Churchill and Roosevelt

A special relationship

Winston Churchill did not think much of Franklin Roosevelt initially. In fact Churchill thought so little of their first meeting that he forgot it ever happened.

In the early part of their careers, Churchill was a step ahead of Roosevelt. Churchill was Britain's navy secretary — its first lord of the admiralty — during World War I when Roosevelt was America's assistant navy secretary. During the 1920s both men receded in importance and visibility.

During the 1930s Roosevelt rocketed ahead of Churchill. He was America's president for most of the decade, while Churchill wandered in Britain's political wilderness. Churchill ranted about the rise of Nazi Germany when Britons didn't want to listen.

Then Hitler made a prophet of Churchill, invading Poland and touching off another war. The fuhrer made mincemeat of France, discrediting Britain's rulers and catapulting Churchill into the prime ministership.

From this position he quietly cajoled Roosevelt into assisting Britain in its struggle against Germany. Discretion was of the essence, as Roosevelt repeatedly told Churchill. Americans were loath to enter another European war.

Americans were particularly leery of Britain. Many Americans blamed the British for having lured them into World War I on dubious grounds. The British professed to be fighting for democracy but in reality were fighting for British imperialism. Americans discovered this to their chagrin when they read the peace treaty after the war. The American Senate rejected the treaty and Americans told themselves and anyone else who would listen that they would not be fooled again.

Roosevelt was inclined to help Britain, but he didn't want to stir the skeptics more than necessary. Step by careful step, he moved the United States closer to war, all the while claiming to be doing the opposite. He ordered covert patrols against German warships on the Atlantic, and he ratcheted up economic pressure on Japan, Germany's ally in the Pacific. Japan took the bait sooner, attacking the United States at Pearl Harbor and giving Roosevelt the occasion he sought to ask Congress for a declaration of war. Germany thereupon joined its ally by declaring war on the United States.

“So we had won after all,” Churchill reflected later. “The United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death."

The prime minister hastened to Washington to devise joint war strategy with the president. The two men hit it off well. Roosevelt insisted that Churchill stay at the White House. Churchill's bedroom was down the hall from Roosevelt's. On one occasion, the wheelchair-bound Roosevelt rolled himself into Churchill's room just as the prime minister was getting out of the bath. Roosevelt, not wishing to embarrass the naked Churchill, spun his chair around and prepared to leave. Churchill insisted that he stay. "The prime minister of Great Britain has nothing to conceal from the president of the United States,” he proclaimed.

Actually, he did, as both men realized. America and Britain were allies, but they didn't have identical interests. Americans remained reflexive anti-imperialists, and Britain remained an empire. On one telling issue, Americans applauded the efforts of the inhabitants of British India to achieve independence. Churchill vowed to prevent any such thing and to that end ordered the arrest of tens of thousands of Indian nationalists.

Yet though national interests dictated a certain distance between Churchill and Roosevelt, a personal bond developed. Each could be charming, and each could be charmed. Roosevelt admired Churchill for having kept Britain in the war by his determination and eloquence. Churchill admired Roosevelt for steering the United States from isolation to intervention.

They came to enjoy each other's company. They met several times during the war, and on each occasion the bond between them deepened. In 1943 they met at Casablanca in Morocco. They attended to the business of the war, including the next year’s invasion of France.

Roosevelt prepared to return to America. Churchill stopped him. “You cannot go all this way to North Africa without seeing Marrakesh,” he said. “Let us spend two days there. I must be with you when you see the sunset on the snows of the Atlas Mountains.”

Roosevelt agreed to add the leg to his itinerary. He and Churchill drove across the desert together, enjoying the additional hours of conversation.

At Marrakesh Churchill showed Roosevelt what he wanted him to see. From the top of a tower, they watched the last rays of the setting sun glint off the snows of the mountains. Roosevelt acknowledged that the sight was everything Churchill had promised. They sat for a while smoking together, Roosevelt with a cigarette and Churchill with a cigar.

The next morning Roosevelt awoke early to leave. His plane was waiting for him.

Churchill, normally a late sleeper, insisted on accompanying him to the airfield. They shook hands and said goodbye.

Roosevelt boarded the plane. Churchill ordered his driver to depart the field.

An American diplomat accompanying Churchill was surprised that the prime minister didn't wait to see the president’s plane take off.

“It makes me far too nervous,” Churchill explained. "If anything happened to that man, I couldn't stand it. He is the truest friend. He has the farthest vision. He is the greatest man I've ever known."