journal of the churchill center and societies - Winston Churchill

about 200 journalists and broadcasters in the Presidents
executive office. Churchill, seated in the back of the room,
could not be seen very well by the crowd of reporters.
When the President introduced him, he suggested that
the Prime Minister stand to give his audience a better
view. After Churchill climbed on his chair to be seen better,
"loud and spontaneous cheers and applause rang
through the room." Although Churchill had some difficulty
hearing, his wit charmed everyone. He quipped, "If
we manage [the war] well, it will only take half as long [to
win] as if we manage it badly." Later he was asked if he
considered the U.S. entry into the war as one of its "great
climacterics." Churchill smiled and answered in his best
Texan drawl, "I sho' do." 23 Newsweek reported that the
spontaneous and "lusty cheers" were the first in the annals
of presidential press conferences. 24
The most dramatic event of Churchill's three-week
visit was his appearance before a joint session of
Congress in the Senate chamber on December
26th. The contents of the speech were less revealing than
the media's coverage of the address and its enthusiastic reception.
Newsweek reported that the chamber was packed
with senators, representatives, Supreme Court justices,
cabinet members, diplomats, reporters, congressional secretaries
and citizens. When Churchill entered the room,
he received a standing ovation. Amid the cheers, he slowly
walked onto the rostrum, situated his shell-rimmed
glasses, adjusted his notes, and began to speak.
He "made eyes glisten with his tender reference to
his American mother." He made his audience laugh when
he joked that if his father, instead of his mother, had been
an American, it might not had taken him so long to address
Congress. "He entwined himself still further in the
American tradition by offering allegiance to the Gettysburg
idea of government of the people, by the people, for
the people." 25 Life commented how Churchill had triumphantly
"uncovered some of the most telling oratory
that ever echoed within the Senate walls," as "he held erstwhile
isolationists spellbound with the power of his
prose." 26 Time, wondering whether the gallery had ever
before heard "such a moving and eloquent speech," believed
"it was not so much the speech as the personality
that put it over." 27 When Churchill ended, he signaled
"V" for Victory. As cameras flashed, Chief Justice Harlan
E Stone replied with his own "V." Newsweek concluded
that Churchill had received "the greatest ovation which
has been accorded to any person in that chamber in living
,,90
memory... z °
Right: Time's second Churchill
cover of the war, 30 Septembt >
1940, as Luce's magazine reported
Britain's successful resistance
to the London Blitz.
"In Parliament, "Time reported,
"his position was
stronger than ever." He
was "a noble man. "
The next
morning, the
front page of The
New York Times
featured Mr.
Churchill in various poses during
his address with the headline: "British
Prime Minister Speaks and Members of Congress and Cabinet
Listen." 29 Time, the following week, beneath the photo
of "Churchill Before Congress," had a caption that simply
stated, "This was a man Americans liked." The accompanying
article maintained that Churchill's arrival had been like
"a breath of fresh air, giving Washington new vigor, for he
came as a new hero." 30 Life summed it up by concluding:
"... Churchill sold Washington on die war and on Britain.
And he sold America on himself." 31
The first wartime visit contributed much to the
Churchillian folklore that has been preserved over the
decades. One of the best and most often told stories is
how Churchill appeared "stark naked and gleaming pink"
before the president. 32 Walter Thompson, Churchill's personal
bodyguard, recalled that shortly after Churchill arrived
at the White House, he went upstairs to his suite to
unpack and bathe. While Churchill was splashing about
in the tub and inspector Thompson was checking over the
room, there was a knock at the door. Thompson opened
the door and was surprised to find President Roosevelt in
his wheelchair all alone. Thompson remembered the President
looking "curiously beyond me, not with fright but
with something very unlike approval." Thompson turned
around to see Churchill standing in man's most natural
state, smiling cordially, a drink in one hand, a cigar in the
other. When Roosevelt tried to excuse himself, Churchill
insisted that he come in. In Thompson's words, "the
Prime Minister posed briefly and ludicrously before the
President," then said, "you see, Mr. President, I have
nothing to hide." 33
Much of the Churchill folklore that took shape
during the war involved tales of his smoking and drinking.
In October 1943, James Reston of The New >»
FINEST HOUR 108/33