The Grand Alliance (7 page)

His was a soul that flamed out of a frail and failing body. He was a crumbling lighthouse from which there shone the beams that led great fleets to harbour. He had also a gift of sardonic humour. I always enjoyed his company, especially when things went ill. He could also be very disagreeable and say hard and sour things. My experiences were teaching me to be able to do this too, if need be.

At our first meeting we were about three hours together, and I soon comprehended his personal dynamism and the outstanding importance of his mission. This was the height of the London bombing, and many local worries imposed themselves upon us. But it was evident to me that here was an envoy from the President of supreme importance to our life. With gleaming eye and quiet, constrained passion he said:

“The President is determined that we shall win the war together. Make no mistake about it.

“He has sent me here to tell you that at all costs and by all means he will carry you through, no matter what happens to him – there is nothing that he will not do so far as he has human power.”

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Everyone who came in contact with Harry Hopkins in the long struggle will confirm what I have set down about his remarkable personality. And from this hour began a friendship between us which sailed serenely over all earthquakes and convulsions. He was the most faithful and perfect channel of communication between the President and me. But far more than that, he was for several years the main prop and animator of Roosevelt himself. Together these two men, the one a subordinate without public office, the other commanding the mighty Republic, were capable of taking decisions of the highest consequence over the whole area of the English-speaking world. Hopkins was, of course, jealous about his personal influence with his Chief and did not encourage American competitors. He therefore in some ways bore out the poet Gray’s line, “A favourite has no friend.” But this was not my affair. There he sat, slim, frail, ill, but absolutely glowing with refined comprehension of the Cause. It was to be the defeat, ruin, and slaughter of Hitler, to the exclusion of all other purposes, loyalties, or aims. In the history of the United States few brighter flames have burned.

Harry Hopkins always went to the root of the matter. I have been present at several great conferences, where twenty or more of the most important executive personages were gathered together. When the discussion flagged and all seemed baffled, it was on these occasions he would rap out the deadly question, “Surely, Mr. President, here is the point we have got to settle. Are we going to face it or not?” Faced it always was, and, being faced, was conquered. He was a true leader of men, and alike in ardour and in wisdom in times of crisis he has rarely been excelled. His love for the causes of the weak and poor was matched by his passion

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against tyranny, especially when tyranny was, for the time, triumphant.

In order to clothe the arrival of our new Ambassador, Lord Halifax, in the United States with every circumstance of importance, I arranged that our newest and strongest battleship, the
King George V,
with a proper escort of destroyers, should carry him and his wife across the ocean.

I accompanied them north in my train and saw them off from Scapa Flow. I took advantage of the occasion to visit the Fleet, which I had not seen since I left the Admiralty.

This fitted in with my plans for making much closer acquaintance with Harry Hopkins. We went together to the Fleet, inspecting ships and defences. My wife came with me, and excelled all others in nimbleness of skipping and scrambling from one destroyer to another. Hopkins nearly fell into the sea. I returned in my train to Glasgow. I was welcomed by very large crowds, saw all the local authorities, walked through a number of workshops, inspected the Defence, Fire, and Air Raid services, and made a number of impromptu speeches. We then went on to Tyneside, where the same thing happened. All the time I got to know this man – and to know about his Chief.

Hopkins was about ten days with me, and in this time he put me into harmonious mental relations with the newly rechosen Master of the great Republic. Later on I took him to Dover to see our heavy batteries glaring across the Channel at the coast of France – for us Germany. He seemed to be keenly interested in all he saw.

Former

Naval

13 Jan. 41

Person to President

Roosevelt

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Hopkins and I spent the week-end together, and he
is coming along with me on a short tour of Fleet bases,
so we shall have plenty of time to cover all points at
leisure. I am most grateful to you for sending so remarkable an envoy, who enjoys so high a measure of your
intimacy and confidence.

Former

Naval

19 Jan. 41

Person to President

Roosevelt

You probably know that Halifax will arrive at Annapolis in our new battleship H.M.S. King George V. She
cannot of course stay more than twenty-four hours. I
don’t know whether you would be interested to see her.

We should be proud to show her to you, or to any of
your high naval authorities, if you could arrange that.

She is due at entrance of Chesapeake Bay at 7 A.M.

on January 24. If you will communicate to me any
suggestions or wishes we will do our best to meet them.

Later on in the same month there arrived in England Mr.

Wendell Willkie, the President’s opponent in the recent election. He too brought recommendations of the highest character from the President, and as he was the accepted leader of the Republican Party every arrangement was made by us, with the assistance of the enemy, to let him see all he desired of London at bay. He also came to Chequers for a night, and I had a very long talk with this most able and forceful man, whose life was cut short so unexpectedly by illness three years later.

Former

Naval

28 Jan. 41

Person to President

Roosevelt

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49

I received Willkie yesterday, and was deeply moved
by the verse of Longfellow’s which you had quoted. I
shall have it framed as a souvenir of these tremendous
days, and as a mark of our friendly relations, which
have been built up telegraphically but also telepathically
under all the stresses.

All my information shows that the Germans are
persevering in their preparations to invade this country,
and we are getting ready to give them a reception
worthy of the occasion. On the other hand, the news
from the East shows that a large army and air force are
being established in Rumania, and that the advance
parties of the German Air Force have already to the
extent of several thousands infiltrated themselves into
Bulgarian aerodromes, with the full connivance of the
Bulgarian Government. It would be natural for Hitler to
make a strong threat against the British Isles in order to
occupy us here and cover his Eastern designs. The
forces at his disposal are, however, so large that he
could carry out both offensives at the same time. You
may be sure we shall do our best in both quarters.

I am most grateful to you for your splendid reception
of Halifax and for all you are doing to secure us timely
help. It has been a great pleasure to me to make
friends with Hopkins, who has been a great comfort and
encouragement to everyone he has met. One can
easily see why he is so close to you. Colonel Donovan
also has done fine work in the Middle East.

All my respects and kindest regards. I hope you are
already better.

Here is the President’s letter:

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

January 20, 1941

DEAR CHURCHILL,

Wendell Willkie will give you this. He is truly helping
to keep politics out over here.

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I think this verse applies to your people as it does to
us:

Sail on, O ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,

With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

As ever yours,

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

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These splendid lines from Longfellow’s “Building of the Ship” were an inspiration.

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It is not possible in a major war to divide military from political affairs. At the summit they are one. It is natural that soldiers should regard the military aspect as single and supreme, and even that they should speak of political considerations with a certain amount of disdain. Also the word “politics” has been confused, and even tarnished, by its association with party politics. Thus much of the literature of this tragic century is biased by the idea that in war only military considerations count and that soldiers are obstructed in their clear, professional view by the intrusion of politicians, who for personal or party advantage tilt the dread balances of battle. The extremely close, intimate contacts which prevailed between the War Cabinet, the Chiefs of Staff, and myself, and the total absence of party feeling in Britain at this time, reduced these discords to a minimum.

While the war with the Italians in Northeast Africa continued to prosper, and while the Greeks in Albania had good hopes of capturing Valona, all the news we got about the German movements and intentions proved every day more plainly that Hitler was about to intervene upon a large scale in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. From the beginning of January I had apprehended the arrival of German air power in Sicily, with the consequent menace to Malta and to all our hopes of resuming traffic through the Mediterranean. I also feared they would set up an air station on Pantelleria, with all the facilities this would give for a movement of German troops, presumably armoured, into Tripoli. They did not, as it turned out, think it necessary to occupy Pantelleria, but we could not doubt that their plans were progressing to establish a north-and-south passage through Italy to Africa, and at the same time and by the same measures to interrupt all our movements east and west in the Mediterranean.