schmuhl not only contextualizes the unprecedented time Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt spent together between 1941 and 1945, but he also depicts the individual figures involved: from Churchill himself to “General Ike,” as he affectionately called Dwight D. Eisenhower, to Harry Truman, and not to mention the formidable Eleanor Roosevelt, who resented Churchill’s presence in the White House and wanted him to occupy the nearby Blair House instead (which, predictably, he did not do). Mr. Churchill in the White House presents a new perspective on the politician, war leader, and author through his intimate involvement with one Democratic and one Republican president during his two terms as prime minister. Indeed, Churchill had his own “Special Relationship” with these two presidents. Diaries, letters, government documents, and memoirs supply the archival foundation and color for each Churchill visit, providing a wholly novel perspective on one of history’s most perplexing and many-faceted figures.

Churchill and Roosevelt: The Big Sleepover at the White House

Churchill and Roosevelt: The Big Sleepover at the White House
Author: James Mikel Wilson
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2015-10-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1619849593

"Churchill and Roosevelt: The Big Sleepover at the White House" received the 2018 Author Academy Award in Historical Fiction. A London playwright has converted the work to a stage play with plans to premiere in England in 2019 or early 2020. This book was written for those who enjoy history and political intrigue. It will appeal to those who enjoy reading about leadership, particularly in an arena where differences in political views, temperament, and agenda had to be overcome. Without collaboration and compromise, the world as we presently know it might be considerably different. Even though the story occurred over 75 years ago, the protagonists speak in first person voice, not knowing the outcome of the crisis they must confront. Readers may not have known that Winston Churchill visited Franklin Roosevelt two weeks after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt insisted that Winston sleep in the White House. The two men had much in common—more than they realized. There are plenty of other surprises along the way—a chance encounter with Adolph Hitler, a fishing expedition, a shared mentor, a favorite movie, a movie producer spy, Commander Ian Fleming’s visit to the Oval Office, and canine diplomacy to name but a few. During their time together, Churchill and Roosevelt shared many private moments as they forged a bond of friendship, trust, and cooperation that enabled them to defeat their countries’ common enemies. How their relationship evolved is dramatized and personified in this book. Most of the narrative is based on documentation, but what went on behind the view of the public eye is subject to the imagination and suspense. The author fleshes out the story with conversations that may have occurred over the course of three weeks but not necessarily provable. Lastly, the writer sets out to humanize these two epic leaders of the 20th century. He reveals not only their fears and tears but also their joys, humor, passions, temperaments, and schemes. He attempts to “break into their minds” as the two men join together to save the Western world from ruin. The author has also published: “Paw Tracks Here and Abroad: A Dog’s Tale,” (2014) and “Mr. Froggy’s Dilemma,” (2018). Website: www.jamesmikelwilson.com

Churchill & Roosevelt

Churchill & Roosevelt
Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2018-03-02
Genre:
ISBN: 9781986129268

*Includes pictures of Churchill, Roosevelt, and important people, places, and events in their lives. *Includes full length biographies of both leaders woven together into one chronological narrative. *Explores the personal and professional relationship between Churchill & Roosevelt. *Includes a list of Churchill's greatest quotes. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." - Franklin D. Roosevelt "Winston Churchill led the life that many men would love to live. He survived 50 gunfights and drank 20,000 bottles of champagne...And of course, by resisting Hitler, he saved Europe and perhaps the world." - Mark Riebling in "Churchill's Finest Hour." One has been considered America's greatest president of the 20th century. The other was voted the Greatest Briton of All Time by his own countrymen. Winston Churchill led an astonishing life as a soldier, world statesman, historian and Noble Prize Laureate. When he died at 90 in 1965, one of the most important figures in modern history had left the stage. From providing some of the 20th century's greatest soundbytes to successfully navigating Great Britain to victory in World War II against great odds, Churchill was at the forefront of global events for decades, becoming one of the most influential Britons in history. In 2002, he was named the Greatest Briton of All Time, and 40 years earlier he was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States. The tenacious Bulldog was joined in the war effort by Roosevelt, America's most unique president if not the greatest. A well-connected relative of Theodore Roosevelt, FDR was groomed for greatness until he was struck down by polio. Nevertheless, he persevered, rising through New York politics to reach the White House just as the country faced its greatest challenge since the Civil War, beginning his presidency with one of the most iconic lines ever spoken during an inaugural address. For over a decade, President Roosevelt threw everything he had at the Great Depression, and then threw everything the country had at the Axis powers during World War II. Ultimately, he succumbed to illness in the middle of his fourth term, just before the Allies won the war. Although the two men are remembered as the erstwhile leaders of the Allies in World War II, their up-and-down relationship directed the Allied war effort in North Africa, Sicily, and ultimately D-Day. Churchill & Roosevelt analyzes their relationship during the war, but it also covers the rise of both men to their respective positions as heads of state, weaving their stories together into one narrative. This book also humanizes Britain's greatest Prime Minister and America's ongest serving president, one who had to overcome a stutter to become his century's most quotable speaker and the other who overcame polio to capture the presidency and defeat Depression and the Axis powers. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in their lives, you will learn interesting facts about FDR and Churchill you never knew, and you will learn about the men who saved the free world like you never have before.

One Christmas in Washington

One Christmas in Washington
Author: David Bercuson
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2006-10-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781585678464

Herwig and Bercuson grippingly recreate the dramatic days of the Washington War Conference of 1941-42, using the diaries, meeting notes and personal letters of the key characters. One Christmas in Washington is the authoritative and emotional story of two proud and accomplished men struggling to overcome their own biases, suspicion, and hubris to create what turned out to be a war-winning alliance.

The Roar of the Lion

The Roar of the Lion
Author: Richard Toye
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2013-08-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0199642524

The essential book on Winston Churchill's classic World War II speeches - one that will change the way we think about Churchill's oratory forever.

Churchill and America

Churchill and America
Author: Martin Gilbert
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2005-10-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0743291220

In this stirring book, Martin Gilbert tells the intensely human story of Winston Churchill's profound connection to America, a relationship that resulted in an Anglo-American alliance that has stood at the center of international relations for more than a century. Winston Churchill, whose mother, Jennie Jerome, the daughter of a leading American entrepreneur, was born in Brooklyn in 1854, spent much of his seventy adult years in close contact with the United States. In two world wars, his was the main British voice urging the closest possible cooperation with the United States. From before the First World War, he understood the power of the United States, the "gigantic boiler," which, once lit, would drive the great engine forward. Sir Martin Gilbert was appointed Churchill's official biographer in 1968 and has ever since been collecting archival and personal documentation that explores every twist and turn of Churchill's relationship with the United States, revealing the golden thread running through it of friendship and understanding despite many setbacks and disappointments. Drawing on this extensive store of Churchill's own words -- in his private letters, his articles and speeches, and press conferences and interviews given to American journalists on his numerous journeys throughout the United States -- Gilbert paints a rich portrait of the Anglo-American relationship that began at the turn of the last century. Churchill first visited the United States in 1895, when he was twenty-one. During that first visit, he was invited to West Point and was fascinated by New York City. "What an extraordinary people the Americans are!" he wrote to his mother. "This is a very great country, my dear Jack," he told his brother. During three subsequent visits before the Second World War, he traveled widely and formed a clear understanding of both the physical and moral strength of Americans. During the First World War, Churchill was Britain's Minister of Munitions, working closely with his American counterpart Bernard Baruch to secure the material needed for the joint war effort, and argued with his colleagues that it would be a grave mistake to launch a renewed assault before the Americans arrived. Churchill's historic alliance with Franklin Roosevelt during the Second World War is brilliantly portrayed here with much new material, as are his subsequent ties with President Truman, which contributed to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. In his final words to his Cabinet in 1955, on the eve of his retirement as Prime Minister, Churchill gave his colleagues this advice: "Never be separated from the Americans." In Churchill and America, Gilbert explores how Churchill's intense rapport with this country resulted in no less than the liberation of Europe and the preservation of European democracy and freedom. It also set the stage for the ongoing alliance that has survived into the twenty-first century.

Roosevelt and Churchill

Roosevelt and Churchill
Author: Al Cimino
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2018-09-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0785836330

Roosevelt and Churchill is the story of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill—a friendship that saved the world. “Being with them was like sitting between two lions roaring at the same time.” —[Churchill's daughter] Mary Soames As the world faced the deadliest conflict in human history, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, thirty-second president of the United States, and Winston Churchill, wartime prime minister of the United Kingdom, recognized each other as vital allies. Under the menacing threat of world domination by Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in Europe and the military power of Japan in Asia, Roosevelt and Churchill’s urgent need for each other’s support soon turned into a firm friendship. Thrown together during World War II, their relationship was rarely straightforward. They disagreed politically, but maintained the greatest affection and respect for each other. They would often sit up late into the night drinking and smoking together. Their correspondence comprised nearly two thousand letters and cables. Together they steered the world through the dark days between 1939 and 1945 and emerged victorious. Both men were fallible, both making political and strategic mistakes—sometimes at the cost of thousands of lives. However, without the bond between them, the war against Nazism, Fascism, and Japan’s imperial ambitions would have been lost. Roosevelt and Churchill tells the tale of a friendship with consequences like no other, that helped create world peace.

No More Champagne

No More Champagne
Author: David Lough
Publisher: Picador
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2015-11-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1250071275

Meticulously researched by a senior private banker now turned historian, No More Champagne reveals for the first time the full extent of the iconic British war leader's private struggle to maintain a way of life instilled by his upbringing and expected of his public position. Lough uses Churchill's own most private records, many never researched before, to chronicle his family's chronic shortage of money, his own extravagance and his recurring losses from gambling or trading in shares and currencies. Churchill tried to keep himself afloat by borrowing to the hilt, putting off bills and writing 'all over the place'; when all else failed, he had to ask family or friends to come to the rescue. Yet within five years he had taken advantage of his worldwide celebrity to transform his private fortunes with the same ruthlessness as he waged war, reaching 1945 with today's equivalent of £3 million in the bank. His lucrative war memoirs were still to come. Throughout the story, Lough highlights the threads of risk, energy, persuasion, and sheer willpower to survive that link Churchill's private and public lives. He shows how constant money pressures often tempted him to short-circuit the ethical standards expected of public figures in his day before usually pulling back to put duty first-except where the taxman was involved.

Churchill, Roosevelt & Company

Churchill, Roosevelt & Company
Author: Lewis E. Lehrman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2017-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0811765474

During World War II the “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain cemented the alliance that won the war. But the ultimate victory of that partnership has obscured many of the conflicts behind Franklin Roosevelt’s grins and Winston Churchill’s victory signs, the clashes of principles and especially personalities between and within the two nations. Synthesizing an impressive variety of sources from memoirs and letters to histories and biographies, Lewis Lehrman explains how the Anglo-American alliance worked--and occasionally did not work--by presenting portraits and case studies of the men who worked the back channels and back rooms, the secretaries and under secretaries, ambassadors and ministers, responsible for carrying out Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s agendas while also pursuing their own and thwarting others’. This was the domain of Joseph Kennedy, American ambassador to England often at odds with his boss; spymasters William Donovan and William Stephenson; Secretary of State Cordell Hull, whom FDR frequently bypassed in favor of Under Secretary Sumner Welles; British ambassadors Lord Lothian and Lord Halifax; and, above them all, Roosevelt and Churchill, who had the difficult task, not always well performed, of managing their subordinates and who frequently chose to conduct foreign policy directly between themselves. Scrupulous in its research and fair in its judgments, Lehrman’s book reveals the personal diplomacy at the core of the Anglo-American alliance.

Becoming Winston Churchill

Becoming Winston Churchill
Author: Michael McMenamin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781929631872

As a young man Winston Churchill was greatly influenced by Bourke Cockran, a charismatic New York City congressman who was Churchill's widowed mother's lover and friend. Cockran was a brilliant trial lawyer and adviser to American presidents. He took young Winston under his wing and gave him unusual insights into the politics of the time. It was a particularly important relationship that shaped Churchill's thinking and political outlook; it also provided a window into the United States that he would take with him all his life. The story is also biographical, told in part as fiction and reproducing for the first time the private correspondence between the two men.