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

by Erik Larson

Whitehall, Churchill was at Chequers, in a dispirited mood. He and Pug Ismay sat alone in the

Ismay often found himself in this role, serving as a quiet presence, ready to offer advice and opinions when asked, or to listen as

needed to portray Roosevelt as a warmonger and himself as an isolationist. Willkie assented with reluctance

going to be sent into any foreign wars.”

alliance between England, America, and Russia would create, Hitler said, “a very difficult

war against Russia seemed easy, the kind of campaign at which his forces had

All the light we cannot see

“Frenchmen!” he declaimed. “Rearm your spirits before it is too late.”

Then Churchill stood up; his eyes were full of tears.” Churchill said, “We have made history tonight.”

German public appeared to be listening to the BBC “on an increasing scale.” He

The Prof saw the development of electronic countermeasures to jam and bend the beams as vital to England’s defense, and

Soon, however, his wireless operator began picking up strong signals from the Luftwaffe’s standard radio beacon at St. Malo, on

All the light we cannot see

What he had believed to be the St. Malo guide point was in fact an RAF masking beacon

Moonlight Sonata. The

moon was full, and

Moonlight Sonata

three parts,

Weather and the phases of the moon--nature, not man

Ditchley, Churchill’s full-moon house.

Growing impatient, he climbed to the roof of the nearby Air Ministry building to watch for the attack, bringing

OVENTRY entered its blackout period; the moon was

huge, really horrible ‘bomber’s moon.’ ” At 7:05 P.M., an

through the night, for eleven hours, the bombers came, and incendiaries and

The cathedral

a ruin, with melted lead still dripping

40 and 50 percent were classified as “unidentifiable owing to mutilation.”

ALL, THE COVENTRY RAID killed 568 civilians and seriously wounded another 865. Of the 509 bombers ultimately

COLVILLE

his love life to

AMELA CHURCHILL, there was mounting anxiety about money.

darling Randy,” she wrote, “I wouldn’t worry if I didn’t love you so deeply & so desperately. Thank

Churchill to compose a long letter to President Roosevelt about the gravity of

Lend-Lease Act. Central to the proposal was

that it was in the best interests of the United States to provide Britain, or any ally, with all the aid it

needed, whether it could ...

Beaverbrook a “born schemer.” Beaverbrook’s

Would the rest of the country prove as tough if more cities experienced “coventration”? The attack on Coventry had shaken that city to the core, causing morale to falter.

What most disrupted their lives, however, was the blackout. It

Blinds must be kept down after dark” to “Blonds must be kept down after dark,” which was subsequently

And lice posed a serious problem. Although lice were to be expected—“war entails

sanitation conditions were abysmal.

crush Soviet Russia in a rapid campaign.

Goebbels also brooded about Christmas.

“blubbing and mourning”

Postal Censorship bureau, which read people’s mail and listened in on telephone conversations; managers of bookstalls owned by W. H.

family listened to the king’s “Royal Christmas Message,” an annual custom, broadcast over the radio since 1932. The

This was one of the happiest Christmases I can remember,” Mary wrote in her diary late that night, in the Prison Room. “Despite

The unofficial Christmas truce held. “Heilige Nacht in truth stille Nacht,” John Martin wrote—holy night, silent night—calling this “a relief and rather touching.”

pubs were all full of happy, drunken people singing ‘Tipperary’ and the latest Army song which goes ‘Cheer up my lads, fuck ’em all.’

Roosevelt pressed his case for aid to Britain in a “Fireside Chat,” the