Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

2.
Foreign Relations
in an Election Year
U.S.-British Cooperation
On May 10, 1940, Winston Churchill became prime minister
of England. He wrote Roosevelt on May 15: “Although I
have changed my offi ce, I am sure you would not wish me
to discontinue our intimate, private correspondence.” 1 Th e two
men continued to enjoy the close relationship begun shortly after
Britain and France went to the defense of Poland against Hitler
in September 1939. Also about this time, Roosevelt established
the fi rst “hot line” telephone in the White House, 2 enabling him,
president of an offi cially neutral nation, to communicate privately
with Churchill, head of government of a nation at war. Th e hot
line left no paper trail, no printed record, of their conversations.
1 Francis L. Loewenheim, Harold D. Langley, and Manfred Jonas, eds.,
Roosevelt and Churchill: Th eir Secret Wartime Correspondence (New York: E.P.
Dutton, 1975), p. 94.
2 Richard T. Loomis, “Th e White House Telephone and Crisis Management,”
U.S. Naval Proceedings, December 1969, p. 63.
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