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Editor’s note: This story was originally published on CNN, meanwhile, is in Americaan email about American politics for global readers.
Next year will bring new tensions to the transatlantic alliance, with Donald Trump returning to the White House.
The president-elect will certainly put more pressure on European countries to increase their spending on defense, and may use the threat of reducing US support for NATO as a means of pressure. Given the threat posed by Russia and growing global instability, he may be right.
Trump spoke again this week about his desire to end the war in Ukraine quickly, and is already talking about ending Russian President Vladimir Putin’s isolation from Western leaders by meeting with him at an early opportunity.
Meanwhile, European countries are vying for Trump’s favor and bracing for the coming storm. French President Emmanuel Macron lured Trump to Paris to reopen Notre Dame Cathedral. Britain has just appointed Lord Peter Mandelson, one of its most Machiavellian political officials of the past forty years, as its new ambassador to Washington. Germany is witnessing political unrest with new elections approaching. Trump prefers the company of leaders who share his populist nationalist doctrine, such as Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Viktor Orban in Hungary.
It has been decades since the idea of the “West” seemed so fragile. The foundations of the post-World War II world order were laid by President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II. Christmas Eve always brings back memories of Churchill’s important trip to Washington shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged the United States into World War II in December 1941.
We first presented this meeting on In the meantime On Christmas Day 2019. Here’s another chance to read about this pivotal holiday season that built a new world.
until Eleanor Roosevelt I didn’t know who was coming Christmas – although her husband’s order of fine champagne, brandy and whiskey may have been evidence of this.
It was December 1941. World War II had sapped the Christmas spirit, and the United States was in shock, just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had plunged it into the hell of war. Roosevelt was in no mood to have guests at the house, but Winston Churchill declined the invitation anyway. Soon the British Prime Minister was aboard HMS Duke of York, dodging submarines and sailing across the wintery Atlantic.
An airplane took his division from the Virginia coast to Washington, D.C., and the British, accustomed to blackouts from air raids in London, marveled at the lights of the city below, as they decorated to celebrate their first wartime Christmas.
The First Lady did not learn the identity of her guest until he was in the car on his way to the White House – with the veil of secrecy lifted with Churchill safe on American soil. What happened next was the most remarkable summit in the history of the White House. It came at a time when humanity was in crisis, with tyranny and fanaticism rife. It showed that leadership, by two giants equal to their moment in history, can make the world safe for freedom and democracy – no matter how dark the hour may be during the bleak days of a Christmas long gone.
Churchill was not an easy guest given his idiosyncrasies – afternoon naps, late-night brainstorming, and a habit of wandering around in various states of undress. He told Roosevelt’s butler that he needed a glass of sherry with breakfast, Scotch and soda for lunch, champagne in the evening, and a little 90-year-old brandy for a nightcap.
Years later, Eleanor Roosevelt expressed astonishment at Churchill’s cigar-puffing iron constitution. “Like all Englishmen,” she noted, “he was very fond of beef in any form.” Even Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious chef couldn’t scare the Brits as they devoured the fresh eggs and oranges that years of rationing had deprived them of at home.
There were larger differences as well. Roosevelt despised the British Empire, which Churchill adored. The American generals present found their visitors arrogant. British leaders, hardened after years of defeats, thought the American side was naive.
But two weeks together would finally form a bond and devise a blueprint for winning the war: Roosevelt and Churchill eventually signed on to a Europe-first strategy of defeating the Nazis before Imperial Japan and joint action in North Africa.
They will also agree on a UN declaration, which aims to spare future generations the horror of war and unite the West with institutions and a common transatlantic mission – a mission that may be in jeopardy again when Trump returns to the Oval Office.
On Christmas Eve, Churchill stood by as Roosevelt turned the switch to light the National Christmas Tree.
“How can we offer our gifts? How can we meet and worship with love and with spirit and heart lifted in a world at war, a world of fighting and suffering and death?” Roosevelt asked. Answering his own question, he urged Americans to use the holiday season to rally their ranks for the coming battle by “Arm our hearts.”
“And when we prepare our hearts for the work, the suffering, and the ultimate victory that awaits us, we celebrate Christmas Day — with all its memories and all its meaning — as we should.”
Churchill, whose mother was American and who traveled to the United States in his “wild years,” when he was out of power in the 1930s, said: “I spend this anniversary and this festival far from my country, far from my family. However, I cannot honestly say that I “I feel far from home.”
“I feel that unity and fraternal connection which, in addition to the kindness of your welcome, convinces me that I have the right to sit by your fireside and share with you the joys of Christmas.”
