Garrett M. Graff — When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day

Two days before the 80^th anniversary of D-Day, Roosevelt House is pleased to present a discussion of best-selling author Garrett M. Graff’s brand-new book, When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day. This timely and personal chronicle delivers an up-to-date, complete account of D-Day—a human drama like no other, and the largest seaborne invasion in history. The author will be in conversation with frequent Roosevelt House guest and renowned naval historian and author Craig Symonds.

Fascinating, action-packed, and full of new detail, When the Sea Came Alive captures one of history’s greatest military and human triumphs—and offers a fitting tribute to the men and women of the Greatest Generation. Though the full campaign lasted over a month, the surprise landing of more than 150,000 Allied troops in Normandy on the morning of June 6, 1944, is understood to be the moment that turned the tide for the Allied forces and ultimately led to the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II.

Now, Garrett Graff explores the full impact of this world-changing event—from the secret creation of landing plans by top government and military officials, to the organization of troops, to the moment the boat doors opened to reveal the beach where men fought for their lives and the future of the free world—all told in their own words.

Garrett M. Graff has spent nearly two decades covering politics, history, technology, and national security. The former editor of Politico and contributor to Wired and CNN, Graff has written for Esquire, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. The director of the cyber initiative at the Aspen Institute, he is the author of the The Threat Matrix: The FBI at War in the Age of Global Terror; Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself—While the Rest of Us Die; The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11; UFO: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government’s Search for Alien Life Here―and Out There; and Watergate: A New History, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history.

Craig L. Symonds is Professor of History Emeritus at the U. S. Naval Academy and former Distinguished Ernest J. King Visiting Professor of Maritime History at the U. S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I. The winner of the 2009 Lincoln Prize for Lincoln and His Admirals, his latest books are World War II at Sea: A Global History, and Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. Symonds has also won the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt award (for his 2005 book Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History), along with the Samuel Eliot Morrison Award for naval literature and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. This is his fifth appearance at Roosevelt House.