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

In January 1941, the atypically cold winter in England complicates the lives of those already suffering from destruction of their homes. To increase imports of food and supplies, Churchill establishes an “Import Executive” and chooses Beaverbrook to run it. Beaverbrook refuses and also resigns once again as head of Aircraft Production. Churchill rejects Beaverbrook’s resignation, and the two men exchange a tense series of letters. Churchill is troubled to learn of two lapses in secrecy involving an American journalist reporting secret information about Vichy France and the publication of secret aircraft details in an American magazine. Meanwhile, the RAF is still unable to provide an exact tally of its production of planes, hampering the ability to compare British with German production. 

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.