Open Your Eyes, for God’s Sake!

Early in October 1944, more than 37 years ago, Winston Churchill was getting ready to fly to Moscow. The Germans were in full retreat across the Balkans. The Russian armies were pouring into southeastern Europe. There would be no British or American troops in that part of Europe. Churchill was going to Moscow to arrange some kind of a deal with Stalin before the Russian rule over all Eastern Europe became complete and irreversible.

Official Washington and the American Establishment (these are imprecise terms but for the sake of brevity they must do) were uneasy about that trip. They were suspicious of Churchill. They feared that he would be too crafty, perhaps even too tough with Stalin. So they woke up Harry Hopkins, the chief wheeler-dealer. Churchill had just exacted a cable from Roosevelt to the effect that he, Churchill, could represent both of them when speaking about Balkan (and Hungarian) affairs with Stalin. In the account of Robert Sherwood—prototypical liberal of the age, playwright, speechwriter for FDR, and Hopkins’s adoring biographer— “When Hopkins heard about this, he ordered the White House map room to stop the cable. The cable officers obeyed without question. Then Hopkins went to Roosevelt’s bedroom, told him what he had done, and persuaded him that the United States should always speak for itself. Roosevelt admitted that he had made a mistake and took it all back.”

JL

About the Author

John Lukacs

Early in October 1944, more than 37 years ago, Winston Churchill was getting ready to fly to Moscow. The Germans were in full retreat across the Balkans. The Russian armies were pouring into southeastern Europe. There would be no British or American troops in that part of Europe. Churchill was going to Moscow to arrange some kind of a deal with Stalin before the Russian rule over all Eastern Europe became complete and irreversible.

Official Washington and the American Establishment (these are imprecise terms but for the sake of brevity they must do) were uneasy about that trip. They were suspicious of Churchill. They feared that he would be too crafty, perhaps even too tough with Stalin. So they woke up Harry Hopkins, the chief wheeler-dealer. Churchill had just exacted a cable from Roosevelt to the effect that he, Churchill, could represent both of them when speaking about Balkan (and Hungarian) affairs with Stalin. In the account of Robert Sherwood—prototypical liberal of the age, playwright, speechwriter for FDR, and Hopkins’s adoring biographer— “When Hopkins heard about this, he ordered the White House map room to stop the cable. The cable officers obeyed without question. Then Hopkins went to Roosevelt’s bedroom, told him what he had done, and persuaded him that the United States should always speak for itself. Roosevelt admitted that he had made a mistake and took it all back.”