The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

by Erik Larson

Stanley Baldwin, then deputy prime minister, gave the House of Commons a forecast of what was to come: “I think it is well for the man in the street to realize that there is no power on earth that can protect him from being bombed. Whatever people may tell him, the bomber will always get through.” The only effective defense lay in offense, he said, “which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves.”

pandemonium.”

When Britain declared war against Germany, on September 3, 1939, in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, the government prepared in earnest for the bombing and invasion that was sure to follow. The

code name for signaling that invasion was imminent or underway was “Cromwell.”

took down street signs and limited the sale of maps to people holding police-issued permits. Farmers left old cars and trucks in their fields as obstacles against gliders laden with soldiers. The government issued thirty-five million gas masks to civilians, who carried

French endurance was the cornerstone of British defensive strategy. That France might fall was beyond imagining. “The atmosphere is something more

In the rear of the first car sat Britain’s topmost naval official, the first lord

Winston S. Churchill, sixty-five years old. He had held the same post once before, during the previous war, and had been appointed anew by

King George was at this point forty-four years old and well into the fourth year of his reign. Knock-kneed, fish-lipped, with very large ears, and saddled with a significant stammer, he seemed fragile, especially in contrast with his visitor, who, though

talked about successors. “I, of course, suggested Halifax,” the king wrote. He considered Halifax “the obvious man.” But now Chamberlain surprised him: He recommended Churchill.

Churchill was elated. He had lived his entire life for this moment. That it had come at such a dark time did not matter. If

Coveting power for power’s sake was a “base” pursuit, he wrote, adding, “But power in a national crisis, when a man believes he knows what orders should be given, is a blessing.”

my past life had been but a preparation for

hatred of whistling,

spinning dogs’ hair into yarn for use in making clothing.

“Jock” Colville

OLVILLE’S DAY-AFTER SKEPTICISM WAS echoed throughout Whitehall.

Halifax—whose nickname for Churchill was “Pooh,”

Mass-Observation, an organization launched in Britain two years before the war that recruited hundreds of volunteers to keep daily diaries with the goal of helping sociologists better understand ordinary British life.

shall drag the United States

1935, of a series of laws, the Neutrality

new

consumption of alcohol,

main source of skepticism about Churchill, however, was America’s ambassador to Britain, Joseph Kennedy,

flamboyant, electric, and wholly unpredictable. One of Churchill’s

first acts was to appoint himself minister of defense,

now had full control of the war, and full responsibility.

new energy,

dictated to a typist, one of whom was always on hand, from the moment he awoke until he went to bed.

phrasing and grammar

It is slothful not to compress your thoughts,” he said. Such precise and demanding communication installed at all levels a

themselves meeting with Churchill while he was in his bathtub, one of his favorite places to work.

Major General Hastings Ismay, newly appointed military chief of staff, known lovingly, and universally, as “Pug” for

“Secret Circle.”

eyes, wrinkling nose, mouth and shape of his face produced a canine effect which was entirely delightful,”

“that bad man,”

have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Although later

He wanted material aid, and specifically asked Roosevelt

After much agonizing, and with an eye, as always, on history, Churchill promised the ten squadrons.

fresh calls for a peace arrangement with Hitler, the

Clementine, however, proved to be anything but a “sideboard.” Tall, lean, and displaying a “finished, flawless beauty,” as Bonham Carter conceded, she was strong-willed and independent,

She and Churchill kept separate bedrooms; sex happened only upon her explicit invitation.

The speech set a pattern that he would follow throughout the war, offering a sober appraisal of facts, tempered with reason for optimism. “It would be foolish to disguise the gravity of the hour,” he said. “It would be still more foolish to lose heart and courage.” He left out completely any reference to

Churchill’s apparent candor—at

encouraged others,

Churchill took two baths every day, his longtime habit, no matter where he was and regardless of the urgency of

complete absence of personal vanity.”

gown, a helmet, and slippers

with pom-poms.

whole problem is the air defence of this country.” If France fell, the report said, the task would be immeasurably more difficult.