Roosevelt and Churchill: A Friendship Forged in Blood and Fire

Author: Jon Meacham (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: July 1, 2005
Features: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill—This book provides the most detailed depiction to date of the complex relationship and friendship between them. This important friendship is unique in history: a president and a prime minister spent 113 days together during the war and exchanged over 2,000 letters. Amid cocktails, cigarettes, and cigars, they held secret meetings in places like Washington, Hyde Park, Casablanca, and Tehran, discussing war, politics, health, and family. Churchill and Roosevelt shared many similarities: both were born into elite families in the 19th century, both were political figures, creators of the 20th and 21st centuries, and they relished the pleasures of power. Their relationship might have been a "love affair," with the emotionally expressive Churchill pursuing the elusive Roosevelt. Churchill, the indomitable British prime minister under Hitler's tyranny, often felt uneasy about not knowing his place in Roosevelt's heart; Roosevelt, an enigmatic figure, always maintained a distant yet intimate connection with those around him, including his wife Eleanor, his White House staff, and Churchill. Faced with tyranny and terror, they forged an alliance toward victory, though the alliance occasionally faced unexpected incidents or minor conflicts of interest. This book draws on a wealth of previously unknown materials, including unpublished letters from Roosevelt's secret lover Lucy Rutherf???, Pamela Churchill Harriman's personal archives, and firsthand accounts from a handful of elderly individuals who had interacted with both leaders.