Title: Mr. Churchill in the White House - The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents
Author: Robert Schmuhl
Genre: Historical Nonfiction, World War II
Book Blurb:
“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.
My Review:
I am a book reviewer with a graduate degree in Military History. The bookshelf in our home has several sections full of military history books written by the greats. With that presented, it will be no surprise how excited I was to read Mr. Churchill in the White House. I was quickly disavowed of excitement and instead filled with disappointment.
There is revisionist history in the world now that makes my head shake. The past is the past. We can learn from the past by studying it. In today’s world, it can be used to teach how the world was then. People can use that as a tool to see how the world is different now and strengthened with lessons learned from studying the past.
There is also apologist history which I personally don’t understand. History is the story of the past. One doesn’t have to apologize for it unless you were personally there doing something. Further, this tact is usually done via viewing the past through a prism that was created in modern times. This format, if it has a place in academia at all, doesn’t belong in the body of a history text.
The amount of primary source research done here is impressive. The author availed himself of many previously unavailable sources. The amount of research done to create this tome is worth applauding.
Brevity is a value that seems to have lost its place here. That the Prime Minister was without clothing when FDR found him for a quick discussion is a lovely aside and could be seen as humorous. To spend twenty odd pages discussing this one point from at least a dozen or more sources is at least salacious. If nothing, it is an extremely odd utilization of time, resources and content.
If the reader is seeking to peek behind the curtain at historical greats, then this book is for you. You get to see FDR, Churchill and Ike ‘somewhat’ as normal humans. There can be some value in allowing figures oft on pedestal to be shown as those who put their pants on one leg at a time.
My only issue here is that I perceive there is a bias against Winston Churchill. Every opportunity seems to be taken to poke fun at him. The use of ten or twelve primary sources to back up the pillaring of him doesn't make the effort more valid to me.
If you know very little about the strategic issues surrounding World War 2 and the geopolitic world at the time, then this book is a must read for you. If you want to see what life is like when prying eyes are not on famous people, then this is your book. A tremendous amount of research went into creating this book. A companion to the classic, One Christmas In Washington.
My Rating: 4.5 stars
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Author Biography:
Robert Schmuhl is the Walter H. Annenberg–Edmund P. Joyce Chair Emeritus in American Studies and Journalism at the University of Notre Dame. He’s the author or editor of fifteen books, including The Glory and the Burden about the US presidency.
Reviewed by: Mr. N