In this issue: Author Katherine Carter and Churchill's Citadel; Author James B. Conroy on The Devils Will Get No Rest; Gifts From Veterans; U.S. Marines and #TheArtOfWar; FDR's Naval Manuscripts.
In the 1930s, Winston Churchill found himself out of government and with little power. In these years, Chartwell, his country home in Kent, became the headquarters of his campaign against Nazi Germany. He invited trusted advisors and informants, including Albert Einstein and T. E. Lawrence, to strengthen his hand as he worked to sound the alarm at the prospect of war.
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The Devils Will Get No Rest: FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War
Author James B. Conroy discusses The Devils Will Get No Rest. A “vivid and engaging” character-driven account of the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, an Anglo-American clash over military strategy that produced a winning plan when World War II could have gone either way. Churchill called it the most important Allied conclave of the war. Until now, it has never been explored in a full-length book.
James B. Conroy is an award-winning author and an honorary fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Having worked on Capitol Hill as a Senate press secretary and a congressman’s chief of staff and served for six years in the Naval Air Reserve. His first book, Our One Common Country, was a finalist for the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. His second, Lincoln’s White House, shared the Lincoln Prize and won the Abraham Lincoln Institute’s annual book award.
On Veterans Day Americans celebrate the service of our military veterans. Learn the stories behind some remarkable paintings, drawings, and handmade objects that members of America's military created as gifts for their Commander in Chief–President Roosevelt.
(Originally broadcast November 11, 2020; 20:43 minutes)
Marine Sergeant Anthony W. Mechowski of Syracuse, New York, built this ashtray out of brass shell casings as a birthday gift for the President. Roosevelt received it on January 13, 1944, along with a short note from Mechowski: “Dear MR. President—Birthday greetings! Here is an ornament for your desk.”
This poster honors the 168th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corps. Artist and journalist Carl James Shreve served as a Public Relations Officer for the Marines during WWII.
Hidden in the deepest alcoves at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum is a little known, and priceless collection that Roosevelt spent a lifetime acquiring. FDR called it his “Naval Manuscript Collection”, one of the largest private archives of rare documents on U.S. maritime history and the adventures and voyages of its greatest heroes.
"Whatever our individual circumstances or opportunities, we are all in it, and our spirit is good... and do not let anyone tell you anything different." FDR, Oct 12, 1942, fireside chat.
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