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

At Downing Street and Ditchley, Churchill meets with American emissary Harry Hopkins, a close friend and aide of Roosevelt, who will come to play “a decisive part in the war” (346). Churchill assures the chronically ill and physically frail Hopkins of his good will toward America and Roosevelt and of his moral purpose in defeating Hitler, and he brings Hopkins up to speed on Britain’s needs in the war.

A German bomb strikes an underground subway station in London, killing 56 of the people sheltering there. In addition to maiming and destroying human lives, air raids also destroy crucial supplies of food. Hopkins prepares to travel with Churchill and other British officials to the British naval base at Scapa Flow off the northern coast of Scotland. 

Churchill, Clementine, Hopkins, other British officials, and the American observer General Lee embark by train to Scapa Flow despite Churchill’s bronchitis, which makes the onboard presence of his doctor necessary. The trip is fun and filled with high spirits, despite the bleak and snowy weather, which causes their train to halt just short of their destination. 

With the train stalled, the company decides to travel to Scapa Flow by car. Once there, Churchill causes momentary panic when he fires off a new anti-aircraft weapon for fun and the machine misfires, nearly striking the company nearby. General Lee, Halifax, and his wife depart for America, with Halifax to become the new ambassador.

On their way back to London, the Churchills and Hopkins stop in Glasgow, where they attend a dinner party. Hopkins rises to give a toast, and in “the most important moment of [his] stay in England” (363), he quotes a Bible passage assuring his hosts of the solidarity of the two countries in the war. Hopkins has endeared himself to the British people, and warm Anglo-American sentiments have been kindled. 

Hitler weighs his planned invasion of Russia against his need to neutralize Britain, either with a peace deal or with continued aerial bombardment. Thus, on February 6 he issues a directive ordering the air force and navy to intensify their attacks on England. The Nazi high command begins planning Operation Barbarossa, its invasion of Soviet Russia. 

On February 8, the same day Hopkins departs for America, Churchill gives a radio address in which he praises the resilience of the British people in the face of bombings, seeks the confidence of America, and warns of the strong possibility of all-out invasion of England in the spring. Beaverbrook orders his factories to step up production.

Passage of the Lend-Lease bill stalls in Congress. Meanwhile, bombing continues to hit Whitehall, perilously close to the heart of the British government. 

The Lend-Lease bill continues to stall while another American guest, the president of Harvard James Conant, assures Churchill of his support of American involvement in the war. The British rejoice in a successful raid of German supplies in Norway in which some Norwegian collaborators (nicknamed “Quislings”) are also captured.

Anxious to leave his job and join the war, Colville arranges to enlist in the RAF, even though doing so is likely to lead to death. Hitler seeks a closer collaboration with Japan to defeat England and keep America out of the war. 

On March 8, Mary has a chance to escape the confines of Chequers and attend an elaborate debutante ball in London, Queen Charlotte’s Dance, set in one the city’s most fashionable nightclubs. 

William Averell Harriman, the wealthy chairman of the Union Pacific railroad, becomes America’s newest emissary to Britain. Roosevelt sends him to London to “coordinate the delivery of American aid once the Lend-Lease Bill [is] finally passed” (379). Before leaving, he meets with Secretary of State Cordell Hull to discuss how the United States can counter the Japanese threat by having the Navy intervene in the Pacific. As emissary to London, Harriman faces the challenge of not knowing precisely what the British intend to do with the materials America sends. 

Mary enjoys herself at Queen Charlotte’s Dance. Meanwhile, at the underground Café de Paris in another part of London, another party with dancing and dining is going on. A German bomb hits the café and kills or maims dozens of people; among the dead is “Snakehips” Johnson, a popular dancer and bandleader. 

Still battling bronchitis, Churchill holds a party at Chequers at which he marches to military music and performs bayonet exercises with his rifle for fun. 

While making a tedious sea crossing to his commando mission, Randolph engages in reckless gambling, losing a huge sum of money. Pamela, to help start paying it back, moves to London and takes a job in the Ministry of Supply. She entrusts her children to a nanny in Beaverbrook’s country home and moves into a hotel suite in London with Churchill’s niece, Clarissa. 

Harriman arrives in London by way of Lisbon. He goes to Chequers for a conference with Churchill, presenting Clementine with a welcome gift of tangerines. Churchill stresses that “without America’s eventual participation, England [has] no hope of achieving a final victory” (399).

Harriman sets up his office in London near the US embassy and gives his first press conference, where his manner is deemed “too cagey” (402).

Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe bombs the regions around Liverpool and Glasgow, killing over a thousand people. Goebbels exults that “we are slowly choking England to death” (398). 

Harriman dines with the Churchills at Downing Street as an air raid envelops London, during which 500 Londoners die. The dinner party attendees climb up to the roof wearing helmets to watch the raid.

At Chequers, camouflage experts avert potential danger of the estate being recognized by Luftwaffe and take further efforts to reduce its visibility from the air. At country estates, romance is kindled between Mary and Eric, Lord Duncannon, and between Patricia and the unhappily married Harriman.