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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.
Wine Dine & Travel Summer 2014 89

