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Buy the Book
Christmas with Churchill and FDR
A surprise Christmas visit to Washington in 1941.
Popular historian David McCullough has penned a delightful new, little holiday season book about Winston Churchill’s surprise Christmas 1941 visit to Washington, D.C. In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story focuses particularly on the British premier’s first hearing of the hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” sung at a Christmas service to which FDR took him. The carol partly echoed some words in Churchill’s first radio broadcast to the American people, referring to the “English-speaking world” at Christmas as a “brightly-lighted island of happiness and peace.”
Churchill had steamed the Nazi submarine–infested Atlantic to appear in Washington, D.C. on December 22, just two weeks after Pearl Harbor had made Britain and America war-time allies. FDR and Churchill had previously met on naval ships off Newfoundland to draft the Atlantic Charter earlier that year and had regularly talked on the phone during Britain’s lonely resistance to Nazi Germany, plus extensively corresponding. Though Churchill was politically right of center and FDR left of center, they were kindred spirits as champions of Anglo-Saxon democracy against the totalitarian Axis powers. They were also both Anglicans from genteel backgrounds and families of political note, both had served in administrative governance of their respective navies, and both were master communicators, with special appreciation for the literature of Anglo-American civilization.
In what was surely a record for a visiting head of government, Churchill stayed at the White House for much of three weeks, strategizing, smoking, and drinking late with FDR, bending the President to his own night owl habits. Churchill was a demanding house guest and predictably annoyed a prim Eleanor Roosevelt, who thought the loquacious British imperialist a sometimes less than ideal influence on her husband, both in politics and personal habits. Beyond Eleanor, Churchill’s visit was a public relations smash. FDR had him stand on a chair in his crowded office so all the White House press could see the premier. Churchill joined FDR on the White House balcony on Christmas Eve to help light the National Christmas Tree. He later magisterially addressed a joint session of Congress, which thrilled to his recitation of Britain’s defiance of Hitler during the Blitz. Churchill accompanied FDR to a wreath laying at Mt. Vernon, honoring the American Founding Father who had defeated the British monarchy in a war for independence. And Churchill accompanied FDR twice to church, once on Christmas, and once on New Year’s Day.
FDR was more of a faithful churchman than Churchill, who reputedly had likened himself to a “flying buttress” who supported the church from the “outside.” But both were reared in a similar Anglican faith, accustomed to the Book of Common Prayer, and to the great old Anglo and American hymns. Both appreciated the majesty and symbolism of public worship, especially in war time, in vivid contrast to the pagan Fascism of their enemies. At their August 1941 meeting in the North Atlantic, Churchill had organized worship aboard HMS Prince of Wales and had selected “grand hymns” for the “church parade”: “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” and “Eternal Father Strong to Save.” Churchill wept and later remembered it as a “great hour to live.” FDR recalled to his son that singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” had “cemented us.” Whatever the level of his personal faith, Churchill portrayed the world struggle as “Christian civilization” against Nazi darkness.
Now the host four months later and himself a sublime practitioner of civil religion, FDR carefully chose where he and his British visitor would worship. During the Christmas Eve tree lighting on the White House south lawn, the Marine Band had performed “Joy to the World” and the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “The Messiah.” On Christmas Day, FDR took Churchill to Foundry Methodist Church, about a mile north of the White House. “I like to sing hymns with the Methodys,” FDR has once chirpily explained of his sometime attendance at Foundry, despite his being Episcopalian. Various dignitaries joined them, including Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall and Vice President Henry Wallace. The minister prayed for “those who are dying on land and sea this Christmas morning.” Churchill later remembered of the service: “Certainly there was much to fortify the faith of all who believe in the moral governance of the universe.” Surprisingly, it was the first time Churchill ever heard “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” written 75 years earlier by a Philadelphia pastor while visiting the Holy Land during Christmas. Memorably, the hymn declares: “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” According to McCullough’s book, both FDR and Churchill typically “sang lustily, if not exactly in tune.”
A week later, on New Year’s Day, FDR took Churchill to Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, where George Washington and Robert E. Lee regularly worshiped. There Churchill again shed tears when he heard for the first time another song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which he later instructed be played at his funeral, in 1965. Strangely, McCullough’s book, though named after “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” never mentions it was sung at Foundry Methodist. Instead, the book includes a photo of Churchill and FDR departing Christ Episcopal Church, without explaining they were there a week after Christmas.
Compensating for that oversight, McCullough’s book includes a DVD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Christmas music, with McCullough narrating. Fewer than 40 pages, In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story offers a pleasing remembrance of a very dark moment in the world, when the light of Christmas was especially needed.
About the Author
Mark Tooley is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C. and author of Methodism and Politics in the Twentieth Century. You can follow him on Twitter @markdtooley.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (55) | Leave a comment
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Kelly Staples| 12.1.10 @ 7:20AM
"Symbolism of public worship. . ." Exactly. This holiday season, give yourself the gift of reason. Please evolve.
NavyBrat | 12.1.10 @ 7:54AM
Evolve to what, pray tell? Here's an idea. You do what works for you, & leave the rest of the country alone. Don't drag us down into your empty existence. That sounds like YOUR problem.
Paul D| 12.1.10 @ 7:59AM
Kelly,
Get a grip. This inspiring tale is obviously lost on you.
BTW, I don't believe in evolution, but am a firm believer in devolution, of which liberals are mankind's finest example.
JmsA| 12.1.10 @ 2:10PM
Nicely put, Paul D.
Stormzeye| 12.1.10 @ 9:07AM
Hi Kelly,
Welcome to AmSpec where even liberal/progressives are welcome to comment. One bit of advice though: When commenting please use your "gift of reason", of which you seem to be so proud. So many of your ilk tend to use condecension and vitriol in the place of logic and analysis. I can see from your last sentence that you are a sly user of such techniques. If you wish to really make a point and engage in meaningful commentary with our group of thinkers it may be best to abandon these snarky attempts at argument and use real logic next time.
Looking forward to hearing more from you,
S.
kingsmill| 12.1.10 @ 1:08PM
KS,
what exactly have you "evolved into" besides a promoter of slogans and consensus opinion?
SPaquet| 12.1.10 @ 3:44PM
MOVEON.ORG already. Your lack of logic is futile here.
Christopher Holland| 12.1.10 @ 7:59PM
Faith has nothing to do with reason, it goes beyond reason. Trying to replace faith with reason is a fundamental mistake often made by athiests and agnostics. They simply do not understand what faith is about.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 8:42PM
Churchill was a good man, who was a good politician. A rare breed.
FDR was a very unscrupulous person ("he would throw Eleanor off a bridge if he had to, to be re-elected"), but a good president. Truman saw right through FDR, but what could he say?:
"I will do my best as vice president, even though FDR is a scumbag"?
After Truman became president a few months later, there was no point in settling scores; the history books would reveal the facts.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 9:59PM
BTW, your commercialized religiosity is uninteresting, IMO.
There are no Christmas lights, bulbs, or strings of tinsel in the house of God...
and no red white and blue bunting either; God is npo respecter of nations.
PsychoDad| 12.1.10 @ 10:50PM
It is precisely my reason which leads me to the conclusion of God's existence. Try Chesterton and Lewis this season, and see where unprejudiced reason leads you.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 11:12PM
"Chesterton and Lewis"
Matthew Mark, Luke and John will do. Keep your Chesterton and Lewis. I do not trust the Right in America at all anymore.
Preach to your grandkids concerning Chesterton and Lewis.
Gretchen| 12.2.10 @ 3:03PM
Uhn Mr. Brooks, Chesterton and Lewis were British, and there is nothing preachy, at least about "The Chronicles of Narnia," which, nonetheless, contain some profoundly Christian subtexts. Aslan, the great Lion, is a Christlike figure who sacrifices himself for Edmund, one of the human children who magically come to Narnia. (By the way, I believe "Aslan" means "Lord" in Arabic.)
I haven't read much Chesterton, so I won't comment.
Merry Christmas!
Phil Ferguson, O.P.L.| 12.2.10 @ 5:07PM
Dear Alan Brooks
Both Chesterton & Lewis were Brits. And excellent countermeasures to Macy's and other thugs of cC - commercialized Christmas.
Merry Christman,
Yours in the Christ Child,
Phil Ferguson
Cromulent| 12.2.10 @ 9:37AM
So Kelly, would you prefer we evolve to Hitler's paganism?
Richie Meade| 12.2.10 @ 2:40PM
Happy Festivus, sad soul.
Ken| 12.1.10 @ 9:00AM
Those who oppose Christianit faith to "reason" understand neither.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 10:00PM
some don't like YOUR Christianit.
chris haynes| 12.1.10 @ 9:25AM
Wonderful article about the two agnostics who provoked the Pacific War to get Isolationist America into the European War, who gave us the Morgenthau Plan and Operation Keelhaul, and who helped that "Great and Good Man",Premier Satlin"" kill 3 million German civilains and rape Eastern Europe.
The bit about Little Town of Bethlehem is especially moving.
Paul D| 12.1.10 @ 9:57AM
Hopeless.
Jeannetta | 12.1.10 @ 9:20PM
Agreed.
Ted R.| 12.1.10 @ 10:07AM
Chris,
This article is really only harmless nostalgia. Nobody's perfect, not even FDR; and in the big picture, no matter what faults you want to find with him and with Churchill, they were instrumental in saving the entire developed world from a nightmare. Don't let yourself play the role of foil to all the Cons on this site. Attacking men who resisted evil as best they could, simply because your political opponents lionize them, is mean-minded and mean-spirited. Truth is always more important than ideology.
Ammo Guy| 12.1.10 @ 4:24PM
Hear, hear! As Sir Winston once said, "when you are going thru hell, keep going."
RCV| 12.1.10 @ 1:31PM
Ah, yes. It would have been far better to let German tanks roll across Europe, rounding up Jews, Gypsys, Gays and political dissidents along the way, to their death in camps. And at the same time, to let the Japanese militarists rape and pillage their way through China and southeast Asia, on their way to Australia. We could have sat back and let that happen, until no one was left to fight with us when it was our turn. Smart.
Joseph | 12.2.10 @ 2:42PM
No RCV... It would have been preferrable to have turned Patton loose (especially in Sep 1944) then again in Jan 1945. The Nazis and the Stalinist were equal in horror.
RCV| 12.2.10 @ 5:35PM
I see. So we should just have suddenly turned and attacked our wartime allies? Brilliant idea. The war against Japan was raging in full, but we should have begun a new one against Stalin's millions in arms. That would have been a big hit among the GIs in Europe, including my father.
JmsA| 12.1.10 @ 2:23PM
Med alert!
JmsA| 12.1.10 @ 2:30PM
My previous comment was directed at C Haynes.
RCV| 12.1.10 @ 2:47PM
whew!
skip| 12.1.10 @ 3:23PM
whoa!
R(eally, did I just read a)
C(omment that was not)
V(irulent or vacuous by RCV, really?)
Christopher Holland| 12.1.10 @ 8:06PM
The claim that Churchill and Roosevelt provoked the Pacific War to get America into the war in Europe is sheer nonsense. The Japanese did not need provoking, they went down this road all by themselves. And following Pearl Harbor, the Congress declared war on Japan, not on Germany. Fortunately for the world, Hitler made the biggest blunder in history and declared war on the US 2 days later - he burnt his bridges for all time. You can not blame Roosevelt or Churchill for any of this.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 10:04PM
Tell that to Herr Pat Buchanan, who thinks we ought to have let hitler do his eugenics program undisturbed.
PsychoDad| 12.1.10 @ 10:56PM
Ha ha what a pathetic troll. I think it was actually a couple guys named Tojo and Hirohito that started the Pacific war, but don't let history get in the way of your ranting. I will agree that FDR was less than judicious in his handling of Stalin (I assume that is who you mean by "Satlin", you illiterate buffoon), and that while Wilson (D) who led us into WW1 at least offered the pretence of making the world safe for democracy, FDR (D) and Truman (D) ended up making the world safe for Communism.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 11:24PM
And your people made the world safe for Tojo and Hitler.
BTW, do you think your white kids don't go poo poo and pee pee?
MikeD| 12.2.10 @ 6:59PM
Mr. Brooks,
I have occasionally almost agreed with you, but your post above proves that you are not only stupid, but a racist pig as well. I try SO hard not to call names, but you really do try intelligent people's patience. Crawl back under your rock. You evidently know almost nothing of history. You are truly offensive, and, if a Conservative had written what you did, you libs would be foaming at the mouth. I can only assume you are a racist who hates white people.
D. Singh| 12.1.10 @ 10:31AM
Sir
That night, Christmas Eve 1941 on the balcony of the White House: "This is a strange Christmas Eve," Churchill told the crowd of 20,000. "Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle. ... Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us."
Ammo Guy| 12.1.10 @ 12:48PM
Just out of curiosity, when was the last time anyone heard "Onward Christian Soldiers" being performed in any sort of public venue?
Jeannetta | 12.1.10 @ 9:21PM
We sing it at our church occasionally FWIW :D
Wlady Pleszczynski| 12.2.10 @ 3:51PM
At the end of the 1942 movie "Mrs. Miniver," when it ran last month on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel.
Christopher Holland| 12.1.10 @ 4:27PM
This was the visit when Churchill made the 'some chicken, some neck' speech to the Canadian Parliament - a great example of wartime defiance and courage. The famous portrait of Churchill glaring at the camera also was taken at this time. When he was in the White House there was also a famous incident when Roosevelt walked in on Churchill while he was getting dressed - Roosevelt apologized and backed out of the room, but Churchill told him 'the Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the President of the United States'. Roosevelt thought it was very funny and the story is often told - a wonderful example of Churchill's wit.
The visit was memorable in a lot of ways.
tom baty| 12.1.10 @ 5:59PM
"Christian Civilization" oh dear, now that should get some liberal panties all in a knot.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 10:07PM
Genuine civilization does not exist-- life is fairly barbaric.
PsychoDad| 12.1.10 @ 11:00PM
Words from a genuine ivory tower egghead. Go abroad and live a few months where water rarely comes out of a tap the doctor makes rounds once a month in a Land Rover or a canoe. Then you might get a bit more of an appreciation for what Western/White/Christian civilization really is.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 11:15PM
"Words from a genuine ivory tower egghead. Go abroad and live a few months where water rarely comes out of a tap the doctor makes rounds once a month in a Land Rover or a canoe."
That's what I meant, numbnuts. Until the above changes, wars will continue; thus no real civilization exists-- not for many decades...
unless you think Jesus will return?
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 11:17PM
..you ARE a psychodad, btw.
Appropriate handle.
Christopher Holland| 12.1.10 @ 8:10PM
Why not replace the Congress? That is what elections do and it seems to work pretty well, most of the time. When a politician says 'the voters have spoken - the bastards!' it probably means that something good has happened.
Howard| 12.1.10 @ 8:12PM
A great article. In those dark days, faith was imperative; and it still is!
Jeannetta | 12.1.10 @ 9:22PM
Amen!
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 10:05PM
und Sieg Heil, Pat Buchanan!
PsychoDad| 12.1.10 @ 11:01PM
Do you have to practice being such an@$$hole, or does it come natural?
Alan Brooks| 12.1.10 @ 11:20PM
... much as one loathes to answer a blogger calling himself PsychoDad, what do you like about the old simian, Buchanan?
He looks like a swine, and talks like one.
Sieg Heil to you, PsychoFather.
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