The Churchill Series – Aug. 18, 2008

(One of a series of weekday posts about the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Something out of the ordinary today.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, Churchill sent Roosevelt a message.

What follows are links to two documents housed in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library at Hyde Park, N. Y.

The first link is to a memorandum on official stationary prepared for Secretary of State Cordull Hull’s approval and initials. It’s addressed to FDR and suggests he consider the proposed accompanying draft response to Churchill’s message.

The second link is to the draft response on plain paper which FDR’s signature “Roosevelt” indicates he approved without change.

I thought you might find a look at the two documents interesting with their penciled routing notes interesting.

Tomorrow let’s go to Blenheim Palace. We’ll visit the very morning Winston proposes to Clementine.