Layout 8 - Winston Churchill

Twain aged 72, in the robes of Oxford, where he receivedan Honorary Doctor of Literature degree in 1907.Churchill aged 69, in the robes of Harvard, where hereceived an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1943.WHEN THE TWAIN MET...In truth, both Churchill and Twain had much more incommon in their world view than they realized duringtheir brief, awkward encounter. Perhaps if they wereboth in the twilight of their careers at the time they met,and had enjoyed a talk late into the evening (among thefavorite pastimes of both), they might have becomefriends rather than passing acquaintances.And that would have been just fine with MarkTwain. At the Pilgrims Society in London, one of themany receptions that marked his final visit to England in1907, he said: “…praise is well, compliment is well, butaffection—that is the last and final and most precious rewardthat any man can win.” 22Winston Churchill would have liked that. ,Endnotes1. Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life (London:Thornton Butterworth, 1930), 375.2. Ralph Martin, Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill, 2vols. (London: Cassell, 1971), vol. 2, The Dramatic Years1896-1921, 234.3. Robert Pilpel, Churchill in America 1894-1961:An Affectionate Portrait (New York, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich,1976), 40.4. Ron Powers, Mark Twain: A Life (New York: FreePress, 2005), 604.5. “Fighters Must Act for Themselves,” Press Conference,Everett House, New York, in Robert Rhodes James, ed.,Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1897-1963, 8vols. (New York: Bowker, 1974), I: 62.6. “How Lieut. Churchill Escaped from the Boers,”The New York Times, 13 December 1900. Randolph S.Churchill, ed., Winston S. Churchill, Companion Volume IPart 2 1896-1900 (London: Heinemann, 1967), 1221.7. Churchill, My Early Life, 375-76.8. Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, vol.1 Youth 1874-1900 (London: Heinemann, 1966), 542-43.9. Pilpel, Churchill in America, 40.10. Ted Morgan. Churchill: The Rise to Failure1874-1915 (London: Jonathan Cape, 1983) 154-55.11. The New York Times, 13 December 1900; Pilpel,Churchill in America, 40.12. William Manchester, The Last Lion: WinstonChurchill, Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 (Boston: Little, Brownand Co., 1983) 332.13. Churchill, My Early Life, 375-76.14. Ibid.15. Manchester, Visions of Glory, 363.16. Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, CompanionVolume V, Part 2: Documents, The Wilderness Years 1929-1935 (London: Heinemann, 1981), 500.17. Ibid., 398, note 1.18. Winston S. Churchill: “Everybody’s Language,”Collier’s, 26 October 1935, reprinted in The Collected Essaysof Sir Winston Churchill, 4 vols. (London: Library of ImperialHistory, 1975), vol. 3, Churchill and People, 247; and inFinest Hour 142, Spring 2009, 22-26.19. Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, CompanionVolume 5, Part 3: Documents: The Coming of War 1936-1939 (London: Heinemann, 1982), 381.20. Ibid., 776.21. Ibid., note 1.22. “Guest of the Pilgrims,” The Times, London, 26June 1907.FINEST HOUR 149 / 44