The year is 1941, and FDR is president. It is August 9. Germany has been attacking England and has just turned its attention to Russia. In the meantime, Japan is agitating in the Pacific. The US is deeply divided about "war." Roosevelt is determined to send aid to both England and Russia, while avoiding having the US go to war. Churchill and Roosevelt have agreed to meet in person, for the first time, in the middle of the Atlantic to talk about things. From the book, "No Ordinary Time" by Doris Kearns Goodwin:
Harry Hopkins understood how important it was for the future of both Britain and the U.S. that these two men get along. Knowing both personalities, he could see that they had much in common. But he also feared that the two big egos would clash. In fact, from the moment the two men met, it was clear that they were destined to be not only allies in a common cause, but special friends. Now look at how the meeting was set up.
"On Saturday morning, August 9, the Prince of Wales (Churchill's ship), with her flags flying and her band playing the Sousa march "Stars and Stripes Forever," came within sigh of the Augusta (Roosevelt's ship). "Around us were numerous units big and small from the US navy," Churchill's aide-de-camp recalled. "How hungrily Winston Churchill looked over their firepower. How we needed it!" With the naked eye, the figure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt could be discerned standing on the upper deck, supported by his son Elliott. (remember, he was paralyzed from the waist down from polio). As Churchill boarded the Augusta, the crowd stirred and the navy band struck up "God Save the King." Roosevelt remained still for several instants. Then a smile began to run over his face like a rippling wave and his whole expression turned into one of radiant warmth. " (And so on). (I can't help saying that I LOVE that they greeted one another with each other's MUSIC.)
Then -- after they have discussed things a bit, the particular topic being what to do about Japan, Goodwin writes: "For both Roosevelt and Churchill, the emotional peak of the conference came on Sunday morning, as Roosevelt boarded the Prince of Wales for a religious service, complete with the singing of a dozen common hymns. Holding hymnbooks in their hands, the two leaders joined in song, with hundreds of British and American sailors crowded together side by side, sharing the same books. 'The same language, the same hymns and more or less the same ideals,' Churchill mused that evening. 'I have an idea that something really big may be happening -- something really big.'"
"If nothing else had happened while we were here," Roosevelt later said, the joint service that sunlit morning "would have cemented us." For one brief moment, human togetherness gained ascendancy. "Every word seemed to stir the heart," Churchill attested, "and none who took part in it will forget the spectacle presented --- It was a great hour to live."
GOD SAVE THE KING (QUEEN)
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