SPRING 2006 â¢ NUMBER 130 - Winston Churchill

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do have a new book of my own that is coming out thismonth.* In it I devote a chapter to Churchill, drawingupon his life to illustrate the value of diligence. In showinghow he persevered through trial and misfortune toalert his countrymen to approaching dangers, I drewheavily upon both The Churchill Centre’s excellent websiteand Sir Martin’s exceptional single volume biography,Churchill: A Life.Despite his prolific Churchill writings SirMartin has also written histories on both world wars andon Israel, several works on the Holocaust, and a threevolumehistory of the 20th century, among many others.A glance at his website indicates that, among his “worksin progress,” he counts a book on Churchill and theJews, several historical atlases, an encyclopedia of Jewishhistory, and a history of the Gallipoli campaign. If onlymy staff had such energy…But to see the antecedent for such energy, suchflair for history and the English language, one need lookno further than Winston Churchill himself. Those qualitieswere, of course, the foundations of his extraordinaryintelligence and his attributes as a statesman. Perhaps itis these shared traits that have forged such a unique andremarkable relationship between two gentlemen, SirWinston Churchill and Sir Martin Gilbert.I wish to thank The Churchill Centre for invitingme, along with my friends Chris Matthews (cough!),Joanne Kemp and Senator Bob Packwood—who I mustsay was the smartest senator I ever had the fortune towork with.A Vote of ThanksRichard M. LangworthIhave a simple duty this evening. It is to thank SirMartin Gilbert for the treat that he has given us, forthat thought-provoking lecture today, and for beingwith us tonight. And Martin, I will never botheryou with questions about Dresden and Hiroshima againbecause you covered the subject so thoroughly.In listening to you today I was reminded of thelate Alistair Cooke, who spoke to us at Bretton Woodsin 1988, who broadcast these words on August 6th,1970, the 25th anniversary of the bombing of Japan:Without raising more dust over the bleached bonesof Hiroshima, I should like to contribute a coupleof reminders: The first is that the men who had tomake the decision were just as humane and tortured*Character Is Destiny : Inspiring Stories Every Young Person ShouldKnow and Every Adult Should Remember, by John McCain and MarkSalter, Random House, 336 pp., $23.95at the time as you and I were later. And, secondly,that they had to make the choice of alternativesthat I for one would not have wanted to make forall the offers of redemption from all the religions ofthe world.What Sir Martin has imparted today is a tinyfraction of what he has produced. My son the computerscientist was able to calculate recently that Sir Martinhas written ten million words about Churchill in theofficial biography alone—not counting all his otherworks. This is already half of Churchill’s total output!And yet, as he will tell you, he has only scratched thesurface of what seems an endless saga.A critic once said: “You think you’re so smart,Mr. Gilbert. Why, you haven’t told more than ten percentof the story. Martin replied, “Really—that much?”And Senator McCain, how honored we are tohave you with us, and to have heard your thoughtfulappreciation. Being from New Hampshire, I was able tovote for you twice, once in the primary, and once followingthe recommendation of Don Imus, by writingyou in on my paper ballot!I know you would deprecate comparisons withSir Winston, but there is a characteristic you share withhim which is very important. That characteristic is politicalcollegiality. And I feel sure Senator Packwood andCongressman Dent would testify to that.One of the greatest things about Churchill thepolitician was the way he maintained his respect for thepeople across the aisle, no matter how bitterly he disagreedwith them. Here is a story about the death ofChurchill’s great political nemesis, Aneurin Bevan,Minister of Health in the postwar Labour government.Churchill and Bevan fought the political wars ashard as any two heavyweight contenders. Bevan calledChurchill “the plutocrat exploiter of the working class”and Churchill called Bevan “the minister of disease,” andthey hurled these accusations across the floor, but off thefloor they were somehow colleagues.When Bevan died in 1960 Churchill, informedin the smoking room of the House of Commons,launched into a eulogy. “Nye Bevan…a leader of hisparty, founder of the National Health Service, championof the working class....” Then suddenly he paused inmidstream and said quietly, “Are you sure he’s dead?”Senator McCain, I believe you share this characteristic.Ronald Reagan once said after visiting TipO’Neill, “The speaker says that here in Washingtonwe’re all friends after six o’clock.” Collegiality. Churchillhad it. Reagan had it. You have it. I hope very muchthat you will make it contagious, because in these timeswe could certainly use more of it.FINEST HOUR 130 / 32
Thanks and a Tip of the Hat to our Generous SupportersSeminar SupportThe William E. Benjamin II Fund of the CommunityFoundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties,Florida; a New York foundation; President Stephen JoelTrachtenberg and The George Washington University.Benefit DinnerSheperdson Abell, Ron Abramson, Ron Alexander, Bill& Moira Benjamin, Greg Berman, Michael Bishop,Stephen & Anne Black, Ambassador Robert & SylviaBlake, Peter Baumbausch, Paul & Carolyn Brubaker,Craig DeBarnardis, Representative Charlie Dent(Pennsylvania), Donald Ferencz, Bobby & Kate Giaimo,Roxanne Hale, Steven Hayward, Joanne Kemp, David S.Kerr, Thomas Lanctot, Richard & Barbara Langworth,Winston Jerome Lindsley, Bertil Lundqvist, Michael C.Maibach, Dr. John H. Mather, Christopher Matthews,Karin & Jack Mens, Dan Myers, Senator and Mrs. BobPackwood, Dr. Malcolm Page, Scott Park, Morris Sachs,David Sampson, Johannes Williams, Suzanne Sigman,Professor Chris Sterling, James & Lucille Thomas,Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Herman Voelkner, WilliamA. Whiteside III, Sarah Williams, Cynthia Wojick,George Wills. ,InsidetheJournalsABSTRACT BY ROBERT A. COURTS“The Man Who Made His OwnHistory,” by Richard Holmes. BBCHistory Magazine, April 2005.Any biographer faces difficultiesin maintaining his objectivityaas he gets closer to his subject.This problem is even more intense inthe case of Churchill, who directed somuch of his energies and working lifeto ensuring that his own writings projectedhistory as he saw it. Moreover,WSC possessed such a powerful personalitythat some biographers findthemselves referring to “Winston” byhis first name—which shows how hardit is to distance oneself from the man.After researching Churchill’s longand varied life, it is clear that there isstill something new to say. This isespecially the case regarding his earlylife, where the military influence waspredominant; and in his and the politicalestablishment’s role in the treatmentof the fighting man after WorldWar I. The more that one delves intosuch a complicated and rich life, themore one realises that few things inthe picture of Churchill’s life wereclear and simple.Not only did Churchill turn hishistorical work into a self-portrait, buthe was in his very being a contradiction.He enjoyed wearing uniforms butwas not a militarist and was, as theveteran British left-wing MP TonyBenn has said, well to the left of TonyBlair’s New Labour; yet he spent mostof his political life in the ConservativeParty. Moreover, Churchill wieldedmore power than any Prime Ministerin history, yet saw himself as the servant,not the master, of Parliament.Part of the problem for the biographer,and one of the most strikingfacets of Churchill’s career, was that hewas as much a writer as a politician. Itis a surprising fact that students ofChurchill have been reluctant to granthim professional status in any fieldother than politics. This is remarkablefor a man who published some fiftybooks, 800 articles, numerous speeches,and who made far more moneythan all but a few “professional” writers.Part of this drive, it is true, wasowed to Churchill’s perennial need formoney, forced upon him by his “nothingbut the best” lifestyle; but thatdoes not detract from his de facto professionalstatus.Even with his “factory” of literaryassistants in his later years, Churchilldid not pretend to be a professional oracademic historian. “This is not history,”he was to say, “this is my case.”Moreover, he felt that history would bekind to him, for he was to write it.History was not, therefore, merely alabour of love and a much-neededsource of income, it was part ofChurchill’s campaign to adjust the historicalrecord so as to favour his ownreputation. Indeed, this was not somethingwhich began in his later yearswhen he had a reputation to protect,but in his early years, when he wasbuilding a reputation that did not yetexist, and seeking to bring himself tothe notice of a waiting public that heregarded as a blank canvas upon whichto project himself.And yet there was a further aim toChurchill’s writing: to rehabilitate hisancestors and to enhance his family’sreputation. Both his biographies of hisfather, Lord Randolph (a somewhathagiographic work) and of the FirstDuke of Marlborough, display a determinationto present history in the waymost favourable to his relatives.It is to be regretted that, as a professionalhistorian, Churchill wasinclined to try to “retouch the portrait,”which makes any biographer’sjob that much more challenging; but itis impossible to deny a powerful affectionfor that fusion of history andmyth which characterises a man whomay have been, far from a dry professional,a master story-teller. ,FINEST HOUR 130 / 33
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SPRING 2006 â¢ NUMBER 130 - Winston Churchill