Skip to main content

Christmas Visitor

April 2023
1min read

Bringing light in a dark season

It was Washington, D.C., December 1941. America had just been thrust into war by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Christmas was coming, and it was not certain whether the newly ordered blackout would be waived for the traditional lighting of the White House Christmas tree.

I was working at the U.S. Department of Labor, and when it was announced that the ceremony would go on, I rushed over to the White House to see it.

It was dusk, and the Christmas tree stood tall and black in front of the crowd. Finally the presidential party arrived. I strained my eyes trying to pick out the President. Suddenly the lights on the platform blazed out. Sitting in the center was President Roosevelt. He was greeted with cheers and applause. But who was that standing next to him? He looked familiar —but it surely couldn’t be. Yes, it was. Winston Churchill! Nobody knew he was in America. I realized he must have come immediately to confer with his new ally.

I no longer remember what either of them said that evening, but I’ll never forget being in the presence of the two greatest leaders of our time.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stories published from "November/December 2005"

Authored by: The Editors

Forty years ago a pair of college students conjured up the earliest form of computer dating

Authored by: Hugh Rawson

“Filibuster”

Authored by: The Editors

Cowboy Buckles

Authored by: The Editors

We set the sixteenth President straight

Authored by: The Editors

Zorro

Authored by: The Editors

One of the Renaissance master’s best designs is in Grand Rapids

Authored by: The Editors

An audacious new book offers intimate glimpses of 2,500 years of strife

Authored by: The Editors

A recent volume gives the horrifying details

Authored by: Terry Golway

The people who stand ready to trade their lives for ours are part of a tradition that goes back 400 years

Authored by: Andrew Coe

Against this enemy, courage alone is not enough. From the beginning, firefighters have had to find ways to climb higher, shoot water farther, spot fires sooner. Here are some of the milestones in the history of fire-extinction technology.

Featured Articles

The world’s most prominent actress risked her career by standing up to one of Hollywood’s mega-studios, proving that behind the beauty was also a very savvy businesswoman. 

Rarely has the full story been told about how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Often thought to have been a weak president, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or the political fallout.

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.