WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 One look at the walls in Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s top-secret World War II Map Room was enough to convey an accurate sense of the worldwide ebb and flow of the land and naval forces of the United States, its allies and their enemies.
\nFormerly a place where presidential gifts were unwrapped, the White House Map Room was lined with large-scale military maps. Troop positions were marked in grease pencil on the clear-plastic overlays. Black pushpins located German ships. Orange, gray, blue and red pins charted the positions of Japanese, Italian, U.S. and British vessels.
\nThe Map Room is etched in the memory of George Elsey, an 84-year-old veteran of three presidential administrations. Sixty years ago, Navy Lt. Elsey and a team of junior Navy and Army officers staffed the Map Room 24 hours a day. With the president as their chief client, the room became a quiet center of American power in the midst of history\u2019s greatest war.
\nFrom here, FDR followed American troops advancing up the boot of Italy, punching through France and landing on the sandy beaches of Pacific islands.
\n\u201cOne glance at the map showing the convoys heading toward the coast of Africa would tell the story,\u201d Elsey said earlier this month as he shared his memories at a conference convened by the White House Historical Association.
\nBecause of the room\u2019s secret nature no photographs or diaries were permitted. Discarded papers were burned. Unauthorized visitors were barred. That included the president\u2019s Secret Service agents and the valet who pushed his wheel chair.
\nArranged with the president\u2019s needs in mind, the room in the vaulted basement corridor was near the elevator FDR used to reach his private quarters. Desks and filing cabinets were centered to allow his wheelchair to range the walls.
\n\u201cWhen the president arrived, a watch officer would take over and carefully \u2014 but very nervously \u2014 push the president around the room so he could see the maps he wanted to study,\u201d Elsey said. \u201cThen he would push him over to a desk where he could review cables and reports.\u201d
\nThe room had roots in the 1898 war room established for President McKinley during the Spanish-American War. But its direct inspiration came from the portable map room installed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill when he visited the White House shortly after Pearl Harbor. Impressed, FDR ordered one for himself.
\nOn a later visit in May 1943, Churchill asked for an update on the submarine war in the Atlantic. \u201cI just removed three black pins,\u201d Elsey replied, referring to the destruction of three German subs. To his astonishment, Churchill began leaping around the room crying, \u201cWe\u2019ve got him!\u201d We\u2019ve got him!\u201d
\nOnce, in the quiet hours before dawn, Churchill walked in unannounced to find an embarrassed Army captain standing at attention in his underwear. Late at night, when no visitors were expected, the captain often removed and hung up his uniform to keep it unwrinkled. The prime minister, intent on the maps, paid no attention.
\nElsey recalls showing Roosevelt a report from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower that forces commanded by Gen. George Patton, one of the Army\u2019s most flamboyant officers, were just 25 miles from Paris.
\nThe president read the cable, looked at Elsey and said: \u201cThe next thing we\u2019ll see is a picture of old George on a white horse with spurs on, riding under the Arc de Triomphe. He\u2019s almost as good as old Doug MacArthur at getting publicity.\u201d
\n\u201cWe were a group with direct, intimate contact with two presidents and their advisers during the greatest war in history,\u201d Elsey said. \u201cWe ran a primitive operation by today\u2019s standards. There were no secure communications. There were no scrambler telephones.\u201d Cables were delivered by courier from the War and Navy departments.
\n\u201cIt was closer in technology to McKinley\u2019s war room of 1898 than it was to George W.Bush\u2019s situation room in 2002,\u201d Elsey said.
\nAlthough the name has survived, the once utilitarian Map Room now compares in elegance with the rest of the White House. The bare floor FDR\u2019s wheelchair rolled across is covered with an oriental carpet. Crystal sconces throw light across the Chippendale furniture.
\nBut over the Map Room fireplace hangs the last map Roosevelt asked for before he died at Warm Springs, Ga., on April 12, 1945. It shows allied and enemy positions in Europe as they were projected for May 1, 1945.
\nElsey tucked it away after the war ended. Decades later, he presented it to the White House.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014
\nEDITOR\u2019S NOTE \u2014 Lawrence L. Knutson has reported on Congress, the White House and Washington\u2019s history for 35 years.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014
\nOn the Net:
\nWhite House Historical Association: http:\/\/www.whitehousehistory.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 One look at the walls in Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s top-secret World War II Map Room was enough to convey an accurate sense of the worldwide ebb and flow of the land and naval forces of the United States, its allies and their enemies. Formerly a place where presidential gifts were unwrapped, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}