Chapter 17 Summary

There is some evidence that Franklin got together with Lucy Mercer after he was President. She seems to have visited him a few times under an assumed name. His affair with Mercer in the 1920s almost broke up his marriage. On May 11, 1943, FDR agreed to pose for a portrait painted by an artist Lucy sent to the White House. She paid for and kept the painting.

On the same day, Churchill came to Washington just as the allied invasion of North Africa was successfully ending after a long struggle. The allied forces had won at Stalingrad, Guadalcanal, El Alamein, and Tunis. However, they still had the problem that most of Europe and South East Asia, which was under Axis control. President Roosevelt was against landing in Italy, as Churchill wanted a Sicily invasion. By May 25, the two leaders reached a compromise. Roosevelt would...