It is Christmas Eve, 1941 at The White House. The President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses an American audience via radio. His voice brings comfort but also reminds the American people that we're at war.
The attack on December 7th is a shock to a nation that's been watching the war in Europe and the war in Asia for many years. Now we're plunged into it.
There are photographs of this event, and there's one in the new book, Mr. Churchill in the White House: The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents by Professor Robert Schmuhl.
The photograph shows Churchill off to the side watching the president address the radio microphone and the audience gathered on the South Lawn. Churchill's face is not smiling, not frowning—it's barely lit because they're outside, and you get the feeling it's a little chilly.
Why Churchill's there and what he accomplishes in his visits to FDR’s White House over these next years, is a fascination that the professor introduces to all of the anecdotes about the Second War.
This anecdote is a simple matter of the relationship between these two men, Roosevelt and Churchill, now at war with the Hitlerites and their allies on the mainland of Europe and the Imperial Japanese navy and army, threatening all of the Pacific, including Australia at this time.
Churchill's presence at the white House—why was he there, given what has happened to his people? How did he leave London to come to Washington at this low point?
Watch the full interview above, or listen to an audio version below:
LINKS:
CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor on YouTube
Mr. Churchill in the White House: The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents on Amazon
The John Batchelor Show on Apple Podcasts:
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Mr. Churchill Goes to Washington with author Robert Schmuhl