SPRING 2006 • NUMBER 130 - Winston Churchill

Two New Standard WorksROBERT A. COURTSAnother Egg fromthe Faithful HenBooks, Arts&CuriositiesChurchill and America, by Sir MartinGilbert. Simon & Schuster, 504 pp.,illus., $30. Member price $24.When publishing a new book,Churchill used to say that hehad “laid an egg,” oblivious to theshow-biz connotation and referringproudly to his productivity. His officialbiographer is well on his track, havingalready penned over half Churchill’stotal lifetime output just on the subjectof Churchill, not to mention 20th centuryand Jewish history. And MartinGilbert’s latest egg is a golden orb thatsets another standard for historians.At a time when books aboutChurchill come forth thick and fast,none is more welcome than this one.Sir Martin’s theme is that Churchill’sconnection to the USA was both personaland professional. It started, as ayoung man, as a relatively superficialattachment, but it became profound inlater life. This set the tone for a foreignpolicy cornerstone that has lasted oversixty years.Of course, the relationship had toevolve. Gilbert shows Churchill’s initialreaction to America as almost beingone of bemused fascination, so greatwas the culture shock. Churchill describeshow this “very great country” is“eminently practical,” without “reverenceor tradition,” and goes on to recountmany “strange experiences.”It was only later, as Churchill withsadness noted, when Britain was decliningin power and the threats weregrowing, that the practical and passionateattachment to America took root.Britain was not strong enough to defeateither the Kaiser or Hitler on herown, and by the time that the Sovietthreat evolved was dependent uponAmerican military and economic support.There was more to Churchill’s attachmentto America than the emotionalismthat his speeches and writingsoften suggested. Churchill saw inAmerica a partner, one whose sharedcultural, linguistic, legal and politicalFINEST HOUR 130 / 41Churchill CentreBook ClubThe club is managed for theCentre by Chartwell Booksellers(www.churchillbooks.com),which offersmember discounts up to25%. To order contactChartwell Booksellers, 55East 52nd Street, New York,New York 10055, emailbscb@dti.net,tel. (212) 308-0643,facsimile (212) 838-7423.ties offered a partnership with which tofurther the peace and stability of theworld on Anglo-American themes offreedom, capitalism and democracy.When Churchill spoke of Americanmilitary supremacy in terms of “profoundthanksgiving,” it was almost as ifhe had accepted, with relief, Britain’seclipse by a power that was not onlybenevolent, but shared so many of hervalues.That said, although geopoliticalreality may have forced Churchill toadopt the USA as Britain’s saviour andsponsor, it was clear that from an earlyage Churchill was pro-American insentiment. Gilbert produces the sketchdrawing Churchill made for hismother’s publication, The Anglo-SaxonReview. Complete with crossed Starsand Stripes and the Union Flag, thecaption read “Blood is thicker thanwater”, and “Union is Strength.” Thissets the tone for much of the rest ofChurchill’s life.Churchill, with his Americanmother and British aristocratic paternallineage, offered a unique amalgam—an“English-Speaking Union,” as he declaredhimself to the American politicianAdlai Stevenson—something thatput him in a special position with regardto the United States. He wantedto bring the countries closer to the positionthat he himself represented, andto go forward perpetually arm in arm.Of course, this duality inChurchill’s relationship was not alwayspopular with his own countrymen:often seen in any case as a dangerous,