Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 912

people to sing hymns, for instance. It seemed just nonsense to Churchill to sing hymns in Argentia on Sunday morning. I know from what Harry said to me later, and from the piecing of the thing together, and from the way Roosevelt described it, that somebody smoothed the way. It's not Winston Churchill's habit to sing hymns. He respects his Almighty as much as anybody else, but it's not his habit to raise his voice on Sunday morning in church to “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow.” That picture of Churchill at Argentia with his spectacles on, looking over the top of them, with his hymn book in his hands, his mouth open and head down, looking all around to see if all the others are singing, is delightful. Roosevelt is standing there with his head up high, his mouth wide open, singing lustily, “Oh God Our Help in Ages Past,” or something of that nature. It is a contrast in the habits of the two men and their general emotional reaction.

So I'm sure that both Harry Hopkins and Eden contributed to that graceful rapproachement between them.

So when Roosevelt came back he was obviously full of admiration for Churchill. He had liked him. I think he almost said that out of his contact with Churchill he had gained a greater confidence than ever in the British people and in their ability to fight this war. You talked with Churchill and you understood the stubborn fight they were





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help