The Sword for Freedom
AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR
The Japanese surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941, brought America into the war. Churchill was
with the President's special envoy, Averell Harriman, and the U.S.
Ambassador to Britain, John Gilbert Winant, when he received the
news over the telephone from President Roosevelt.
Four days later, Germany declared war on the United States, making
U.S. involvement in Europe inevitable. Churchill was eager to have
the U.S. fight alongside the British forces in Europe and wasted
no time. He undertook a dangerous transatlantic journey on the
HMS Duke of York, arriving in America on December 22, in time to
spend Christmas at the White House.
On December 26, Churchill made his first historic address to a
joint session of Congress to win support for his concept of the
war. In public, he seemed to epitomize the "bulldog" fighting spirit.
In private, the strain was taking its toll, and that very evening
Churchill suffered a mild heart attack.
Winston
Churchill to Anthony Eden,
December 10, 1941.
Telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (142)
© Crown copyright 1941,
Archival Reference # CHAR 20/46/62
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Churchill's Reaction to Pearl Harbor
This telegram, sent to Anthony Eden, the British Foreign
Secretary, who was in Moscow, captures the ambiguous nature
of Churchill's reaction to Pearl Harbor. He saw the military
disaster for America and the threat to British colonies throughout
the Far East. Yet he also correctly anticipated that the
ensuing German declaration of war against the United States
would bring America into the conflict in Europe. At this
critical juncture, Churchill planned to visit Washington,
D.C.
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Pearl Harbor!
In Churchill's history of The Second World War he
wrote of his emotions upon hearing that Japan had attacked
United States forces at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Only "silly people, and there were many," underestimated
American strength. For him, the entry of the United States
into the war meant that the ultimate outcome--favorable for
his country--was now assured. Feeling "the greatest joy" that
the attack had arrayed his mother's country on the side of
Britain, he "went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved
and thankful."
|
Winston S. Churchill.
The
Second World War,
vol. 3.
London: Cassell, 1948-1954.
Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and
Special Collections Division (142.1)
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"Seppla" [Josef Plank].
Axis bombs severing F.D.R. & Churchill's "hands
across the sea," between
1935 and 1943.
Drawing.
Prints and Photographs Division (156)
|
Severing Ties
This anti-Allied cartoon wishfully envisions the forcible
destruction of the American-British alliance. Bombs fall
from a cloud labeled with the symbols of the three major
Axis powers--the rising sun of imperial Japan, the fasces
(sticks bundled around an axe for strength) of Mussolini's
Italy, and the swastika of Nazi Germany. |
"America--the Real Center of the World Today"
The Chicago Daily Tribune published this wartime
map, which derided the efforts and importance of Churchill's
Britain and placed the United States in a new and supposedly
more fitting location--at the center of the world. Accompanying
text explained: "In the military sense, North America is
the strong bastion around which are grouped friendly powers
in more or less exposed situations." Such powers included
Britain and Australia, which the Tribune felt needed
American power to stave off the Japanese and Germans.
|
Chicago Daily Tribune. "America--the
Real Center of the World Today," 1942.
Printed map.
Geography and
Map Division (157)
|
Mr. Churchill's Visit
to America:
On Board H.M.S. "Duke of York," 1941.
Photograph.
Prints and Photographs Division (144)
|
On Board the Duke of York
Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Churchill left Britain
for additional face-to-face talks with President Roosevelt.
Churchill's daughter, Mary, received his farewell salute
on board the HMS Duke of York, a new British battleship.
On the dangerous, stormy journey to America he wrote a series
of memoranda setting forth his views on the best way to defeat
the Axis. He also told a fellow passenger that the United
States could shorten the war by not trying to defend each
town on the Pacific from the Japanese: "Let the raider come--what
does it matter."
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ARCADIA at Christmas
The first of the great wartime conferences, code-named ARCADIA,
was held in Washington, D.C., in December 1941-January 1942,
. Churchill, Roosevelt, and their military chiefs discussed
grand strategy and worked out agreements on command structure
and armaments production. This cartoon takes note of the
fact that Churchill was Roosevelt's guest in the White House
over the Christmas holiday, and that neither Soviet dictator
Josef Stalin nor China's President Chiang Kai-shek attended
the conference.
|
The Library does not have permission
to present this object online
Clifford Berryman, "
Twas
the Night Before Christmas," 1941.
Drawing.
Cartoon
Drawings Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (146)
© 1941, The Washington Post.
All Rights
Reserved. |
Extract from notes for
Winston Churchill's
address to U.S. Congress,
December 26, 1941.
Page 2
Annotated typescript.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (147)
© Crown copyright 1941,
Archival Reference # CHAR 9/153/29, 42
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Churchill's First Address to Congress
Churchill addressed the United States Congress for the first
time on December 26, 1941. These are two key pages from his
notes for that address annotated by Churchill. He began by
joking about his own Anglo-American parentage but built up
to a dramatic condemnation of the Japanese attack, linking
the British cause with that of the United States and asking, "What
kind of people do they think we are?"
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Churchill Addresses Congress
Addressing Congress on December 26, 1941, Churchill won
over his audience by telling them, "I cannot help reflecting
that if my father had been American and my mother British,
instead of the other way round, I might have got here on
my own." He added that the distressing pattern of recent
events might persist for an extended period: "Many disappointments
and unpleasant surprises await us." Shortly after the speech
he suffered a mild heart attack, a diagnosis that his personal
doctor concealed from everyone, including Churchill himself.
|
Winston Churchill addressing
U.S. Congress,
December 26, 1941.
Photograph.
Prints and Photographs Division (150)
LC-USZ62-51496
|
MP3 - RealPlayer*
(*requires free
RealPlayer
software)
Winston Churchill.
Address
before U.S. Congress, 1941.
Sound disc.
Original recording courtesy of Rare Book and
Manuscript Library,
Columbia University.
Used with permission.
Brander Matthews
Dramatic Museum Collection,
Motion Picture,
Broadcasting and
Recorded Sound Division (151) |
Summarizing the War
Most of Churchill's December 26, 1941, speech to Congress
was an attempt to summarize the course of the war thus far--from
a British viewpoint. His aim was to convince the American
public that the wisest plan was to create an effective alliance
that could win the war and preserve the peace afterwards.
He added that the best war news of all was that "the United
States, united as never before, have drawn the sword for
freedom and cast away the scabbard."
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Churchill and Fala
In this photograph, taken early in 1942 during the ARCADIA
Conference, Churchill is standing outside the White House
with Roosevelt emissary Harry Hopkins and his daughter, Diana,
and Fala, the President's Scotch terrier. Diana appears more
interested in Fala than in Churchill.
|
Winston Churchill with
Harry Hopkins,
1942.
Photograph.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (153)
|
"Churchill im Weissen
Haus"
[Churchill at the White House],
no date.
Drawing.
Prints and Photographs
Division (154)
LC-USZ62-33490
[Digital ID# cph 3a33999]
|
The Poor Relation
Axis propaganda efforts were often aimed at splitting the
Anglo-American alliance. In this cartoon, Churchill's stay
in the White House involved begging for scraps from American
bounty. As Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt gorge themselves
at the table, the British Prime Minister humbly accepts a
bone.
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NATIONS UNITED
On the first day of 1942, Churchill and Roosevelt, along with
representatives of China and the Soviet Union, signed a declaration
creating the United Nations. This wartime alliance eventually grew
to include twenty-six countries and to form the nucleus for a lasting
international organization. For the next year Churchill tried to
forge good working relationships with his most important ally,
the United States, as well as with the Soviet Union and the Free
French led by General Charles de Gaulle. Churchill often differed
with the Americans over questions of grand strategy and the future
of the British Empire, but he was able to resolve many issues in
the course of face-to-face meetings with Roosevelt in Washington
and, later, in Casablanca, Morocco.
By the end of 1942, British forces had been victorious in Egypt
at the Battle of El Alamein and, along with the Americans, had
successfully landed in northwest Africa. To the disappointment
of the Americans and the Soviets, however, Churchill used his considerable
influence to postpone launching a Second Front against the Germans
in northwest Europe in 1943. He wanted to exploit successes in
the Mediterranean, and he was concerned that a premature assault
on the northern French coast might end in failure.
The
Library does not have permission
to display this image online.
Miguel Covarrubias.
United Nations,
1942. Drawing.
Copyright © 2003 Condé Nast Publications.
All rights reserved.
Originally published in Vogue.
Reprinted by permission.
Cartoon Drawings Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (158) |
The United Nations
Leaders of the United Nations, the anti-Axis alliance formed
by Churchill, Roosevelt, and Chinese and Soviet representatives
on January 1, 1942, are caricatured in this drawing by the
Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias. Chiang Kai-shek, Roosevelt,
Churchill, and Stalin are in the center of the front row.
Free French leader Charles de Gaulle is on the far right
of the last row.
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De Gaulle and Churchill
Charles de Gaulle, the Free French leader with whom Churchill
often found it difficult to work, was nonetheless an admirer
of the British Prime Minister. With this cover letter to
Churchill's daughter-in-law, Pamela, de Gaulle gave a book
of drawings to her one-year-old son, Winston S. Churchill.
De Gaulle expressed the wish that in the future the young
Churchill would think of the gift's donor as a "sincere admirer
of his grandfather" and Britain's faithful ally in the greatest
war in history.
|
Charles de Gaulle to
Pamela Digby Churchill,
January 10, 1942.
Page 2
Holograph letter.
Pamela Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (159)
Translation Available |
Herbert Block. "Working
On Him," 1941.
Ink and crayon drawing.
Herblock © 1941
Herblock
Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (161)
LC-USZ62-127210
[Digital ID# ppmsc 03396]
|
Shipping and the Battle of the Atlantic
Unable to bomb Churchill's Britain into submission or to
invade and conquer the island, Adolf Hitler attempted to
cut the British merchant-shipping lifeline with submarines.
His efforts were nearly successful, but a combination of
convoys, airplanes, and intelligence gathered from communications
intercepts helped the Allied cause. This 1941 Herblock cartoon
shows Roosevelt and Churchill reviving a battered fighter
labeled "shipping" while a glowering Nazi U-boat waits for
the next round.
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Opening a Second Front
The question of how best to open up a "Second Front" in
Europe and strike against Germany was one of the most complex
and divisive issues for the British and American allies.
As this letter from Roosevelt shows, both he and Churchill
were aware of the need to support the role being played by
the Russians in the East, but, while the British favored
an attack through Italy, the Americans preferred an assault
on France.
|
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
to Winston Churchill,
April 3, 1942.
Holograph letter.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (163)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt to Harry Hopkins
for transmission to Winston Churchill,
April 12, 1942.
Page 2
Telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (164)
|
Preserving the British Empire
The British Empire was another source of division between
Churchill and Roosevelt, with the British Prime Minister
famously announcing that he had "not become the King's First
Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire." Nonetheless,
in an effort to keep India loyal to the British during the
war, Churchill sent British statesman Sir Stafford Cripps
there with a plan for self-government in 1942. The mission
failed when an agreement with Gandhi's Congress Party was
not obtained. In this telegram Roosevelt urges that a further
attempt be made.
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American Interference in India
The degree to which Churchill resented American interference
in India is indicated by this internal British government
telegram, sent by the Prime Minister to Sir Stafford Cripps
and to the Viceroy and the commander-in-chief in India. In
the telegram, Churchill criticizes remarks made by a senior
United States representative, Colonel Louis A. Johnson--a
future Secretary of Defense under President Truman.
|
Winston Churchill to
Sir Stafford Cripps,
April 9, 1942.
Telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (164.1)
© Crown copyright 1942
Archival Reference # CHAR 20/73/72
|
George Scarbo. " We
Want Service!,"
no date.
Drawing.
Cartoon Drawings
Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (166)
[Digital ID# acd 2a10995]
|
The Hungry Table
American industry produced a vast amount of war supplies,
but Allied demands were even greater. This cartoon depicts
Uncle Sam as a waiter bearing war materiel to waiting diners,
including Churchill, Stalin, and General Douglas MacArthur,
the American commander in the southwest Pacific.
|
Churchill's Grandson
Many children were sent away from British cities and other
target areas to escape German bombing raids. This photograph
of the Prime Minister's twenty-month-old grandson and namesake,
Winston S. Churchill, who spent his time in the country,
while he was in London visiting his mother, Pamela Digby
Churchill.
|
Acme.
A Chip Off
the Old Block,
1942.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (160)
|
Anonymous note to Winston
Churchill, with envelope, postmarked June 21, 1942.
Page 2
Typescript.
Martin Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (169)
|
"GO HOME"
Not everyone in the United States saw eye-to-eye with Churchill.
This anonymous letter was sent to him at the White House
during his visit in June 1942. The postmark is Denver, Colorado.
It was saved by John Martin, Churchill's Principal Private
Secretary, and survives in his papers.
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The "Glorious Ham"
Wartime shortages and commodities rationing in Great Britain
were occasionally alleviated by friendly Americans. In this
note from Clementine Churchill to Averell Harriman, she thanks
him for handkerchiefs and other gifts: "I was 'running short' & one
hates to spare precious coupons on handkerchiefs. . . . And
the Ham! The glorious ham! Words fail me."
|
Clementine Churchill to W.
Averell Harriman,
June 30, 1942.
Page 2
Holograph letter.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (170)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Winston Churchill to
John Dill for George Marshall,
August 1, 1942.
Page 2
Cypher telegram.
Manuscript Division (174)
© Crown copyright 1942
|
A Hands-on Approach
This message from Churchill to U.S. Army Chief of Staff
George Marshall illustrates his innovative leadership style
and his tendency to tell others how to do their jobs. In
Churchill's third paragraph he advises the Americans to deal
with shipping shortages by first limiting the number of vehicles
to be sent from the United States, and then adjusting other
variables to that figure. The goal would be to create "the
best army that can be built up on them" in the limited time
available.
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VELVET and the Second Front
In August 1942, as the Soviets were fighting for their lives
before Stalingrad, Churchill flew to Moscow to tell Stalin
that there would be no Second Front in Western Europe that
year to draw off German forces. Flying en route with Averell
Harriman, President Roosevelt's representative, Churchill
outlined a plan to send British and American forces to southern
Russia--Operation VELVET--that Stalin might accept as a substitute.
The deafening noise of the bomber in which they were riding
forced Churchill and Harriman to communicate by passing pencilled
notes to each other.
|
Winston Churchill and W. Averell
Harriman,
August 12, 1942.
Pencil notes.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (176)
© Crown copyright 1942
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Pastel painting
by Edward Sorel for series "First Encounters," written by
his wife Nancy Caldwell Sorel.
Originally appeared in Atlantic
Monthly.
Edward Sorel. First Encounters: Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill,
1991. Pastel drawing. Cartoon Drawings Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (178)
LC-USZC4-6819
[Digital ID# cph 3g06819]
|
"The Ogre in His Den"
This caricature depicts Stalin and Churchill meeting for
the first time in the Kremlin on August 12, 1942, an encounter
that Clementine Churchill characterized as visiting "the
Ogre in his Den." Stalin condemned the Anglo-American decision
to abandon the Second Front in 1942. Churchill argued: "War
was war but not folly, and it would be folly to invite a
disaster which would help nobody." Stalin replied, "A man
who was not prepared to take risks could not win a war."
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Personal Diplomacy
The August 1942 meetings between Stalin and Churchill did
not always go smoothly. Berating the British for their failure
to come to grips with the Germans, Stalin said that British
soldiers would lose their fear as soon as they started to
fight. Furious, Churchill replied that he would pardon Stalin's
remarks only on account of the bravery of the Russian army.
Impressed with Churchill's spirit, Stalin mellowed, and the
conference ended on a cordial note.
|
Office of War Information.
Churchill and Stalin in Moscow, 1942.
Copyprint.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (179)
|
Office of War Information.
B-24 Liberator,
1942.
Photograph.
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (180)
|
B-24 Liberator
Shown here is the noisy B-24 Liberator medium bomber in
which Churchill and Averell Harriman traveled to and from
Moscow to meet Stalin. It was on this plane that two men
passed the scribbled notes as a means of communication.
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TORCH and the Second Front
Scribbling notes to Churchill on the plane ride from Moscow,
Averell Harriman asked whether Stalin had accepted TORCH--the
code name for the planned North African landings--as a true
Second Front. Churchill, who had met with Stalin privately
just before they left, replied, "No but he thinks it absolutely
right, & of great indirect advantage to Russia." Stalin's
attitude seemed to signify a willingness to continue the
struggle against Nazi Germany in concert with his Anglo-American
allies.
|
Winston Churchill and
W. Averell Harriman,
August 16, 1942.
Pencil notes.
W. Averell
Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (181)
© Crown copyright 1942
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
MP3 - RealPlayer*
(*requires free
RealPlayer
software)
Winston Churchill.
" The
Bright Gleam of Victory," 1942.
Sound reel.
OWI Radio Collection,
Motion Picture,
Broadcasting and
Recorded Sound Division (184) |
Victory Broadcast
Late in November 1942, Churchill addressed a worldwide radio
audience. He noted the recent British victory in Egypt, and
he praised the "perfect comradeship and understanding" responsible
for the successful Anglo-American landings in western North
Africa. Responding indirectly to those critical of the British
preference for Mediterranean operations--as opposed to a
more direct assault into northwest Europe--he termed North
Africa "not a seat but a springboard" and observed that it
faced "the underside of subjugated Europe."
|
V-for-Victory
This caricature by the Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias
features Churchill's characteristic "V-for-Victory" gesture,
together with his ever-present cigar. The drawing appeared
in the January 10, 1942, issue of the New Yorker.
|
The Library does
not have permission
to display this image online.
Miguel Covarrubias.
Winston Churchill, 1942.
Pen and ink.
Copyright © 2003 Condé Nast Publications.
All rights reserved.
Originally published in The New Yorker.
Reprinted by permission.
Prints and Photographs Division (2)
LC-USZ62-88783
|
Harry Hopkins to Winston
Churchill,
November 29, 1942.
Typescript of telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (184.1)
|
"Bright gleam of victory"
In a broadcast heard worldwide on November 29, 1942, Churchill
described the Allied victories in North Africa including
the defeat of Field Marshal Rommel by General Montgomery
at the second Battle of El Alamein and the successful American-led
landings in Algeria and Morocco. Churchill referred to the "bright
gleam of victory," prompting this positive reply from Harry
Hopkins who had clearly listened to the speech with the President
and First Lady.
|
Churchill-Roosevelt Globe
In December 1942 U.S. Army Chief of Staff George Marshall,
acting on a suggestion from General Dwight Eisenhower, sent
identical fifty-inch, 750-pound globes to Churchill and Roosevelt
as Christmas presents. During the war it was especially useful
to Roosevelt, Churchill, and others for gauging relative
distances over water, a crucial factor in allocating scarce
shipping resources while planning grand strategy. The copy,
displayed here was originally placed in the Speaker's Lobby
of the House Chamber in the U.S. Capitol Building.
|
United States
Office of Strategic Services.
Fifty-inch
military globe.
Chicago Heights, Illinois: Weber Costello, 1942.
Geography and
Map Division (1)
|
President
Roosevelt and his globe, 1942.
From "The President's Globe" by
Arthur H. Robinson in Imago Mundi: The International
Journal for The History of Cartography, vol. 49.
London:
Imago Mundi, Ltd., 1997.
Copyprint.
General Collections (1.3)
|
Prime Minister
Churchill with the globe presented to him by the United States
War Department, Christmas 1942.
From "The President's Globe" by Arthur H. Robinson in Imago
Mundi: The International Journal for The History of Cartography,
vol. 49.
London: Imago Mundi, Ltd., 1997.
Copyprint.
General Collections (1.4)
|
Bank of
England currency note.
Reverse
W. Averell Harriman Papers,
Manuscript Division (185)
|
Casablanca Short-Snorter Note
During World War II, membership in the informal "Short-Snorter" club
was earned by the completion of a transatlantic flight--in
those days a relatively rare distinction. Members would autograph
currency notes for the new members, who were then obliged
to carry these keepsakes with them at all times. Averell
Harriman's ten-shilling note bears signatures obtained at
the January 1943 meeting in Casablanca. Among the signers
were President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and generals
George Marshall, Henry ("Hap") Arnold, and George Patton.
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Unconditional Surrender
Roosevelt and Churchill are shown here, at the end of the
Casablanca Conference, as they announce to the press that
the Allies would accept only the unconditional surrender
of their enemies as the war's outcome. Churchill was never
entirely comfortable with this decision, which some would
blame for prolonging the war. He asked the assembled journalists,
however, to present a "picture of unity, thoroughness, and
integrity of the political chiefs" to their readers.
|
U.S. Army Signal Corps.
Casablanca Conference, 1943.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (188)
LC-USZ62-98900
[Digital ID# cph 3b44977]
|
Richard Edes Harrison. "The
Not-So-Soft Underside," 1943.
Printed map.
Geography and
Map Division (191)
|
Soft Underbelly?
At the Casablanca Conference (January 14-24, 1943) Churchill
and Roosevelt decided to continue with operations in the
Mediterranean once they had driven the Germans and Italians
out of North Africa. This decision was in accord with Churchill's
preference for an attack through the "under belly of the
Axis" instead of a more direct approach through northwest
Europe into Germany in 1943. This map, drawn by Richard Edes
Harrison and published in Fortune magazine, depicts
the physical obstacles inherent in such an approach.
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