Not so many are left now who remember Christmas Eve eight decades ago. In Washington Roosevelt and Churchill lit the White House Christmas tree. It was not an ecumenical ceremony. It was overtly Christian, but no non-Christians were offended. Some of them, indeed, were present. It was a different age then, but moreover, sterner matters were afoot. The United States was at war. “Up to the neck and in to the death,” as Churchill would write later.

A chaplain spoke, and then Roosevelt. Those exaggerated speaking voices remind us that that the art of oratory is sometimes better today. You can watch the video by clicking here. Churchill’s remarks were the briefest, and arguably the most inspiring….

“This is a strange Christmas Eve…”

I spend this anniversary and festival far from my country, far from my family, yet I cannot truthfully say that I feel far from home. Whether it be the ties of blood on my mother’s side, or the friendships I have developed here over many years of active life, or the commanding sentiment of comradeship in the common cause of great peoples who speak the same language, who kneel at the same altars and, to a very large extent, pursue the same ideals, I cannot feel myself a stranger here in the centre and at the summit of the United States. I feel a sense of unity and fraternal association which, added to the kindliness of your welcome, convinces me that I have a right to sit at your fireside and share your Christmas joys.

This is a strange Christmas Eve. Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle. And, with the most terrible weapons which science can devise, the nations advance upon each other. Ill would it be for us this Christmastide if we were not sure that no greed for the land or wealth of any other people, no vulgar ambition, no morbid lust for material gain at the expense of others, had led us to the field.

* * *

Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Here, then, for one night only, each home throughout the English-speaking world should be a brightly-lighted island of happiness and peace.

Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.

And so, in God’s mercy, a happy Christmas to you all.

A 1941 Christmas Eve Story

David McCullough, biographer of Harry Truman and John Adams created In the Dark Streets Shineth for the 2010 Christmas season. It combines an essay by the author, with the radio addresses of Roosevelt and  Churchill lighting the White House tree. There is a photo collection of Americans during World War II; and a DVD of McCullough’s presentation at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s 2009 Christmas concert. The Choir performs “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” It is still available, still modestly priced.

Critics seemed undecided on the book. Eva Mitnick in the Library Journal considered the lead essay (“Music is part of our history”) inconsequential. The work “isn’t particularly successful as either a Christmas book or an account of an important moment in history.” The story of Churchill’s 1941 visit, of course, is already well known. Roosevelt’s speech on Christmas Eve was brief, and Churchill’s even briefer.

But most readers praised the volume, especially its DVD recording. “It would take a tougher heart than mine not to shed a tear,” one wrote. “Appropriate for those with loved ones serving their country far away on Christmas eve.” We children for whom that generation gave the “right to live in a free and decent world” are ever grateful.