Unity and Strategy
CHURCHILL, ROOSEVELT, AND STALIN
The war in the Mediterranean theater
continued to dominate Churchill's thoughts after he met with Roosevelt
at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. After many frustrating
delays, Allied forces (principally British, American, and French)
wiped out the last remaining Axis (German and Italian) troops in
North Africa. They exploited this success by undertaking operations
in Sicily and from there moved onto the Italian peninsula.
Churchill's American allies, however, made known their desire
to come to grips with Hitler's armies in northwest Europe in a
series of additional wartime conferences. These began with the
TRIDENT meeting in Washington in May 1943 and culminated in the
first meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Soviet dictator Josef
Stalin in Teheran, Iran, at year's end. At the conclusion of the
Teheran meeting the Americans and Soviets had overridden Churchill's
lingering doubts and had secured a firm commitment to launch a
cross-Channel attack in northwest France by the late spring of
1944, together with a supporting amphibious operation in southern
France.
W. Averell
Harriman,
May 6, 1943.
Facsimile.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (194)
|
The Finest Way to Die
In May 1943 Churchill boarded the S.S. Queen Mary for
a trip to the United States and another meeting with Roosevelt.
At sea, Churchill told Averell Harriman of reported submarines
along their course. He explained that he had arranged for
a machine gun to be mounted on his life boat: "I won't be
captured. The finest way to die is in the excitement of fighting
the enemy. . . . You must come with me in the boat and see
the fun."
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"Heavier Work Lies Ahead"
In May, 1943, Churchill was in Washington for the TRIDENT
Conference, during which the Americans and British agreed
to launch the cross-Channel attack in a year's time. He also
made a second speech to Congress. Churchill reminded them
that "the main burden of the war on land" was still being
borne by the Soviet Army on the Eastern Front. He added that
the final triumph, in spite of the recent victory in Tunisia,
would come only after battles as difficult and costly as
those that had followed the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg
in the American Civil War.
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Winston Churchill
addressing joint
session of Congress, 1943.
Copyprint.
Connally Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (196)
LC-USZ62-90452
[Digital ID# cph 3b36803]
|
Randolph Churchill to Winston
Churchill,
July 10, 1943.
Holograph letter.
Pamela Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (196.1)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
A Letter From Sicily
Churchill's son Randolph, a soldier serving with a British
Special Raiding Squadron during the invasion of Sicily, wrote
his father two letters during the landings. He described
the weather conditions, troop morale, and enemy resistance: "So
far it has been like clockwork. I trust that by breakfast
time good news will be flooding in on you." The next day,
with the operation a success, he wrote, "The whole enterprise
in our sector was too good to be true. . . . I do hope it
has gone as well with the Americans."
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Petting the Lion
Amid the burdens of the war Churchill occasionally found
time for diversions and outings. In July 1943, he and Clementine
visited the London Zoo, where with one finger he tentatively
petted a lion cub.
|
Associated Press.
Churchills
with a British Symbol,
1943.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (199)
|
The Library does not have permission
to present this object online
Clifford Berryman.
They Can't Scare
Him--Much, 1943.
Drawing.
Cartoon Drawings Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (200)
LC-USZ62-47661
[Digital ID# acd 2a05979] |
Haunting Hitler's Dreams
In September 1943, with British forces once more on the
European continent and the Soviet Red Army moving westward,
the war's outcome seemed inevitable. After Italy's surrender
to the Allies was announced on September 8, Adolf Hitler
declared that he would continue to fight. This Clifford Berryman
cartoon portrays the goose-stepping German dictator's attitude
as whistling through his own graveyard, while the spirits
of Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill look on.
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Quebec and Washington
On his trip to North America for the first Quebec Conference
(QUADRANT), Churchill was accompanied by his wife Clementine
and his daughter Mary, who served as his aide-de-camp. In
Quebec, the conferees discussed plans for the cross-Channel
attack--the Second Front--and the development of the atomic
bomb. After the conference (August 17-24, 1943), the Churchills
went to Washington. Here Mary and Clementine speak with three
Women's Army Corps officers while visiting the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier.
|
Acme Newspictures.
The
Churchills Meet Some WAC's, 1943.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (203)
|
Winston Churchill to Jacob
Devers,
October
11, 1943.
Holograph letter.
Ira Eaker Papers,
Manuscript Division (205)
© Crown copyright 1943
|
Strategic Bombing
Churchill's military strategy relied heavily on taking the
war to the German enemy by means of strategic bombing. This
letter to General Ira Eaker, commander of the American Eighth
Air Force, was sent through Eaker's superior, General Jacob
Devers. Churchill praised Eaker's recent daylight attacks
on German industrial targets, which complemented the nighttime
strikes made by British Bomber Command. Eaker's campaign
would culminate in the costly October 14 raid on Schweinfurt's
ball-bearing factories.
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Teheran Conference
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met for the first time at
Teheran, Iran, from November 28 to December 1, 1943. At the
conference, Stalin finally forced the issue of the Second
Front. Accusing Churchill of not backing the cross-Channel
attack, now code-named OVERLORD, he prodded the Anglo-Americans
to take a firm and final stand by naming a supreme commander
for the operation. Roosevelt selected U.S. General Dwight
Eisenhower, allowing overall command in the Mediterranean
to pass into British hands.
|
U.S. Army Signal Corps.
Conference of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Marshal Josef Stalin and Prime Minister
Winston Churchill . . . , 1943.
Photographic print.
Office of War Information Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (206)
|
Teheran Conference
commemorative
postcards, 1943.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (207)
|
Three Knights Slay A Monster
These color postcards were painted to commemorate the Teheran
Conference by placing contemporary characters in a Persian
legend. According to the tale, an evil despot (Hitler) once
ruled by terror, decapitating men to feed their brains to
the snakes (shown as Italian and Japanese) that grew from
his shoulders. Three knights (Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill)
appeared, first in a dream and later in reality, to destroy
the tyrant and restore justice.
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Bodyguard of Lies
As this summary of a Teheran Conference meeting indicates,
Churchill realized that the scale of the proposed cross-Channel
attack into Normandy meant that the enemy would know that
an invasion was coming. He therefore called for "some form
of cover plan" in order to trick the German defenders into
thinking the blow would fall elsewhere, causing them to disperse
their defenses. "Truth," he said, "deserves a bodyguard of
lies." The code name BODYGUARD was later given to the Allies'
massive deception effort.
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Summary of the third
regular session
of the Teheran Meeting,
November 30, 1943.
Typed memorandum.
Facsimile.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (208)
|
Autographed card, 1943.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (209)
|
The Big Three
This place card bears the signatures of Winston S. Churchill,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Josef Stalin. Averell Harriman
kept it as a souvenir of the Teheran Conference.
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Convalescing in Carthage
After the Teheran Conference, Churchill contracted pneumonia,
followed by a heart attack. He was well enough by Christmas
Day, however, to discuss military plans with General Eisenhower (left) and
Field Marshal Harold Alexander (second from left) in
Carthage. Churchill is shown wearing his famous dragon-emblazoned
dressing gown over his even more famous "siren suit"--a one-piece
zip-front jumpsuit named for its simplicity in putting on
quickly at the sound of an air raid siren.
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Associated Press.
Churchill
At Work on the War Again, 1943.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (211)
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OPERATION OVERLORD
As the Allies were learning details
of the Nazis' ongoing mass-murder program taking place at the Auschwitz
death camp, the greatest Anglo-American action of World War II
began: the cross-Channel airborne and amphibious attack known as "D-Day." Churchill
enthusiastically supported this operation, long-advocated by the
Americans, after some initial hesitation and despite his hopes
for an Italian campaign.
On June 6, 1944, the Allied Expeditionary Forces landed more than
150,000 British, Canadian, and American troops on the Normandy
coast. The invasion, which was code-named "OVERLORD," marked the
opening of the final drive to defeat German forces in northwestern
Europe. A number of deception measures, outlined by Churchill at
the Teheran Conference, helped make D-Day a success. The most important
of these was "FORTITUDE SOUTH," the creation of a phantom group
of armies that supposedly were to invade the European mainland
after the actual Normandy landings. These measures were greatly
assisted by the use of highly secret ULTRA intelligence, generated
by the British from deciphered radio communications.
Anti-Semitic Propaganda
Both the war against Nazi Germany and efforts to stop the
Holocaust were hampered by anti-Semitism. Axis propaganda
sought to portray Churchill, who was sympathetic to Zionist
aims and had many Jewish friends, as part of a supposed Jewish
conspiracy. Here, he is shown as an octopus fastening his
tentacles on the globe. At the same time, Churchill was aware
of the persecution of the Jewish people, and in this telegram
to Roosevelt he signaled his clear support for their right
to fight back through the creation of the Jewish Brigade
Group.
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" Seppla" [Josef
Plank],
Churchill as an octopus,
between 1935 and 1943.
Drawing.
Prints and Photographs
Division (213)
LC-USZ62-54514
|
Winston
Churchill to Franklin Roosevelt,
August 23, 1944.
Telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K (213.1)
© Crown copyright 1944
Archival Reference # CHAR 20/170/59
|
Winston
Churchill to Anthony Eden,
July 7, 1944.
Facsimile.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (213.2)
|
Could More Have Been Done?
Debate still rages among historians as to whether the Allies
could have done more to stop or reduce the atrocities of
the Holocaust. By July 1944, it is clear that the Allied
leaders knew of the existence of the Auschwitz death-camp
complex. In this note to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden,
Churchill supports a request made by the Jewish Agency for
Palestine that the Royal Air Force should destroy the railway
lines leading to the camp. The operation was never undertaken
by British or American forces.
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Churchill Outraged
Churchill expressed his outrage as the scale of the Nazi
atrocities against the Jews became apparent. It was, he said, "probably
the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the
whole history of the world." Further, "Declarations should
be made in public, so that everyone connected with it will
be hunted down and put to death."
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Winston Churchill to
Anthony Eden,
July 11, 1944.
Facsimile.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (213.3)
|
George S. Patton.
Diary entry,
May 1, 1944.
Page 2 - Page 3
Holograph diary.
Manuscript Division (215)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Patton, Churchill, and the Knutsford Incident
Six weeks before D-Day, the irrepressible American General
George Patton had been quoted in Knutsford, England, as having
said that the British and American peoples were destined
to rule the world together. Since the Soviets had apparently
been left out of this equation, the remark made newspaper
headlines. Patton's handwritten diary entry noted that General
Eisenhower had "talked to the P.M. about the incident and
Churchill told him that he could see nothing to it as Patton
had simply told the truth."
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Churchill and D-Day
Churchill worked energetically for the success of OVERLORD--the
cross-Channel airborne and amphibious attack known as "D-Day"--albeit
with some misgivings. Casualties from such a direct assault
might be catastrophically high. Men and equipment would have
to be withdrawn from Italy and the Mediterranean, where things
looked promising, and they would be sitting idle for several
months. Pre-invasion bombing might kill many French civilians.
This March 1944 photograph may reflect both Churchill's doubts
and OVERLORD commander Eisenhower's suspicion that Churchill's
heart was not really in it.
|
Associated Press.
A
Serious Inspection, 1944.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (216)
|
Twelfth Army Group.
Situation
- 2400 HRS 6 JUNE 1944 HQ. FUSAG, 1944. Printed map.
Geography and
Map Division (219)
|
D-Day and the "Bodyguard of Lies"
The Second Front was finally launched on D-Day, June 6,
1944. The invasion's success was due in part to the deception
plan that Churchill had outlined at Teheran. The Germans
were convinced that the Normandy landings were only a feint
and that the main assault was to come later from a phantom
First United States Army Group (FUSAG) at the Pas des Calais.
As this "HQ. FUSAG" map shows, documents with misleading
headings were created. However, it shows the situation at
D-Day's end fairly accurately, except that some Allied units
are missing so that the Germans would think the assault was
on a smaller scale.
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Order of the Day
General Eisenhower's "Order of the Day" for the D-Day landings
expressed his confidence in all those taking part in the "Great
Crusade" to destroy Nazi tyranny: "The free men of the world
are marching together to Victory!"
|
Dwight David Eisenhower.
"Order of the Day,"
June 6, 1944.
Printed brochure.
Carl Spaatz Papers,
Manuscript Division (219.1)
|
Robert Sargent.
Taxis to Hell--and
Back, 1944.
Photographic print.
Prints and Photographs Division (219.2)
|
OMAHA Beach
This photograph shows troops from the First Infantry Division
wading ashore under heavy fire at the Normandy beach, code-named
OMAHA. Here the first landings resembled Churchill's worst
nightmares, as unexpectedly fierce German resistance resulted
in the deaths of many American soldiers. The troops finally
accomplished their mission, however, and casualties elsewhere
on D-Day were not as high as had been feared.
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Landing Craft for D-Day
Although this photograph shows only a small portion of the
Normandy landing beaches, it clearly indicates the massive
scale of the operation. Churchill was often frustrated by
the scarcity of landing craft, such as those shown here.
The overriding priority given to OVERLORD, together with
the limited number of landing craft available, curtailed
his options in planning for new amphibious operations in
the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans.
|
U.S. Maritime Commission.
Bird's-eye
view of landing craft, barrage balloons, and allied troops
landing in Normandy, France on D-Day, 1944.
Photograph.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (219.3)
[Digital ID# cph 3c11201]
|
Admiral Bertram Ramsay to
Winston Churchill,
May 16, 1944.
Page 2
Typescript letter.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (219.4)
© Crown copyright 1944
Archival Reference # CHAR 20/136/11
|
Churchill's Request to Accompany Invasion Force
Churchill found it hard to stay away from important military
operations and asked Admiral Bertram Ramsay to draw up plans
that would allow him to accompany the D-Day invasion force.
The Admiral found himself in the difficult position of having
to report this request to Eisenhower, who opposed it. In
the end, it took the intervention of the King to stop Churchill
from going, although he did visit the Normandy beachhead
six days after the invasion.
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ULTRA
The Normandy landings and many other British and Allied
operations were greatly facilitated by successful code-breaking
efforts. For security reasons, information from decrypted
German communications intercepts, which was given the code
name ultra, was given only to a few high-ranking military
leaders. This review of German Air Force (G.A.F) activity,
made shortly after D-Day, contains such super-secret information.
All persons to whom the review was sent were warned that
they should burn their copies after reading them. Clearly
not everyone obeyed the requirement.
|
George McDonald to Carl
Spaatz.
June 21, 1944.
Typed report.
Page 2
Carl A. Spaatz Papers,
Manuscript Division (219.5)
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Cartoon showing D-Day invasion
of France
by
British troops in a parody of the
Bayeux Tapestry, 1944.
Ink and watercolor drawing.
Prints and Photographs
Division (220)
LC-USZ62-98021
Rea Irvin, © 1944,
Shown Online Courtesy Virginia Irvin Trust.
|
Bayeux
The famous Bayeux Tapestry, created in the eleventh century,
recounted the successful Norman invasion of England in 1066.
This parody appeared on the cover of The New Yorker in
July 1944. It portrayed scenes from both the Normandy landings
on D-Day and the capture of Bayeux, the first French city
to be liberated, on the following day. Featured in the sketch
are Churchill, Roosevelt, King George VI, Generals Eisenhower
and Montgomery, and a cowering Adolf Hitler.
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VICTORY AND DEFEAT
For Churchill, the last year of
the war was a time of great triumph and bitter disappointment.
Allied ground forces began to break through enemy defenses late
in July 1944 and were soon threatening Germany itself. A Nazi counteroffensive--the
Battle of the Bulge-- proved to be only a temporary setback, and
the war's outcome seemed certain.
Looming postwar problems, however, cast a shadow over the impending
triumph as Soviet armies advanced through Eastern Europe and the
Balkans, imposing communism in their wake. Churchill's great wartime
partner, Franklin Roosevelt, and his great wartime enemy, Adolf
Hitler, both died in April 1945. The European war ended the following
month.
Back in London, Churchill's governing coalition dissolved, and
he was forced to undertake a political campaign while the sole
remaining Axis enemy, Japan, was yet to be defeated. In the middle
of the final wartime conference, held in Potsdam, Germany, he learned
that the British electorate had turned him and his Conservative
Party out of office.
W. Averell
Harriman to Franklin Roosevelt,
October 11, 1944.
Typed cable.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (222)
|
TOLSTOY
In the fall of 1944, Churchill met Stalin for the so-called
TOLSTOY Conference in Moscow. There the two leaders worked
out formulas by which the Soviet Union and the Western powers
established relative percentages of influence that the three
powers would exercise in Eastern Europe after the Germans
had been driven out. Also present at the meeting was Averell
Harriman, who reported to President Roosevelt that Churchill
felt he had "obtained Stalin's approval to keep hands off" Greece.
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The Division of Germany
At the Yalta Conference (February 4-11, 1945) Churchill,
Roosevelt, and Stalin tried to work out arrangements for
the postwar world, especially in regard to Eastern Europe,
Central Europe, and the future of the United Nations. This
hand-drawn map was intended for use in establishing occupation
zones in Germany. Reluctant to make a hasty and final decision
on this matter, Churchill said that the Big Three were "dealing
with the fate of eighty million people and that required
more than eighty minutes to consider."
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Manuscript map, 1945.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (223)
|
Memorandum of conversation,
Yalta Conference,
February 4, 1945.
Page 2
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (224)
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Yalta and Democracy
During a dinner held at the Yalta Conference, the topic
of a casual discussion turned to leadership in democratic
societies. Churchill told Roosevelt and Stalin that "although
he was constantly being 'beaten up' as a reactionary, he
was the only representative present who could be thrown out
at any time by the universal suffrage of his own people and
that personally he gloried in that danger."
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Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
This photograph of the three Allied leaders, meeting for
the last time at the Yalta Conference, clearly shows that
President Roosevelt's health was declining.
|
Crimean Conference,
1945.
Copyprint.
Encyclopedia Britannica Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (225)
LC-USZ62-7449
[Digital ID# cph 3a10098]
|
Churchill on the
Siegfried Line, 1945.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (229)
|
Into Germany
In March 1945 Churchill visited the American Ninth Army,
which formed a part of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's
Twenty-first Army Group. Shown here are Churchill, Montgomery,
Chief of the Imperial General Staff Alan Brooke, and the
Ninth Army's commander, General William H. Simpson. These
men are inspecting "dragon's teeth" anti-tank defenses of
the Siegfried Line (West Wall) inside the borders of Germany.
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The Death of Franklin Roosevelt
President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. Churchill's
reaction was one of deep sadness: "I was overpowered by a
sense of deep and irreparable loss." He told the House of
Commons that Roosevelt had died in "battle harness" with
victory in sight: "What an enviable death was his." From
Russia, Clementine Churchill wrote Averell Harriman this
condolence note, saying, "No one fought more valiantly than
he to save the World. It is cruel that he will not see the
Victory which he did so much to achieve."
|
Clementine Churchill to W.
Averell Harriman,
April 13, 1945.
Holograph letter. W. Averell Papers,
Manuscript Division (230.1)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Winston Churchill to President
Harry S Truman,
May 9, 1945.
Page 2
Telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (232)
© Crown copyright 1945,
Archival Reference # CHAR 20/218/56-57
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Anglo-American Cooperation
This telegram from Churchill to President Truman, sent on
the day after Victory in Europe Day, eloquently captures
the spirit of Anglo-American political and military cooperation
that marked the Grand Alliance of 1941-1945.
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Victory Thanksgiving
On May 13, 1945, Winston and Clementine Churchill attended
a thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
The war in Europe had just ended, but the conflict with a
fiercely resisting Japan seemed likely to continue for some
time to come.
|
Associated Press.
Churchills
Leave Thanksgiving Service, 1945.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (234)
|
Harry Truman and Winston Churchill, 1945.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (237)
|
Conference At Potsdam
The new U.S. President, Harry S Truman, is shown here with
Churchill at the Potsdam Conference (July-August 1945) in
Germany. At Potsdam the assembled world leaders agreed on
certain measures to be imposed upon the defeated Germans.
They also formulated an ultimatum to the Japanese, vowing
to destroy their nation unless they surrendered. Other issues,
involving the political fate of Eastern Europe, were not
resolved. In the middle of the conference, however, the British
electorate turned Churchill out of power.
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Dropping the Pilot
Given the extent of Churchill's prestige in Britain and
abroad, the defeat of the Conservative Party in the 1945
elections, a defeat that turned him out of office, was somewhat
unexpected. One cartoonist compared his dismissal to that
of the legendary German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, whom
Kaiser Wilhelm II had dismissed in 1890. Imitating a famous
drawing of Bismark by Sir John Tenniel entitled Dropping
the Pilot, this cartoon of the same title depicts Churchill
as a dismissed pilot. After Churchill's defeat in the 1945
British general elections, his wife Clementine told him, "It
may well be a blessing in disguise." Churchill replied, "At
the moment it seems quite effectively disguised." This photograph
shows Clementine and her daughter Mary leaving the Prime
Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street on July 27, the
day after Churchill tendered his resignation from office
to the King.
|
Daniel Bishop.
Dropping
the Pilot, 1945.
Drawing.
Cartoon Drawings Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (240)
LC-USZ62-34339
[Digital ID# cph 3a34835]
|
Acme Radiophoto.
The
Churchills Evacuate, 1945.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (242)
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