U.S. At War: The Road to Berlin

The President of the United States labored up the long ramp to the Speaker's dais, leaning on the arm of his military aide Major General Edwin M. Watson. He grasped the edge of the reading stand with one big hand, discarded his thick mahogany cane, slapped down his old black notebook. For two minutes his audience—the Congressmen, the diplomats, the Cabinet, the dignitaries and plain people in the galleries—applauded for this stouthearted man who cannot walk, yet does.

No man knew better than Franklin Roosevelt, who had endured the day-by-day shocks, despairs, glimmers, disappointments and hopes, what crucial and sometimes Stygian days...