6. Churchill was surprised at the plenty he found in Washington
Great Britain had endured two long years of war by the time Churchill traveled to Washington in 1941. With the war, and the U-boat sinkings in the Atlantic came privation in Britain, and strictly regulated rationing of nearly all consumer goods and foods. Sugar was rationed, as were milk and eggs in Great Britain. One day Churchill was having a late breakfast with the Roosevelts, and as was his custom, he requested something hot and something cold. He was served two eggs in their shells, soft-boiled. Turning to his hostess, Eleanor Roosevelt, he commented that two eggs was a rare luxury. In Britain, rationing limited eggs to one per person, per week. Although rationing began in America in 1942, it never reached the levels that it did in Britain. Churchill enjoyed the luxury of American eggs for the rest of his visit.
He also did not restrict his visit to Washington to the White House. He traveled to Ottawa to address the Canadian government in January, and traveled by train to Florida for a badly needed few days of rest. Roosevelt escorted him to George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, where the Prime Minister of Great Britain laid a wreath at the tomb of America’s Revolutionary leader. He and Roosevelt found they had much in common, a mutual love of ships, trains, stamp collecting, and tobacco, though Roosevelt preferred cigarettes to Churchill’s cigars. The two leaders genuinely liked each other and enjoyed each other’s company. Later in the war, during another visit, Roosevelt left the White House for Hyde Park. He left Churchill to use the Executive Mansion at his discretion. Thus, for a brief period, the British Government was led through the White House another British government had once burned.