There was tension in the house. Guests were on the way for the holiday — but the husband hadn’t told his wife who they were. So in the days just before Christmas 70 years ago, the two had a quarrel.

This wasn’t your average household tiff. The year was 1941, the quarrel occurred in the White House, the combatants were Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and the guests were British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his party.

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The prime minister went on to say: “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.” Still, he said, it was entirely appropriate to pause to celebrate Christmas.