20 May 2016

Roosevelt and Churchill reappraised by real experts

A fascinating programme by two respectable,
serious but appropriately iconoclastic (or at least icononeutral) historians on the subject of the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.

There are several new insights from the latest books the two have published on the subject. And I should add that one of the historians, Nigel Hamilton, wrote one of the best books ever about the US presidency: "American Caesars". He was also the official biographer of "Monty". The other guy seems to know what he is talking about too, but he is new to me as a historian. Together they give a thought-provoking account of the way the war was run at the highest level.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?319653-1/discussion-winston-churchill-franklin-roosevelt-wartime


Incidentally, you can see Nigel Hamilton talking about "American Caesars" at the link below. It includes a long description of the amazing story of Franklin Roosevelt's love affair with Lucy Mercer, with whom he found true companionship after discovering that his wife, Eleanor, was a lemon-faced puritan who was into "good causes", virtue and all the tedium of the of the world improver (unlike her husband who simply wanted to save it from Hitler).

http://www.c-span.org/video/?295715-1/book-discussion-american-caesars


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