Mr. Churchill in the White House

Winston Churchill’s frequent stays at the White House inform this illuminating account of America and Britain’s “Special Relationship” during the Second World War and the 1950s

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Scores of biographies have been written about Winston Churchill, yet none examine his frequent, sometimes furtive, trips to the White House, where he resided for weeks on end—the (often unclothed) visitor who “dropped out of the sky.” These extended visits during his two terms as prime minister were spirited, even entertaining, occasions. Yet, in retrospect, they take on a new level of diplomatic significance, demonstrating just how influential a foreign leader can become in shaping American foreign policy. Drawing on years of research, Robert Schmuhl not only contextualises the days Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower spent together, but also vividly portrays the individual characters, from Churchill himself—a devoted fisherman who never stopped “angling”—to a resentful Eleanor Roosevelt. Evoking an era far different from today, Mr. Churchill in the White House becomes an insightful work for our own fractious times.