revolution reproduced in that gallery. we take that story all the way to the end. then you are able to see the field headquarters of general washington which is displayed in its own theater and gallery here at the museum of the american revolution. announcer: you are watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter at c-span history for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. next on the presidency, lewis lehrman discusses the parallel lives of british prime minister winston churchill and president franklin d. roosevelt and the partnership they forced to win world war ii. he is the author of "churchill, roosevelt & company: studies in character and statecraft."

the new york historical society where he is also a member of the board of trustees. this is just under one hour. >> we are thrilled to welcome noted scholar lewis lehrman back to our stage. a member of our board of trustees since 2003, lewis lehrman was instrumental in our 2008 exhibition on alexander hamilton, the man who made modern america. his vision of our institution as the destination for american history has guided us over the past 14 years with the most recent fruits of his initiative and extraordinary exhibition focused on dolly madison and the women of the early american republic. another, lewis lehrman established a collection of original matrix and documents here at york historical society.

americantute for history has developed a highly acclaimed national program for teaching american history in high schools and colleges throughout the united states. lewis lehrman also created the lincoln prize and the center for the study of slavery, resistance, and abolition at yale university which awards the frederick douglass prize for the best work of the year on slavery, resistance, and abolition. for all of this tremendous work in american history, lewis lehrman was presented with the national humanities medal at the white house in 2005. the authoran he is of several books, including his latest "churchill, roosevelt & company: studies in character and statecraft." in a highly, the mentoring review this past march, "the wall street journal" noted, the book is packed with fascinating

detail and illuminates not only the past, but challenges of the present day. the subtitle, studies in character and statecraft, he makes it weird that in geopolitics, the two go together. before i welcome him to the stage, i will ask everyone to check their cell phones and anything else that makes a nose -- noise or a bus, turn them off. now it is my great pleasure to welcome mr. lewis lehrman. [applause] lewis: so mad and chairman, -- madam chairman, thank you so much for the introduction.

even after so long, one needs reinforcement. trustees, members, and guests, we are gathered in this hall tonight to contemplate the most colossal war of human history. to focus especially upon the anglo american alliance in world war ii. war, anglet of was commonplace among civilian and military leaders in washington. more than one century of anglo american opposition had led to mutual distrust. mention, the revolutionary separation from the mother country and the humiliating war of 1812. bad blood, they followed the

disappointments of world war one. not least, britain's failure to repay its war decks to america. in britain, condescension toward its former colonials still prevailed among the british elites. depression at home and revolution abroad, appeasement and isolationism preoccupied both countries. politiciansrican believe that sophisticated british leaders such as winston teensill and john later might be a slippery budget would please america in order to keep the british empire in tact. ,ne british officer would write some americans are curiously liable to suspect that they are going to be outsmarted by the wetle british because

british sometimes do such stupid things that the americans cannot take them at face you. they suspect them of being part of some dark design. doubtedl himself never that the full support of the united states was necessary to defeat hitler's bid for mastery of the european continent. courtship ofrate fdr by the prime minister in 1940 and 1941, president roosevelt was still not consent to marriage in the war against nazi germany. the cautious fdr would wait until pearl harbor in december 1941. whereupon a shotgun wedding would be declared, nearly 18 months after the fall of france. fdrng those fateful months,

had escalated u.s. cooperation and none tool -- soon. by the time of pearl harbor, german troops had arrived at the gates of moscow. moment tose for a consider the probe annan's of these two titans -- probe annan's of these two titans of the anglo-american alliance. fdrated by tutors at home, as a very young man followed the path of the rich and the wellpoint. churchill at seven years of age was set -- sent off to a harsh boarding school. he would years there, struggle to pass the examination to enter the royal military academy. harvard. would go to there he had some success, but

he was mortified to be rejected by the socially or stages club to which is father had belonged. upon graduation from sandhurst would see the world as a junior army officer in the cavalry, and at the same time as a highly paid war correspondent, a most irregular role for a british army officer. eight years older than at dr, churchill would become world-famous by the time roosevelt entered harvard. as a british army officer, churchill proved intrepid in battle. in cuba, india, the sudan, and attainfrica, he would the world-renowned he acclaimed as a vehicle to enter parliament. at that time the future prime

.inister thought himself unique i think it is fair to say that he always thought himself unique. at that time, he would confide to a lady friend, "we are all believe that i worm."obal -- glow would marry his cousin, eleanor, in 1905 in the wedding uncle, theer by her then president of the united states. churchill was grandson of the due in 1908. before and during 1901 churchill would serve in the cap as first lord of the admiralty.

roosevelt himself would never serve in the armed forces, but he would follow the example of his famous cousin teddy as a sex -- assistant secretary of the navy in world war i under woodrow wilson. in may 1940 when winston churchill became prime minister, great britain would undergo one of the greatest crises of her long national history. a mortal threat to the very survival of the nation itself. 1940,, at the end of britain was insolvent. france, by the fall of the u.k. fought the massive german armed forces alone. ministerl, the prime knew he needed an american alliance. said, "i will drag america

in." but in fact it would be japan seventhany on december 1941 to a drag america into world war two. some distrust between america and britain never dissipated theng world war ii, president and his secretary of state presented churchill's determination to maintain a british empire and its imperial trading preferences. the prime minister would notantly respond, "i have become the kings prime minister to preside over the dissolution of the british empire." prime ministerhe and the president were many levels of military and civilian leaders, some home did embrace the spirit necessary for victory.

but on neither side of the atlantic was team spirit pervasive. ,or example, secretary of state the secretary of the treasury, and their deputies among others shed their angle phobia reluctantly. the chief of naval operations would never stop pulling the lion's tail. staff georgeef of marshall, the supreme commander in europe right ivan sauer -- dwight eisenhower eisenhower, would make the alliance effective. among important civilian officials in the alliance to were a fewwork officials.

hopkins would become the defective national security counselor. achievement for a armer social worker from small town in iowa. above all, hopkins would gain the trust of the prime minister. standoffish the members. london inond trip to july 1941, harry hopkins would take a navy seaplane across the arctic to moscow where he met with joseph stalin. reported that he stalin welcomed him with a few "it wasssian words,

like talking to a perfectly coordinated machine." joseph stalin knew exactly what he wanted, new what russia needed, and he assumed that you knew too. stalin made the case to hopkins that russia would survive, an argument that would lead to the allies giving aid to russia. historians tend to emphasize that's churchill, roosevelt, and company won the war in the west and the pacific -- all true. but less egg knowledge is the fact that it was a soviet army the bulk of the german armed forces in the east. 80%, four out of every five german soldiers killed in battle died fighting the russians on

the eastern front. let us consider the character and the personality of the commanders in chief of the anglo-american alliance. churchill and roosevelt themselves were patricians of ambition.nt and inspired by their elite families and their famous forebears. roosevelt, a democrat, would prove a much better grassroots politician, having the political skill to build a loyal opposition in the republican hudson valley. new york enter politics when the progressive republican theodore roosevelt was the most famous american in the world. different for

roosevelt. and for churchill. churchill's heart beat to the rhythm of debate in parliament. not to the noise of grassroots politics. after his heroic struggle to overcome polio and paralysis, fdr would become the people's politician. churchillattuned than to public opinion. but even in early 1941, after three presidential victories, fdr did not reside over decisive congressional majority, not least because of the isolationism in both the democrat and republican parties. handhill on the other govern a large majority coalition throughout the war. fdr would have to fight to campaigns for the presidency during the war, 1940 and 1944.

the prime minister would face no parliamentary general election until july 1945 at the end of the war. was this missed from office by the -- dismissed from office by the british voters, one of the great ironies of the war. churchill's character was more straightforward than that of roosevelt. fdr was practiced at deception, as he himself readily egg knowledge. he told the secretary of the treasury, "i am a juggler and i never let my left hand know what my right hand does." the secretary of the interior was a tube roosevelt, "you won't even talk frankly with people

who are loyal to you, the loyalty of whom you are only convinced." roosevelt's devoted speechwriter either the president or the prime minister could be called a student of machiavelli, it was surely franklin roosevelt." however, the emotional prime minister was a complex mr. -- mixture of actor and warrior. churchill's true feelings tended to show through. he rarely bother to hide them. , even not hold back tears sobbing in public. fdr was much more circumspect, more tightly wound.

churchill would not rest while prosecuting the war. didcould he relax as fdr with his stamp collection and his naval encyclopedias. the prime minister was all in for war, all the time. , militarystings aides, liaisons would joke about the prime minister. great militarye genius of history, he can use one division on three fronts at the same time. strategy churchill almost always consulted his war cabinet. war, fdr paid little attention to his cap. toward the state

department bordering on contact. for example the secretary of when was not in washington the president would soon department the summit conference with the prime minister in 1941. roosevelt invited the number two man at state. like fdr, he was a harvard educated member of the eastern establishment. fdr himself was far more comfortable with the number two man than with the secretary of state. eleanor roosevelt with observed, "franklin is not at ease with ."ople not of his own class newfoundlandt near , roosevelt and churchill this added to send a small delegation

to moscow to the side what military resources should be shipped to russia. who hadd choose the man been managing the american side of langley's, in britain another man. if i may, harriman was the not so rare american in london to the prime minister's. or in law. edward r. murrow was another. no more locker room talk tonight. russiaith harriman to was controversial. a canadian who had served with churchill in world war i cap. indeed, the self-confident prime minister would choose beaverbrook for his first cabinet in 1940 over the doubts

and hesitations of king george the sixth. beaverbrook could and did stand up to the prime minister, but he would later complain that eating, drinking, and arguing with the prime minister, "nearly killed me, almost made me a drunkard." not every man could drink 20,000 bottles of champagne in a single lifetime. churchill, a man of intuition and impulse. opaque,r life was ok -- even to those who knew him best. his speechwriter wrote, "i tried

continually to study fdr. to try to look the on his charming and am using and warmly heavily forto his student interior. say "non daughter would one truly new fdr," even members of his own family. but in this vision fdr would choose wisely his leaders from the armed forces. men such as general marshall and general eisenhower. roles, -- senior senior admirals. often this missed details with a cavalier wave of the hand. fdr was the supreme improviser.

quoting a friend, fdr's favorite technique was to keep grants of authority incomplete, jurisdictions uncertain, charters overlap. the result of this competitive theory of administration was often confusion and exasperation. diary, the secretary of war confided that fdr was the poorest administrator i have ever worked under with respect to the orderly procedure and routine of his performance. to joseph kennedy, lord beaverbrook, and a few others, i do focus not only on

other major civilian and military leaders, but on dozens of key figures not so well-known. among a few of these leaders i should like to name them, the super spies. some ambassadors and some lords. also johnrns, and and harry dexter white. the chief deputy at the u.s. treasury department. it was harry dexter white that was totally in charge of the bretton woods conference in 1944 which established the postwar international monetary and financial system. i shall tell you only a

little more about these fascinating characters, maybe you will then want to buy the book. alone among the big three, stalinll, roosevelt, and -- the prime minister would make the great travel to keep the allies together. i trying to produce misunderstandings by speaking directly with his american and russian allies. the prime minister's travel astonished his colleagues. wouldreless churchill meet roosevelt 11 times during the war. always in north america, except that casablanca, cairo, tehran, in yalta. courageousinister's and constant travel by air and , general the war zone douglas macarthur would write, " foreign and hostile lands may be

the duty of young pilots, but for a statesman burdened by the world's care, it is an act of inspiring gallantry and valor. one ofur would say no those who wears it deserves to where it more than churchill, when speaking of the british medal of honor. early 1941that by before pearl harbor, key american cabinet members did favor u.s. entry into the war against hitler's, including the navy secretary and the secretary of war. presidentahead of the , and ahead of public opinion. consummate master of both of those, but there were distractions which made him very

cautious, despite his landslide victory in november 1940, the president would always remember his campaign pledge to american mothers not to send their sons to war again. trulyheless, roosevelt raised the temperature of american belligerence in 1940 and1941 with fdr's approval began actively planning for war, even in late 1940. that is one year before pearl harbor. it was then that the admiral onduced the famous dog memo war strategy on a global aces. it led to the war planning conference of early 1941 in washington. there the conference would confirm a germany first strategy in the event of war.

this was almost one year before the japanese attack at pearl harbor. with the benefit of hindsight, a for historians, we are now able to see that the first week of december 1941 was an early turning point of world war ii. it was at the beginning of december 1941 that the german invasion forces were turned back at the gates of moscow by a insian counterattack 30peratures that reached 22 degrees below zero. then the japanese attacked pearl harbor, uniting the former isolationist america behind a congressional declaration of war. , as heinister churchill

wrote in his memoirs, would go to bed and sleep the sleep of the saved. thater, it must be said all the members of the grand alliance, britain, russia, and the united states had been unready for world war ii despite transparent warnings and obvious threats. the british and the french since -- at war since september of 39, had been unready for the german blitzkrieg of may 1940. despite authentic warnings, stalin had been caught unprepared for the german invasion of june 1941, not least because russia had been germany's former ally in a --ical fascist commonness communist partnership created in

the hitler's solid impact of august 1939. even the u.s. government was not fully prepared or war with japan , a war that fdr did expect. in thewould change balance wheel of the alliance as the years went by. late 1943 that churchill and roosevelt honeymooning would deteriorate along with the help of oatman. there were sincere policy differences as well, confirming the rule that statecraft and nations have no permanent friends, only vital interests. the clash of strong personalities could also divide the anglo-american leaders long before victory was assured. for example, the army chief of staff never really forgave

churchill for convincing roosevelt during the summer of 1942 to delay marshals thoughtful but premature strategic plan for a cross channel invasion of europe. this he proposed for the autumn of 1942 even though america had entered the war only in december of 1941. instead, the prime minister persuaded fdr to invade north africa, namely the amphibious , ofr -- operation torch which eisenhower would become the supreme commander, this assignment being the general's launching pad to the supreme commander and overlord on d-day. this remarkable cross channel invasion of normandy finally got underway on june 6, 1944.

that was two years after marshall had made plans for it. road to allied victory, there are plenty of grievous this judgment. for example in the 1930's as an early advocate of british air force expansion, churchill would airplane cannot sink a battleship because the armor is too thick." air menace, "the against properly armed and protected ships of war will not be of decisive character." tell that to the japanese navy in 1942. devastating era tax on the british navy with shock churchill. in the spring of 1941, stalin

refuse to believe sources that a german invasion of russia was imminent. that was despite the obvious fact that hidden or had germaned 3 million soldiers near the border for the invasion. hearty myopia would cause disaster and death to strike millions of the russian people gratuitously. all, athe best one of u.s. admiral and chief of staff to fdr and chairman of the joint say, the staff would atomic bomb will never go off, and i think -- i speak as an expert on explosives. the ironies of the war.

character and the statecraft of the supreme allied commander of the d-day invasion, general eisenhower, cannot be underestimated. un-american -- an american general can manage american officers and british commanders. inspire.ey ability to overcomingikability insurmountable allied challenges. the british admiral wrote, "from the very beginning eisenhower said anglo american unity and friendship as a primary purpose. staffs work closely integrated. it was not long before the british and americans ceased to

look at each other like warring tomcats and came to discover that nationals of both countries had brains, ideas, and drive." thus it is fitting that we now listen to general eisenhower's major tribute to the anglo-american victory given the hall in london on june 12, 1945. i quote the general, "no one could alone have brought about this result. had i possessed the military skill of a marble, the will -- wisdom of solomon, the understanding of lincoln, i would been helpless without the loyalty, the vision, the oferosity of thousands british and americans. some of them were my companions

in my command. enlisted men and junior officers that carried the fears brunt of the battle in the field. many others were back to the the --states and here in great britain. national war great leaders." civil and military staff supported us through every trial, every test. the whole was one great team. thank you very much. [applause]

the first question is why did the british populace turn against churchill after the war? he was beaten by man who one an 8% popular majority margin, a decisive defeat of churchill. voter in 1945 begins really in the 1930's in the early 1940's. the british people have been andverished by world war i the depression of the 1930's. had result, socialism become a powerful force in

britain. , communism was a strong force in britain. there is a great deal of sympathy for the soviets. churchill and roosevelt were very much aware of this in britain at the time. the soviet union is sought to be in some places, not least the universities, to be the wave of the future. in britain, a plan was concocted by the labour party for what they called a new jerusalem. this new jerusalem was to provide every british family a proper home, proper food, proper health, proper security. of course, a worthy job. this program was something that churchill himself could not

endorse. in fact, he hated communism from its very inception. he opposed the beaujolais -- bolshevik revolution. , though he was not a conservative in the classical sense of it, he would not accept the socializing of england. campaign he referred to the possibility that the socialists united kingdom would have a gestapo like a fact. that word alone probably lost in a large percentage of the margin of victory. electorateritish the hope for the

future, the new jerusalem -- a form of socialism, and churchill who resisted. even the soldiers voted against churchill. britain was ready for a completely new social regime. persistedd, this until margaret thatcher. domestically, why was the socialistic instruction of roosevelt's new deal ever allowed to happen with his republican constituents in the hudson valley? and were there reverberations into the 1950's? , i might get to

that in another book. it is a very good question. it this is to answer say that i was born and raised in central pennsylvania, republican territory. my father and my grandfather were lincoln republicans. a both voted for roosevelt. you describe the relationship between churchill and joseph kennedy? you must buy my book. fdr and kennedy? we probably know, was very ambitious politically.

he planned on running for the presidency, but decided to wait for jack and joe. he was the leading democrat politician in massachusetts. to high office, specially secretary of the treasury. roosevelt was reluctant to appoint him. in 1938 after being head of the he accepted employment and wanted it as ambassador to the court of st. james in england. ruined theh kennedy reputation he had been building all of his life and business. usedntinually in public -- word after 1940

1939-1940, that britain was finished. it was not that he was sympathetic to hitler's, he just believed that hitler's was going to prevail and dominate the continent. that was the policy he wanted to pursue. accommodation with hibbler on the continent. churchill would have none of this. therefore, his relationship with churchill was never hostile in the active political sense. churchill was a diplomat, even the joe kennedy was not. relationshipas a which existed. fdr, he knew how ambitious joseph kennedy was. towarded to condescend joseph kennedy.

kennedy never really liked roosevelt. likedelt never really kennedy. andver, politicians politics make strange bedfellows. kennedy was very important in the election of roosevelt. investlots of money to and lots of constituents which would support him. in sum, one has to say that his relationship with churchill was very strange, to the point of breaking at times. his relationship with fdr restrained to the breaking point -- was strange to the breaking point as well. to read the story about how roosevelt got rid of kennedy shows how daft a politician -- deft a politician roosevelt was.

was out of the court of st. james by the beginning of 1941. roosevelt was happy to be rid of him. here is another book length question. what can our current leaders learn from the examples of fdr and churchill? the case of fdr, certainly personal courage. his triumph over polio was astonishing. in the majorership that you is an example don't have to be full-time on the job to make important strategic decisions which work out.

churchill, there is no more heroic example of a war of national survival thing presided over by a prime minister who would never give in. one of his great speeches was never give in. together,d glory go churchill gets most of the glory because he had most of the guts. this question is a good one. , primes about trump minister may, and putin. there is enough controversy in world war ii --

[applause] i hope you will forgive me for passing it. this is a complicated question. do you think churchill and roosevelt should be held accountable for their knowledge of concentration camps and rampant jewish oppression and their failure to do anything about it? to contest the implication of the question. ity did not do nothing about . most of you might remember from history books and high school or 1924ge when of the acts of

which limited immigration very ,trictly in all of america especially in the countries of western europe and eastern europe. decided to combine the quotas that were spelled out in the act for austria and germany and permit only jewish refugees to take those places. that was a small fraction of the jews in germany, not to mention eastern europe, but he did what the law permitted him to do. there is of course the question about the ship st. louis which was turned back with jewish refugees. and is a very sad tale hard to explain other than to

say that there was in the state department and assistant , it isry of state transparently the case, it is a matter of fact that he was not sympathetic to the jewish refugee problem even though there was a limited amount that franklin roosevelt was able to do. , ithe case of churchill thed have to call churchill opposite of an anti-semi. he always endorsed the declaration which the british foreign minister had espoused for a jewish homeland in palestine. was always in the right place for the right time for the jewish homeland. , it is claimed

that there was an uphill -- uphill to bomb the rail lines near auschwitz. there was a sincere and serious debate over whether or not the rail lines into auschwitz could be accurately bombed. being dropped by airplanes over germany were quite inaccurate. just to give you an example, 47% britishilots who flew and american air force missions over germany did not return. killed by bombs going off in their own aircraft. young joee way

kennedy, the son of the ambassador died. they referred to the war as aerial bombing. as the war went on, the bombing got more accurate. the aerial bombing was just opening up the bottom of the airplane and jumping the bombs out on cities and incinerating whole cities like dresden so the argument that we could have successfully -- or the anglos american alliance could have successfully bombed the rail lines into auschwitz is a debatable question at best. conclude that churchill and roosevelt should not be held responsible. it was manifestly the work of hibbler, the nazi party, and their allies in eastern europe.

i deal with this one in my book as well. forgive me. eisenhowershall and invasionross channel was militarily possible? it was primarily general marshall whose plan it was. eisenhower was director of plans, he did what marshall told him to do. it is true that eisenhower had a very positive attitude towards the plan. this was his very own plan that he delivered to general marshall. confidence in the american military. you won't forget that in world war i, the arrival of one million american troops in the spring and fall of 1917 in europe turned the balance of the

war. the americans, although suffering major casualties, acquitted themselves brilliantly. the american army was very confident that they could bring together the same kind of intervention or force and cross the channel. it was churchill who believe that it was possible, but that it was premature. was collectntervention strategy all the american soldiers in great britain, primarily in england, to train them for two years and then to attempt to cross channel invasion, not to mention that in 1942 we didn't even have a landing craft.

we didn't have the landing craft to lend the troops on the normandy beaches arrive or in france they decided to land them. it was one of those aggressive marshallons of general to get american troops into action in france. you will remember that general marshall was the adjutant for general pershing in the american expeditionary force in 1917. , and he wanted to acquitted the american army as quickly as possible. and then fdr support of churchill who decided to delay the cross channel invasion. for june 6,ions 1944 when on daily.

of course it was a success, but there is no guarantee of success. anyone who read the story of the weather and the crossing on june 6 which was very doubtful knows how likely failure could have resulted. do i believe that stalin and negotiated fdr at yalta? i have a full chapter in my book on yalta. say thatt is fair to stalin did get the best deal at yalta. -- he negotiate roosevelt out negotiate roosevelt?

fulfillhe obligation to woodrow wilson's league of nations. the second was to get russia into the war against japan. wasmber, more in europe over may 10. the war in japan was not over until we dropped the atomic bomb. i know that date because it is august 15, 1945. so that roosevelt did not know that they were going to drop the atomic bomb. he might have come if you lived, might have given the order. he did not know then. getting russia into the war was important to him in order to lives as many american possible. with the benefit of hindsight,

we can all say that stalin got the best deal at yalta, but it doesn't take into account all the considerations which president roosevelt had in mind at yalta at that time. couple of other wonderful questions. forgive me for not answering. thank you very much. [applause] you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation like us on facebook at c-span history. james talked about the classified u.s. army special forces detachments that were stationed in berlin, germany for over 30 years. he is the author of "special forces: berlin. clandestine cold war operations