On the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service leveled a surprise military attack upon the United States against the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, on Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Over the next seven hours, the Japanese attacked the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island as well as on Pacific holdings of the British Empire—Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The next day, the U.S. and Great Britain declared war on Japan. This was America’s formal entry into WWII. Great Britain had declared war on Nazi Germany in May 1940 and had, over the interim 19 months called “the Blitz,” resisted Hitler’s attempts to unrelentingly force Britain into capitulation to Nazi control by massively bombing English cities.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had awaited this day. However, he was worried—albeit only briefly—that American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would focus on defeating only the Japanese, but, then, just days after their joint declaration of war on the Eastern Front, on December 11, 1941, Hitler declared war on America and America “returned the favor,” joining the Allied Powers. Churchill and Roosevelt were now in the same boat in the war against the Axis Powers. At last, there was hope that Britain could be saved from German invasion and rule. Western Europe had already fallen.
The next month, on December 13, 1941, Churchill, Lord Beaverbrook, and American envoy to England, Averell Harriman, and a host of over fifty other men ranging from valets to Britain’s topmost military officials set out for Washington, D.C., aboard the new battleship, the Duke of York, at great risk and under strictest secrecy, to meet with Roosevelt and coordinate war strategy. Roosevelt (FDR) worried about the risk and tried to dissuade Churchill to cancel the trip. Crossing the North Atlantic Ocean in mid-winter was rough. The 45,000-ton battleship battled gale force winds. The crossing was dangerous for another reason, too. Those waters were heavily-patrolled by lethal Nazi U-boats. Had the Duke of York been sunk, it would have decapitated the British government. Nevertheless, Churchill pressed on, undeterred.
The historic meeting was known as the Arcadia Conference. Churchill, Roosevelt, and representatives from 24 other countries decided how to project a unified front to defeat the Axis Powers:
Although he and FDR and been speaking over the telephone since 1939, this would be Churchill’s first wartime visit to D.C. and his second visit with the President. He and many others in his entourage would stay at the White House, guests of both Franklin, 59, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Churchill’s doctor, Sir Charles Wilson, also sailing to America, marveled at the change in Churchill, age 67, at this decisive turn of events. Wilson wrote:
“He is a different man since America came into the war. The Winston I knew in London frightened me….I could see that he was carrying the weight of the world, and wondered how long he could go on like that and what could be done about it. And now—in a night, it seems, a younger man has taken his place.”
With America as its ally, England would be safe.
That first night at the White House, Churchill’s valet butler Frank Sawyers, present at all hours and charged with running two daily baths for the prime minister, started the nighttime bath for Mr. Churchill. The water temperature had to be precisely at 98 degrees and the bathtub filled to two-thirds. As was his custom, while soaking in his bath, Churchill kept working, his agile mind overflowing with words that had to be recorded. He dictated to his traveling stenographer, Patrick Kinna. Done with his bath, Churchill then emerged from the water, and was wrapped in a big towel by Sawyers. Patrick Kinna recalled to Sir Martin Gilbert:
“[Churchill] walked into his adjoining bedroom, followed by me, notebook in hand” and he “continued to dictate while pacing up and down the enormous room.”
Eventually the towel fell to the ground.
Inspector Thompson was also in the bedroom at this time. He was the prime minister’s detective. He was scouting various points of dangers, checking for assassins, when someone knocked at the door. At Churchill’s direction, Thompson answered, and found President Roosevelt outside in his wheelchair, alone in the hall. Thompson opened the door wide and saw odd expression come over the president’s face as he looked into the room behind the detective.
“I turned,” Thompson wrote. “Winston Churchill was stark naked, a drink in one hand, a cigar in the other.”
FDR prepared to wheel himself out.
“Come on in, Franklin,” Churchill said. “We’re quite alone.”
FDR gave an “odd shrug,” then wheeled himself in.
“You see, Mr. President,” Churchill said, “I have nothing to hide.”
Church slung a towel over his shoulder and for the next hour talked with FDR while walking around the room “in a state of nature,” sipping his drink and now and then refilling the president’s glass.
Sources:
Larson, Erik. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (2020).
Singer, Barry. Churchill Style: The Art of Being Winston Churchill (2012)
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