Franklin Delano Roosevelt rubbed his eyes, leaning back against the leather of his chair. It was late afternoon in 1933, and the Oval Office was stifling, thick with the scent of wool suits, damp rain, and fresh ink. Between navigating bank panics and drafting initial New Deal legislation, it had been a brutal, exhausting day.

The heavy oak door swung open, but it wasn’t his trusted secretary, Louis Howe. A woman stepped inside wearing a sharp, dark pantsuit, tapping frantically on a glowing rectangle of glass. “Mr. President, we have a situation,” she said, her voice laced with urgent authority. “The Chief of Staff needs you in the Situation Room immediately. Things are escalating quickly in Germany.”