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preparing the forces for the invasion of normandy. he argues that president roosevelt ensured the allied forces would be combat hardened and prepared for d-day. hamilton is the author of a new book. the dwight d eisenhower library and museum hosted this event. it is about an hour. speaker, heeynote is the featured historian at our teacher workshop next week. passion, with insight, and a great grasp of history. one of the best military historians on either side of the atlantic. the story is told with great intelligence and sympathy. he writes books that you want to read. these are only a few of the many

examples of the high praise earned by the afternoon's keynote speaker nigel hamilton. we are so grateful to have him here to mark this special d-day anniversary. professor hamilton is a senior mccormack graduate school at the university of massachusetts boston. he is the author of an impressive and a very long list of books. many of the multi volume works and most of them biographies. he has a singular passion. his first major biography was published in 1978. followed three years later by the making of a general, 1887 -1942. the first in a three volume work. american presidents have long been a subject of professor hamilton's research and writing. he authored the critically acclaimed jfk reckless youth

which inspired a television miniseries. bill clinton was the focus of a two-volume biography. professor hamilton's key interest in biography led to the the biography .ookshelf in the mid-80's through his efforts, the british institute of biography and the first center for biography in britain was established. two of his books reflect his great enthusiasm for the study of biography. her feet, a brief history -- biography, a brief history,. not only has he written or books, butt least 25 professor hamilton has won numerous awards for his writing.

biography, and the templer medal for best contribution to military history. today, nigel hamilton is an american citizen and his most was released on may 13. it is conveniently available in our gift shop. i know i am looking forward to reading not. please join me in welcoming our d-day 70th anniversary keynote speaker, nigel hamilton. [applause] >> thank you very much. for that charming introduction. an americanm now citizen, i hope you will forgive my lingering british accent.

[laughter] i begin by saying that yesterday, on the 70th anniversary of d-day, resident president obama traveled to normandy as our commander in chief. courageto honor their as well as the supreme sacrifice of those who never came back alive. visit with youo in the eisenhower presidential library i felt equally honored.

as a naturalized american it is for me and a special privilege. for i have a special connection with d-day. my father to part in the d-day invasion, big coming in youngest british infantry battalion commander at the age of only 25. my childhood summers thereafter were spent camping in the region , normandy, where so many of my father's men lost their lives. 600 of his men became casualties in the great battle that followed the landings. out of 1000. from normandie my father went on belgium, holland . they followed the road of the unconditional surrender of the forces of nazi germany.

later i got to know quite marshall, phil bernard montgomery, the general who had commanded the allied land forces i d-day. and the man who took the surrender of all germany forces in holland, northwest germany, and denmark on may the fourth, 1945, less than 11 months after d-day. by monty toaken spend a weekend with his hero, winston churchill, who had been prime minister. a very extraordinary privilege for a 19-year-old university student, i can tell you. later still i was appointed official biographer of the field marshal in three volumes. i was able to interview many of

andreds of u.s. surviving british surviving commanders in the command. all serving under the supreme commander general dwight the -- whit the dwight d. eisenhower. abileneht me here to many years ago in the 1980's to do research in the library's papers. in many other libraries and archives. in 1998, i thought i should move on.

i did, becoming a presidential historian for it not only writing new biographies of john f. kennedy, and bill clinton, but also a good biography of the last 12 united states president from fdr through dwight eisenhower to george w. bush. that was published in 2010. can everybody hear? it was the writing of american caesar that alerted me to the fact that no one had ever chronicled resident roosevelt's life as united states commander-in-chief. commander-in-chief of the united in armed forces world war ii.

from his perspective in his oval room, isis map which laterp became camp david. park, and hisyde travels across the nation and abroad. africa,undland, to tehran, the middle east, and guilyalta. and that seems to me, given the importance of president's role in world war ii, wrong. so i read the privilege of

revisiting the life of franklinton on of roosevelt in --ld war ii in two volumes franklin did lotto roosevelt in world war ii in two volumes. to set the record straight. in fact, to change history if we understand by event, the way we look at the past. and especially with regard to the d-day landings in june 1944. for the simple truth is most ofple have very little idea the origins of d-day, the story of how president roosevelt personally direct to the -- direct of the so that d-day would

be a triumph and not a mass suicide and let me ask rain suicide.- let me explain briefly. in 1942, in the panic stricken timeafter pearl harbor, a when a young major general eisenhower working in the parchment, apartment was trying to put together the ships to rescue his former boss, general macarthur in the philippines, the president of the united states took the reins not only of the u.s. commander-in-chief in wartime, but of the western allies. ay readr you have me or seen of the performance of winston churchill in 1942, let me tell you that winston role was as

, he wasted publicly only the president's ardent left-hand. it was the president of the united dates who determined the strategy of the allies. and roosevelt began this with a historicof importance, namely to pursue a -- aof germany first policy of germany first, not japan first. defeating japan first would leave hitler and control of -- in control of your. whereas feeding hitler first would make it thin impossible for japan to hold out for more than a few months. bucking public opinion, , theedia commentary

commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the united states focused on dealing with nazi germany as america's first priority. easier said than done however. the british empire in the far , andcollapsed that spring the united states was expected to save australia on its own without british help. even british forces in egypt, defending the suez canal and access to the middle east, found themselves trounced by field marshall rommel over 30,000 british troops surrendering on june 21, 1942, without a fight. visitingill, who was

president roosevelt later wrote, it was a bitter moment. thing, disgrace is another. the difficulty for the president was not only the collapse of rigid horses across the world -- across therces world, but plans of the president's own generals in washington. men in washington with no idea of military reality battle.onting hitler in , henryretary of war stimson, the chief of staff of the united its army, george marshall, and the entire

generals and admirals in the war and navy department in washington the scold for an immediate allied invasion of northern france, a so-called second front. year, 1942, or in the spring of 19 43, the most direct route to berlin and defeat of the third reich. how such senior officers in washington to and could have given their president and commander in chief such advice almost the on comprehension. but they did. when president roosevelt said fired a singleer shot against a single germans shoulder yet in this war, we

must first gain combat and experience, they came close to mutiny. as i've tried to describe in "the mantle of command: fdr at war, 1941-1942." the secretary of war telling the president of the unit is dates that the president's alternative launch an amphibious invasion of northwest africa, to , and to learnsh how to write the germans in real -- theat the for this furthest extremity of german lines of medication and not out of the war, they bet their own president the plan would fail. stimson tooketary

a bet with the president of the invasion,tes that his codenamed worked, would fail. and asked general marshall was there if he was made dictator of america, he would cancel the great pet scheme as he called it. would.l said yes he he would cancel it. roosevelt raised down his generals and insist they carry out his north african can -- instead of committing mass american ofcide in the beaches northern france is one of the most dramatic episodes in

american history. one with a happy ending. for torts did not fail. fail.ch did not chose youngt general eisenhower to be it's commander-in-chief, and the torch invasion proved a brilliant success, stunning hitler and giving hope to the millions of people across occupied europe that the americans are coming. more insee the landings blue arrows on the north african coast. cross channel a invasion would have been if the generals and admirals in and

have had their way. it had already been demonstrated in august that year, 1942. when winston churchill often rise a mini d-day targeted at a south.french seaboard it is not actually marked on the map, but it is somewhat above southeast ofw dover. a brigade of canadian troops who had never been in battle be more one landed on the shore august 19, 1942. slaughtered ine cold blood without ever getting

off the beach, despite the tanks that had landed with them. hitler was delighted. he said to his propaganda minister that his favorite ss commander would be furious that he had not had the time to get to the battle before the enemy was wiped out. the canadiens took over 60% casualties that morning. president roosevelt has been proven right, and his generals wrong. in same thing happened then 1943 a few months later. but with the british now giving the president grief.

the president had silenced his washington generals who were criticizing eisenhower for being slow to seize tunisia. large numbers of germans troops have been flown into combat. the president of cause of lincoln had made it clear he was not in the least disappointed by eisenhower's slow progress. this was exactly why u.s. forces were in the marin training -- mediterranean and not northern france to my main lead to learn how to fight and gradually how battle.t the germans in president was swiftly proven right. defeat at germany hands was shocking, but not shameful.

north africa was an opportunity to learn the lessons of combat, of command. cooperation ofn army, air, and navy, fighting together with our allies. in the ensuing months of 1943, in tunisia and sicily, we heard about thosestories invasions. the united forces did exactly that. learn how to defeat the forces in battle. invasionf launching an when hitler had over 25 divisions waiting for us to defeat the beach.

as the united states forces, young general eisenhower himself, learned these tough lessons, the president laid down the further strategy for them to follow. mediterranean, they would have the field and amphibious grades the u.s. forces needed. 1944, he got everyone to agree would be the right moment for d-day. the moment when u.s. mass production, we have heard of rosie the riveter, when u.s. mass production of planes, tanks, and ships would make it

make itt to clean -- logistically feasible. and a moment by which the united states would have the requisite combat and command experience, anded in the mediterranean coalition experience that would ensure the troops themselves had -- of chance exceeding succeeding in a venture that even hitler had not dared to undertake at the height of his the reason 1940. in 1940.e jury's churchill again came to washington in 1943, aboard the queen mary, with 160 staffers ensconced in the state rooms that were specially rebuilt. why did he come? he came to persuade the president if all civil to dump

the d-day invasion in favor of s,re mediterranean venture o postponet two pe d-day until 1945 or 1946. 1945 or 1946? the president, who had been told in december of 1942 that already 2 million jews and other people had been exterminated by the 1946,s in camps, 1945 or the president in may of 1943 can be forgiven for have gotten fed up with winston.

as he put it to a friend, he right churchill the right deck -- read churchill the riot act. he'd made it clear to churchill that he would have to be withdrawn from the mediterranean as soon as silly was in our lead hands. in allied it would be sent to britain to of thee spearhead invasion set forth the late 1944 . churchill did not know what had hit him. he thought that roosevelt must eat ill. noticed that the president is a very tired man, he seemsseems closed, to have lost his wonderful

elasticity, churchill complained to his doctor. in truth, the president wasn't wasosel in good health, but he tired of the excuses that had been made. they had, after all saved the british in africa, and now were ready to launch a long-awaited second front that would lead to berlin. he did not want a fruitless dive version of effort mediterranean. he saw no reason why the united states should agree to such a cancellation or postponement. stood firm.t planningwith serious

made for the d-day plans, but he began to think more carefully who should command them. given churchill's obstructionism, amounting to cross channel defeatism, the president rejected the initial idea of a jewish supreme supremer -- british commander. if it was to be american, who shouldn't be? it was at that point in the summer and fall of 1943 that the president began to a question which everyone had that the supreme commander , thed be general marshall chief of staff of the united states army. marshall, was the man who had opposed the president over the fail.on, fearing it would

moreover, marshall had further disappointed the president by lest thedeeply anxious germans magically invade spain, invadehe mediterranean, spain, come through spain, cross the mediterranean, and strike eisenhower's forces through the flank through spanish morocco. that is what he was so afraid of and kept in entire american army for that possibility. the president thought this absurd. in a short, for all of his administrative ability for chief , marshall did not

inspire the present with the confidence that he would make a great supreme commander in the field of battle. marshall could be stiff and formal, not even the president was encouraged to address him. but above all, he could be obstinate and lacking in good judgment. it was thist, that roosevelt sought in choosing a supreme commander for overlord. held offer month he the appointment for supreme commander, leaving the invasion plan to be done by staff to the supreme commander designate. embarrassingght

when they had a big summit in tehran, and they were asked to would be the overlord supreme commander. but stall all the more better then pointing the wrong man. but in the end, after meeting ,eneral eisenhower in november here he is in cairo. this was when he was visiting and he meets general eisenhower at casablanca. here he is again in tw unis.

on his way back from his summit with the marshall, the president ike, --enhower, well, maydirector of this museum contest the actual wording, but we believe the president said you are going to command overlord. he had already informed churchill and the marshall and the president had informed general marshall, who had accepted the president's decision with his trademark sound bite of deeply

disappointed. the president met with another three times in washington. was ordered home to take a rest from his responsibilities before undertaking command of the d-day invasion forces. ke found,dent, i was quite certain that d-day would be a success. and the president wanted to talk end of the war. unconditional surrender by the germans, and the best way to administer germany in the aftermath. theell as the french while war lasted. and also be setup for a united , using theanization united states is one of the world's four policemen on the behalf of the u.n. to ensure

that no third reich or empire of japan or madmen ever brought the world to destruction again. it was clear to eisenhower that the president was a man who thought always ahead, and perhaps it was the key to his , temperedleadership by almost incredible patience and insurance unity of purpose. an invisible iron will that hid the president's strategy for the combat, the military conduct to world war ii, whilst filing. -- following, . these were qualities that mirenhower had grown to ad

in the president, and worked to emulate. it was surely in the way that he personally witnessed president final moments. especially in the way the president refused to be pressured by his military advisers. or even his civilian advisers into unsound up rations -- unsound operations of war. the ending of the korean war and his refusal to go along with written, france, -- of britain and france would demonstrate how much she and eisenhower had learned. far moregment is

important than the fantasies of and -- th-ree that arvictory. we do this not only to commemorate the courage of my father, your ca grandfather, uncle's that took part in the invasion, we honor it also as a testament to the visionary judgment of a great president and commander in chief who directed the military in world war ii far more intelligently, diligently, ly, then most of us have been led to recognize.

a man who delayed his choice of the supreme commander to lead the allied forces in that momentous enterprise because he wanted the choice to be the right one. a choice worthy of the hundreds of thousands of american servicemen who would be risking and giving their lives to fulfill the president's germany first policy. which, as invasion hitler knowledged, would decide the war. leading not only to the defeat of hitler's forces in the west, but which led to the final, unconditional surrender of the german armed after d-day.ths thank you very much. [applause]

i would be happy to take any impersonations. [laughter] did stay with winston churchill for a whole weekend. tom told the last person th the family outside of the family was myself. it was an unforgettable experience. i was a student at cambridge university, and my landlady nigel, there said, is somebody on the telephone who says he is field marshal montgomery.

i think it is one of your stupid friends. [laughter] but it wasn't, it was monti y himself, who loved and admired churchill and had to go stay with him every year to cheer the old boy up. himlected to take me with but and it was an unforgettable experience. the high point of which was a pause in the , -- someone asked me earlier if he was as difficult and stern as he seemed of a and he was actually a man fun.oved to poke

the dinner, during as winston had speared a piece of roast venison which his wife had made, he held it up and with his whiskey glass nearby. deciding which one -- [laughter] there was this pause in the said intion, and monty his ear, of course you know, winston, nigel is a socialist. wish to the conservative former ande minister -- and blessed them, he looked at the piece of venison and then looked went grrr!

make it a short question so i can repeat it. why did the british people tossed churchill out of government in 1945, shortly signed?e germans there is not a short answer. the shortest i can give is that churchill was very old-fashioned. as much as i still admire sir winston, the man could command -- the mantle of command is pretty critical.

he was very old-fashioned, he had served in india in 1 was absolutely determined in the 1940's, as the japanese forces were getting weser and closer to india, even have a map. as the japanese were getting closer, and had conquered all of the southwest pacific and had reached the borders of india, and the president pleaded with winston churchill to allow the viceroy of india to authorized the indians to form their own self-government so that the indians would fight with the british, and winston churchill

absolutely refused. hiswhen the president sent right-hand man to try to persuade him, winston said to if they president pushes me one inch further, i shall resign. he capped 1000 troops in india to keep the people of india from , insteadelf-government of fighting. they did nothing in the pacific. president roosevelt really had to defend and look after australia and new zealand and the south pacific on his own without british help because winston was that old-fashioned,

colonial imperialist. when it came to write his memoirs, anderful anyone who has not read them should. they won him the nobel prize for literature. but he sweeps all of that under the carpet. descending civilized values in a wonderful way with rhetoric. his ability to invent metaphors off the top of his head, i know them.now many of he did force the president to put the american troops in southern italy, and when he

they were slow, he said intended to move faster not like a harvest bug. who but churchill could have come up with that? churchill had very little vision of the future. countrydegree in this he is honored politically as moreody who saw realistically the danger of stalin and russian communism, i think that is very overplayed. president was quite clear exactly what stalin was up to and what was in his mind, and the future. point,come back to your the british public wanted

somebody who would talk about the future of society, of democratic society in britain, . a new deal, if you would like, for britain. been writing, had people like my dad, they felt they deserved better from the country they had served and fought for. and so the opposing party, the labour party, offered a much more visionary idea of british society with a safety net, social security and medical care. and churchill was simply blind to it.

it is a complex question. the simplest answer is they did not think they could do it united the states was so economically powerful. they had gone through years of , and the armed forces were ranked 17th in the world at that time. a lot of the equipment was very outdated.

struck quicklyey and efficiently, just as hitler and theoland in 1939 holland, 1940 in belgium, france, that they could wrap it up very quickly. and they did. that shows the extent of japan's spring of 1942. blitzkrieg and rampage in the on a very strict timetable of get it done, don't wait, the democracies are slow, they are not ready, explains why they thought they could get away with it.

they came quite close to doing it. >> returning to her comment on churchill and india. what i had was that churchill's his fear of indian self-government was the fact [indiscernible] >> it is not entirely garbage. the question is, was churchill's fear of indian self-government because he thought that there would be internal strife? when the japanese were getting so close to india, they have the navy in the indian ocean and they were approaching the land borders, that the british could not afford the danger to losing

india. the simple fact is winston churchill had not been in india since 1898. i have looked through the correspondence that churchill had with the viceroy of india at the time. and i have looked through the correspondence which church him ambassador had with the viceroy. some of the things that he writes to the ambassador in feelngton really makes you

ashamed to have in british -- been british. tdrchill simply blame gandhi. it was better not to give the indian self-government in 1942. wascome singapore surrendered to the japanese after only a few days? british empire troops surrendered, which included something approaching 60,000 indians who were

mercenaries. ,000 of those fight withered to the japanese to get control of their own country. one of the things that i so admire, and it is a central moment in this book, is what happens in the february of 1942, winword comes in from macarthur to the white house. it is a signal from mcarthur saying that the president of the philippines, which are still an would likerritory, to surrender or negotiate with the japanese. you mr. president must make the decision. he intimated that he thought thatbly it was a good idea the philippine government should surrender and

therefore spare themselves the more casualties. this is during the japanese the campaign. and was another great deciding moment of the war. not just militarily but morally. youthe president says no, president kay's on, and you general macarthur are not allowed to negotiate anything with the japanese. if we negotiate with the japanese at this point the whole of the pacific is lost and we will never triumph. troops, is american this is what he says in his cable, the american troops are

fighting with filipinos to preserve the independence which has been guaranteed by an act of congress in 1934 to take place in 1946. a coloniale not as oppressor, we are there to ensure that filipinos can have freedom and independence of the united states in 1946. we are proud of what we have done in this country. we will not negotiate with the japanese and become simply a vassal state in the pacific. to his credit, general macarthur accepted that, and explained it to the president of the philippines, and he was very upset because he could not bear the idea of the suffering that would follow, but he accepted it.

what wethe origins of said earlier, the i shall return. we not be able to hold it, but i shall return. >> we have a polish delegation this weekend. answer. no simple churchill knew as well as president roosevelt that it would be very difficult, given ,he collapse of the british

even though the british had itlared war on hitler, that would be completely impossible for the british to defeat hitler once france fell, on their own. and that is why churchill pursued the alliance with the united states. i do not think winston churchill ever dreamed that the united states and britain together could liberate poland, given the in 1942 of the germans and 1943. it simply wasn't on the cards that they could defend, could invade and protect poland against soviet forces.

there has been a great deal itdiscussion about because it seems tragic to surrender to the russians knowing what they are going to do. churchillvelt and russians it was the who had murdered tens of thousands of polish. in order to preserve the united nations alliance with the soviet union we had to pretend that the germans were responsible for the massacre, but it was clay clear to both president roosevelt and churchill that the r ussians were behind it.

churchill said in 1943, speaking to a catholic cardinal, that he orry, but as things look we will defeat the third reich, but we will not be able to save poland, and it may be decades before poland will become free. a pretty visionary statement. one more question. >> who influenced fdr? >> politically? militarily? you present ame, new look at fdr as commander-in-chief. this is not we were grown up to read in our history books. that he left the

running of the war to his senior marshals. if president roosevelt is so strategically wise and patient and farseeing, how come he never went to military college? or naval college? how did he know they were ot in 1942 and 1943? pushing for a d-day we were not ready for? the day i am not sure i can answer that. -- command is style style was very low-key.

he did not often give direct orders, he liked to allow people to make their suggestions and recommendations. some people assume that that meant he could not make his mind up. that is rubbish. marshall told them after the war that it was weeks of hat he would not be able to see the president. that is rubbish. the president maintained control of the military by not seeing them every day. churchill saw his military five times a day and was always ling with the military and it led to disaster after disaster. not just the collapse of the british empire but even the invasion of italy.

fdr is how thhe rules by keeping his cards all on his own table. and none of these admirals or air force generals or army officers that are told to get on with their job, but only occasionally invited to the white house, the president of the united states is the of the unitedhief states, and to this day he remains by the constitution the commander-in-chief. i think it is a wonderful thing. book theewed for this last surviving officer for roosevelt's map room. this was the forerunner of the situation room in the white house.

general marshall was allowed to come into the map room if the president agreed. president who does not even allow his signals from churchill and stalin and intelligence, he does not allow them to come in and go out through the same service. they come in through one service like the army and they go out through the navy. he deliberately did not want anybody to assume that they had the right to make strategy. only the president of the united states. and in my mind, think god he did. he saved us from mass suicide. it was difficult enough to get across the beaches, but we did.

in 1942ld've happened or 1943 echo we can only imagine. -- 1943? we can only imagine. [applause] so with your help we can change history, we can change the way we look at the past. , the mythead the word that president roosevelt was standing back and letting the military run the war is a myth. i think we have every reason to be grateful to president roosevelt, out only for the strategy he laid down on unconditional surrender, but also his choice of general eisenhower to be commander-in-chief in the mediterranean. thank you again.

[applause] >> with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and c-span 2 on c-span 3 we complement that coverage by showing a public affairs event. on the weekend, c-span 3 is the home to american history tv with programs including six unique series, the civil war's 150th anniversary, american artifacts, touring museums to discover what artifacts reveal about america's past. history bookshelf with america's best-known history writers. e policies and legacies of our nation's commanders in chief. college professors it delving into america's past. and our new series reel america featuring archival movies. c-span 3,