Winston Churchill

SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
Churchill Conference XV: November 5th-8th, 1998
Colonial Williamsrmrg, Virginia
AS SEEN BY VARIOUS EYES
VIEW FROM THE TOP
After nine months of intense activity, six o'clock Friday
November 5th was a click away and the 15th
Churchill Conference would be up and running. As I
waited for silence from the audience gathered for the opening
session, it seemed that the Planning Committee's hard
work was either going to come to fruition or I would be
holding the bag for considerable misdirected energy, expended
by a lot of dedicated people. Any anxiety I did have
at that moment was quickly dispelled as the conference
gained full momentum with its theme of "The Special Relationship:
The End of the Beginning," played out in the student
seminar, various presentations and the First Churchill
Lecture delivered by Ambassador Raymond Seitz.
The Planning Committee, including James Muller,
John Plumpton, Ron Helgemo and Craig and Lorraine
Horn, worked as a team with the added benefit of teleconferencing
and email. This may be the first Churchill Conference
when the planners met together in one room only twice
during the course of a nine-month preparation. The eventual
success of the conference was a remarkable testimony to the
effectiveness of modern modes of communication: the logistics
and organization involved in the planning could not
have been achieved otherwise in the constrained time available.
An added factor in our favor was the marvelous cooperation
of the staff of the Williamsburg Foundation, especially
its Archivist, Stephen E. Haller.
The planning of a Conference requires a high level of
cooperation and coordination and a strong spirit of mutual
support, in order to achieve a smooth operation where the
registrants can really enjoy themselves without distractions.
It was a great benefit to be able to have this Conference at
the Williamsburg Lodge with its superb facilities. The
weather also cooperated, affording the opportunity to enjoy
the amenities of the historic capital of Colonial Virginia.
It is probably inappropriate for me to wax lengthily
on the feeling of satisfaction we have, and of how the delegates
enjoyed the sessions and themselves. So I will quote
from a letter I recently received from Lady Soames:
"Now I am sitting down quietly and casting my
mind back to the tremendously successful and enjoyable programme
over which you presided at Williamsburg. May I,
through you, thank The Churchill Center's committee for
ABOVE: Nigel Knocker and Ron Helgemo demonstrate professional
18th century techniques as they step out with Colonial dames.
BELOW: Curt Zoller with Lady Soames, Bond Nichols at right.
your generous hospitality. I do think you and your colleagues
did a marvelous job in the detailed preparations, and the series
of seminars and presentations and functions were so well
planned: I got the feeling that everyone was really enjoying
themselves and there was such a nice atmosphere.
"I thought a great feature of the Conference was the
presence of students from so many different colleges and
universities. Their input was very stimulating and I'm sure
they all profited from the seminar themselves a great deal.
Another highlight was being able to celebrate Richard's CBE,
so well deserved personally and also a compliment and accolade
to the whole Society. And finally Ray Seitz's thoughtful
and riveting analysis of the special relationship really sparked
off the Churchill Lectures at a very high level. I hope you
have all had some days off, as running the Conference and
attending all the events must have been a marathon." >>>
FINEST HOUR IOI /13