Sleep in Peace Tonight by James MacManus

Author:James MacManus
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466852921
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

10

Harry Hopkins landed in New York four days after leaving England. He had changed planes in Lisbon, flying on a Pan Am clipper south to Portuguese Guinea and then across the South Atlantic at its narrowest point to Brazil, and then via the Caribbean to LaGuardia Airport. He was both tired and ill when he arrived but found time for a brief meeting with the newly appointed ambassador to Britain.

John G. Winant, known as “Gil,” was a surprise choice to many. A lean Republican with the looks of a young Abraham Lincoln, he was fifty-one and had never served his country abroad in any capacity. He had, however, executive experience as governor of New Hampshire and was an effective advocate of social reform. Thus the isolationists could hardly accuse the president of sending to wartime London a man who sympathized with Churchill’s high Tory ideals and love of empire.

Winant had wanted to spend the whole day with Hopkins, but the president was waiting impatiently at the White House. The two men lunched before Hopkins took the afternoon train to the capital.

“There are only three things to remember in London,” he told Winant. “Don’t let Churchill refill your glass too often, he drinks more than any man I have met. Stay away from the Black Cat Club. And try to get it through the heads of those service chiefs and ministers that only Congress can declare war under our constitution—not the president. They just don’t get that. They seem to think Congress will do whatever the White House commands.”

“And the bombing?” asked Winant.

“That will be the least of your problems,” said Hopkins. “Good luck.”

* * *

Hopkins entered the Oval Office the next morning to find the president at his desk with every senior member of the cabinet seated in front of him: Harold Ickes, Frank Knox, Cordell Hull, Henry Stimson, Henry Morgenthau, and George C. Marshall. Missy LeHand, Roosevelt’s long-serving personal assistant, sat in the corner. She had become close to Roosevelt in her twenty years of service and had her own room in the White House. Grace Tully, the note taker, sat next to her. Hopkins was taken aback by the sight of the president. His face was gray, drawn, and much thinner than when he had left. Hopkins knew Roosevelt had suffered from a bout of flu, but the man at the desk looked much older than his fifty-nine years.

He noticed the cabinet secretaries all held folders marked: “HH exlondon.” Every report he had sent from England was in their hands. It would have been nice if the president had told him he would be handing them round to everyone. As it was, Roosevelt had just asked him to drop by the Oval Office for a meeting at ten. When they had talked on the phone the previous night, Roosevelt had sounded overjoyed to have his wandering envoy home at last.

The president looked up, held up the dossier, and smiled.

“‘Amazing what you can do in a war,’” he said.

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