2. Churchill’s map room infuriated Eleanor Roosevelt, but pleased her husband
In London, Churchill had spent much of his time in his map room, where all the theaters of war were displayed, with military units marked by pins. Others depicted the Atlantic Ocean, the pins signifying convoys, military ships, and known sightings of U-boats. It was such a system that allowed him to follow the day-to-day changes of the war. His staff brought several of his maps with them, allowing him to set up a similar arrangement in the White House. Roosevelt, long a lover of maps himself, was enthralled. The two leaders spent hours in the map room, poring over the progress of convoys, planned campaigns, and the movement of enemy troops. Even the Russian Front was closely studied. Neither man yet possessed the large armies they created on the maps, but they were coming.
Roosevelt was so impressed with the map room that after Churchill departed, he created his own. Eleanor Roosevelt was less impressed. For one thing, she had not been informed that Churchill was coming to the White House until just before his arrival. Following that failure of husbandly duty, Franklin gave Roosevelt carte blanche to do in the White House what he pleased. He was pleased to take over one of Eleanor’s favorite rooms. He also made it a habit to keep Franklin in the map room deep into the night, both men enjoying cigars and whiskey as they studied the maps and plotted the war. Eleanor disapproved of the Prime Minister’s prodigious intake of alcohol and noted with displeasure her husband’s increase of consumption, as well as his decrease of sleep. Churchill simply went about his business, ignored the tutting, and acted as if he were home in London.