The men behind the British-American alliance in WWII

Cover image of "Citizens of London," a book about the British-American alliance in WWII

Most accounts of the British-American alliance in World War II dwell on the closeness between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. But a more fine-toothed inspection of history reveals that others played equally significant roles in making the relationship work. And historian Lynne Olsen has dug into contemporaneous accounts, dredging up eye-opening facts about three prominent Americans whose wartime careers were pivotal in forging and sustaining the bond. US Ambassador John Gilbert Winant. Lend-Lease administrator W. Averell Harriman. And CBS radio broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. In Citizens of London, she follows these three remarkable men throughout the war, tracing the many ways they eased (or sometimes complicated) the relationship between the two powerful Western Allies. Her account is at times jaw-dropping. If a work of history can be a page-turner, Citizens of London fits the bill.

Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson (2010) 599 pages ★★★★★

Image of Londoners sheltering in the Tube during the Blitz — *During World War II, upwards of 150,000 people sought shelter in London’s Tube stations each night. Image:* JSTOR Daily via Wikipedia

Three men play starring roles

In Citizens of London, Lynne Olson spotlights the often heroic efforts of many Americans who spent much of the war in the British capital. The book is full of engaging stories about many of them. But she focuses on three prominent men who were most influential in forging and sustaining the British-American alliance.

Ed Murrow

Image of Edward R. Murrow, who played an important role in the British-American alliance — *Image: Wikipedia*

Edward R. Murrow (1908-65) needs no introduction to anyone in the United States over the age of sixty. He is widely regarded as the father of broadcast news in America, which he pioneered as a young man in London shortly before and during World War II. For decades, his distinctive deep voice was familiar to anyone who followed the news on the radio—and, later, on television. Today, he is best remembered for attacking Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare on his 1954 TV broadcast of See It Now. But for the oldest Americans—and for a generation of now-elderly Britons—it was Murrow’s eloquent and compelling live broadcasts on CBS Radio during World War II that most lingers in the mind. He is venerated among journalists for his honesty and integrity in delivering the news.

Averell Harriman

W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986) was often described as the fourth richest man in America. He was the son of Union Pacific Railroad tycoon E. H. Harriman, one of the original Robber Barons. But, after his early years, when he made a name for himself as a polo champion and an inveterate womanizer, Harriman gained an appetite for public service.

FDR spurned his early requests for a key position, first in the New Deal and then in the war. But in 1941 the President enlisted him as his personal representative to the British government, operating officially as “Expediter” of Lend-Lease aid to Britain. Later, Roosevelt named him US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, where he served as the Cold War began. However, generations of Americans may know his name as one of the six “Wise Men” who framed American post-war diplomacy and guided the nation through the first two decades of the Cold War. (Others included Dean Acheson, George F. Kennan, and John J. McCloy.) He also served a term as Governor of New York in the 1950s.

Gil Winant

Today, John Gilbert Winant (1889-1947) is far less well remembered than Ed Murrow and Averell Harriman. But for decades beginning in the 1920s he was one of the leading figures in the American Establishment. Born to wealth and privilege, he gained fame throughout the country as the hard-working, three-term Governor of New Hampshire. A maverick Republican, he built his career on an intimate, even magical relationship with working people.

Winant was touted as the man to run against FDR in the 1936 Presidential election. But as a stout supporter of the New Deal, he jettisoned his political career by joining the Administration. On March 1, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt named him Ambassador to the Court of St. James, and he remained in that post until April 10, 1946. During those five years, Winant personified the bond between the United States and Great Britain. More than any other individual, he made the British-American alliance work. He gained a place in the hearts of the British people like that he had forged with his New Hampshire constituents. His death by suicide in 1947 was mourned as a tragedy throughout Britain.

The ups and downs of the British-American alliance

Olson’s story spotlights the experiences of these three men during the Blitz (September 1940 – May 1941) and the tumultuous years that followed. She argues that it was they, living and working in London, who made the special relationship work. At first, Churchill and Roosevelt got along poorly. They warmed to each other in part as a result of the shrewd advice both Winant and Harriman gave Churchill, with whom both men spent most weekends in the countryside. And the resentment and distrust melted away after Pearl Harbor. But the intimate connection celebrated in popular history books relates only to the first year and a half after the US entry into the European war (December 11, 1941). Soon, however, American troops were pouring onto the field, and the “arsenal of democracy” had begun churning out overwhelming numbers of airplanes, tanks, and ships. As a result, Roosevelt gained the upper hand.

The two leaders met at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 to discuss the next steps after the British-American triumph in North Africa. Olson notes, “Casablanca would mark the final time in the war that Britain would get its way over strategic objectives—or much of anything else.” More and more, Winston Churchill felt himself shunted to the sidelines. But Winant and Harriman, together with a handful of Britons, managed to bottle up Churchill’s rage and resentment. And Harriman and his patron, Presidential confidante Harry Hopkins, worked to tamper down Roosevelt’s impulsive and sometimes wrongheaded decisions. Together, those efforts ensured that the alliance didn’t fly out of control despite the increasing gap in power and influence between the two principals.

Dwight Eisenhower

But there was a fourth actor on the stage whose later, starring role overshadowed theirs for a time. General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) arrived in London early in 1944 to launch the Normandy Invasion. The decision to appoint “Ike” was FDR’s alone. Churchill and the British military establishment resented deferring to a man who had only attained the rank of colonel in 1941, “had never commanded an Army unit larger than a battalion and had never fought in a war” before the invasion of North Africa in November 1942. (For years, Eisenhower had served as aide to General Douglas MacArthur, who derisively referred to him “the best clerk I ever had.”)

Throughout the war, Churchill and the most senior British generals continued questioning and undermining Eisenhower. Chief of the Imperial General Staff Alan Brooke (1883-1963) and General (later Field Marshal) Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) were both outspoken in opposition to the American commander. And they set the tone for unrelenting bickering between the staff officers of the two nations. But Eisenhower “was one of America’s few generals who was not an Anglophobe.” Only his superlative diplomatic skills saved the day.

Romantic involvements

The British-American alliance took shape on an intimate level as well. It’s well known that General Eisenhower became involved with his Irish driver and later personal secretary, Kay Summersby. Some speculate they carried on an affair, although those who knew the general rejected the claim. However, the other three stars of this story all became involved with British women—and both were members of Winston Churchill’s family.

Gil Winant fell deeply in love with the Prime Minister’s oldest daughter, the actress Sarah Churchill (1914-82). And Ed Murrow carried on an affair with Churchill’s daughter-in-law, Pamela Churchill (1920-97), the wife of the Prime Minister’s son, Randolph. (Randolph was “a blustering bully whose drinking, gambling, and womanizing were a constant source of embarrassment for his parents.”) But Murrow’s involvement with Pamela followed Averell Harriman’s passionate, two-year affair with her; although the two went their separate ways when he left to take up his post as US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, they met again in the United States decades later and married when Harriman was seventy-nine years of age and Pamela was fifty-one.