Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour
Lynne Olson
Language: English
Pages: 496
ISBN: 0812979354
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The acclaimed author of Troublesome Young Men reveals the behind-the-scenes story of how the United States forged its wartime alliance with Britain, told from the perspective of three key American players in London: Edward R. Murrow, the handsome, chain-smoking head of CBS News in Europe; Averell Harriman, the hard-driving millionaire who ran FDR’s Lend-Lease program in London; and John Gilbert Winant, the shy, idealistic U.S. ambassador to Britain. Each man formed close ties with Winston Churchill—so much so that all became romantically involved with members of the prime minister’s family. Drawing from a variety of primary sources, Lynne Olson skillfully depicts the dramatic personal journeys of these men who, determined to save Britain from Hitler, helped convince a cautious Franklin Roosevelt and reluctant American public to back the British at a critical time. Deeply human, brilliantly researched, and beautifully written, Citizens of London is a new triumph from an author swiftly becoming one of the finest in her field.
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Of wartime London, describing in little gems of detail how people struggled to live their lives, even as their city and world threatened to shatter around them. “You are the best reporter in all of Europe,” Nelson Poynter, the editor and publisher of the St. Petersburg Times, wrote to Murrow. “I say this because you do as comprehensive a job as the best of them, and in addition have given to listeners the homey little facts that make this God-awful nightmare real.” In his reporting, Murrow also.
Buber, and Hans J. Morgenthau, emigrate to America from Nazi Germany. That experience, he later said, was “the most richly rewarding of anything I have ever undertaken.” The following year, at the age of twenty-six, he married Janet Brewster, a pretty, dark-haired Mount Holyoke graduate from Connecticut, whose family roots could be traced back to the Mayflower. Quiet and reserved on the surface, Janet had a love of adventure, a wry sense of humor, and a mind of her own; in college, she rejected.
In the Blitz. Volunteers soon came to the rescue. Bathrooms were built out of salvaged materials; food was brought in; bunks and coal stoves appeared, as did armchairs and wireless sets in some shelters. London’s borough governments, shamed by their initial feeble and shoddy response, made structural and other improvements to the shelters. By the end of the Blitz, the majority of them had been transformed into reasonably comfortable places to spend the long, perilous nights. The same was true.
Destroy each other. George Marshall and other military leaders warned the president that help for the Russians would result in a significant cutback in military resources for both the United States and Britain. Nonetheless, as long as the Russians held out—and they were holding out much longer than anyone in the West believed was possible—they provided Britain with a respite from German bombing and a possible invasion. The calamitous May 10 raid on London was the last major enemy attack on.
Minister’s appeasement of Mussolini, he might well have successfully challenged Chamberlain for the premiership. But, as Eden himself said, “I lack the spunk,” and the leadership baton eventually went to Churchill. Although Eden complained throughout the war of Churchill’s interference with the Foreign Office, he nonetheless managed to carve out for himself a highly influential role in foreign affairs. Winant’s friendship with the foreign secretary was, with the exception of his involvement with.