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er’s command. Today at the west end   American ambassador to Great Britain.  cooperate for the common good,
          stands the fortified American Embassy,  The wealthy Kennedy was a man   rather than emphasize self-apparent
          completed in 1960, with a statue of   untrained in diplomacy and had few   differences.”
          Eisenhower in uniform at one side. In   of the other skills required for the job.
          the center of the square stands a stat-  Morton, in his book, notes “when he   Soon, Roosevelt lost faith in Kennedy
          ue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt,   received the press in his office ... he   and started to go around him, sending
          a memorial from Britain unveiled in   chewed gum, sat with his feet on the   special emissaries to observe the situa-
          1948. A newer memorial, at the east   desk and called the queen of England   tion in Britain after the outbreak of
          end, built by the British government,   ‘a cute trick.’”            war in 1939. Kennedy complained that
          remembers those killed in the Sept. 11                              he had not been briefed on conversa-
          terrorist attacks.                While in London, Kennedy lived with   tions between Roosevelt and Prime
                                            his large family at 14 Princes Gate, a   Minister Winston Churchill. That was
          From 1785 to 1788, John and Abigail   six-story residence overlooking Kens-  the final straw. Kennedy left for home
          Adams resided at No.9 Grosvenor   ington Gardens. The building was giv-  in October 1940.
          Square at the corner of Brook and   en to the U.S. government by financier
          Duke streets, one of the few homes   J.P. Morgan as an embassy residence   Just a few blocks north of Grosve-
          from the era still standing. John   and served eight U.S. ambassadors.  nor Square is the shopping mecca of
          Adams was the first U.S. minister                                   Oxford Street. On the second floor
          plenipotentiary to Britain, conducting   On May 4, 1939, the Kennedys played   of the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel is
          strained negotiations with the British   dinner hosts here to King George VI   Glenn Miller’s bar, a tribute to the
          government after the American     and Queen Elizabeth (later known as   famed American band-leader who was
          Revolution on issues such as trade   the Queen Mother). Today, a plaque   an Army major charged with build-
          and maritime law. Across from their   on the outside notes that John Fitz-  ing morale and entertaining troops.
          home lived Lord North, British prime   gerald Kennedy, later to become presi-  Memorabilia and recordings line the
          minister during the Revolution. Not-  dent, once lived here, as did Teddy and   walls. Miller was killed when his small
          ing that their former enemy was now   Bobby Kennedy.                 plane crashed in 1944 while heading
          a neighbor across the square, Abigail                                for Paris.
          remarked, “We have not taken a side   The patriarch Kennedy was seen as
          with Lord North but are still opposite   a publicity seeker with presidential   In an eerie twist, Miller and his entou-
          to him.”                          ambitions, but still the British press   rage of 62 had arrived in London on
                                            viewed him as “wonderfully American.”  June 29, 1944 — just after D-Day and
          Much later, Eisenhower had two    But Kennedy lacked the political skills   during a buzz-bomb attack by the Ger-
          offices here. At No. 20, he established   needed at a critical time when war was   mans. They settled at 25 Sloane Court
          himself as the new American
          commander in the summer of
          1942. Much of his early work
          was to build the alliance with
          the Brits and to mend bruised
          egos. Here, he debated with
          other military leaders whether
          to invade France immediately
          or to wait. The result was a
          compromise: Operation Torch,
          the Anglo-American invasion of
          North Africa. During this peri-
          od, he lived nearby at London’s
          posh Claridge’s Hotel on Brook
          Street.

          At No. 47, Eisenhower set
          up offices after being named
          Supreme Commander of the
          Allied Expeditionary Forces
          in January 1944. It was here
          that Operation Overlord, the
          invasion of Normandy in June 1944,   looming in Europe. His speeches car-  West. But because Miller complained
          was planned.                      ried an isolationist tone, and he soon   of sleepless nights in an underground
                                            found himself at loggerheads with   shelter, the band was moved north
          And just a few years earlier, in 1938,   Secretary of State Cordell Hull. At one   to Bedford, about 60 miles away. The
          Joseph Kennedy, the family patriarch,   time, he was quoted as saying, “The   week after their move, 25 Sloane
          had arrived at Grosvenor Square as   democracies and the dictators should   Court suffered a direct bomb hit.





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