1 - Winston Churchill

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Why Churchill Still Fascinates, continuedagain afterwards, author and Nobel Prize-winning writer. And he stillfound time to paint and get off some classic one-liners.Above all, we are drawn to Churchill's indomitable spirit. Unlikethe current crop of politicians — who take the public pulse hourly andseem to be engaged in a nonstop popularity contest — he never hesitatedto tell people the one thing they did not want to hear at thatmoment in time.Throughout the 1930s, he warned of the growing menace ofNazi Germany. After losing 743,000 in the Great War, the Britishwanted only paeans to peace. He sacrificed office to candor. In 1945,when the democracies longed for a respite, he sounded the anti-Sovietalarm.But Churchill was more than a hero. He combined elan withwe owe to history is to rewrite it." But he had no hesitationin rewriting history himself.And now people are rewriting his history. No oneshould be shocked by this. Churchill would not havebeen. Sir William Deaken recalls that Churchill's attitudetoward his war memoirs was: "this is not history, this ismy case..." He has not been without critics before. Butthe present assault comes from historians who have dugdeep into the archives and whose arguments are not simplyrhetorical or polemical or political but are fortified bydocumentation.The latest of these is John Charmley's Churchill'sGrand Alliance: The Anglo-American Special Relationship1940-57 {see FH 88). The Special Relationship meant inpractice, the author observes, that "America would supportBritish interests where they coincided with her own,and only then, whilst expecting the British to tow [sic]the line whenever America wanted her to do so" (p252).It should be no great discovery, especially for anEnglish scholar, that nations tend to protect and pursuetheir own interests. In the new volume, FranklinRoosevelt emerges not so much as the villain but as theleader that Churchill failed to be: as the cool, crafty, calculating,accomplished champion of his own nation'sinterests...This is an interesting historiographical reversal:for years historians have been portraying Roosevelt as theinnocent and Churchill as the old master.Now it is true that Roosevelt and Churchill oftendisagreed both about the strategy of the war and the strategyof the peace. But just as it has been an error in thepast years to romanticize the harmonies of the relationship,so it is an error today to exaggerate the disharmonies.Both were large men. Both had a magnificentsense of history. Each rejoiced in what each saw as theincredible luck of occupying the stage of history with theother. Their disagreements were tactical disagreements, tobe understood within the embracing framework of grandpurposes, shared objectives and common ideals.John Charmley was born in 1955, and someattribute his critique to the fact that he wasn't around in1940. But there would be very little history written if historianswere debarred from writing about things they didnot personally witness. It is not Charmley's age that determineshis slant. It is his politics.He is unabashedly a right-wing Thatcherite. Inhis new book he occasionally interrupts his narrative togive vent to his prejudices. FDR's New Deal, he writes inlanguage that would please Newt Gingrich, was "littlemore than a veil for government interference in the livesof individuals on an unprecedented scale" (p52).Right-wing Tories never really trusted Churchill,nor does Charmley. And his obsession with Churchillleads him to neglect longer-range factors that shape history.Churchill was remarkable, but he was not the singlearchitect of the decline and fall of the British Empire.It is true enough that personalities do play a rolein history. In December 1931 Churchill, crossing FifthAvenue in New York City, looked in the wrong directionand was knocked down by an automobile—a moment, helater recalled, of a man aghast, a world aglare: "I do notunderstand why I was not broken like an eggshell orsquashed like a gooseberry." Fourteen months laterFranklin Roosevelt, sitting in an open car in Miami,Florida, was fired on by an assassin; the man beside him,the Mayor of Chicago, was killed.WOULD the next two decades have been thesame had the automobile killed WinstonChurchill in 1931 and the bullet killedFranklin Roosevelt in 1933? Would Neville Chamberlainor Lord Halifax have rallied Britain in 1940? Would JohnN. Garner have produced the New Deal and the FourFreedoms? Suppose in addition that Lenin had died oftyphus in Siberia in 1895 and Hitler had been killed onthe western front in 1916. What would the 20th centuryhave looked like now? Individuals do make a difference inhistory. But they don't make all the difference.In blaming so much on Churchill, this revisionistneglects the economic, social, cultural and demographicfactors that determined Britain's rise and decline in theworld. He fails to show that alternative policies, whetherChamberlain's or Eden's, could conceivably have main-eloquence, vision with humor and joie de vivre. If oratory survives foranother thousand years, his speeches still will be among the mostmemorable. Edward R. Murrow said Churchill "Mobilized theEnglish language and sent it into battle." He not only defied evil, buttold us why honor is essential to our survival. He was the lesson andthe teacher, the preacher and the sermon.Speaking of Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge observed, "Great men arethe ambassadors of Providence sent to reveal to us our unknownselves" — words equally applicable to a man born in the last century,who continues to fascinate idealists and romantics as this one draws toa close.Don Feder is a Friend oflCS and a member of the Boston Heraldstaff. His column appears Mondays and Wednesdays. Reprinted by permissionof the author and Creators Syndicate.FINEST HOUR 89/26
Arthur Schlesinger, concludedtained Britain as a great power, or could conceivably havepreserved the Empire in an age of worldwide revoltagainst colonialism. He fails to show how a Britain,divorced not only from the United States but fromEurope, could conceivably sustain an independent role inworld affairs. As for his anti-Churchill sniping along theway, I have no doubt that other historians will comealong, as Churchill did in his defense of Marlborough, todeal with the "host of sneers, calumnies and grave accusations."It is useful to remember that, on the whole, pastexercises in revisionism have failed to stick. Few historianstoday believe that the war hawks caused the War of 1812,or the slaveholders the Mexican War, or that the CivilWar was needless, or that the House of Morgan broughtAmerica into the First World War, or that FranklinRoosevelt schemed to produce the attack on Pearl Harbor.Still, revisionism is an essential part of the process bywhich history, through the posing of new problems, theemployment of new perspectives and the investigation ofnew possibilities, enlarges its reach and enriches itsinsights.History, as the great Dutch historian Pieter Geylsaid, is an argument without end. But if anyone is likelyto survive that argument and come out unscathed and ontop, it is that impetuous, imperious, fallible and gloriousman, history's impresario, Winston Churchill.Lady Soames: I think perhaps you may feel forme a little, in having to follow the voices and thoughts oftwo most eminent modern historians. I like to feel that Ihave inherited two characteristics from my father. One isthat I cry very easily. I also really do hate and loathe havingto make even the shortest speech without any notes.My father, I take comfort in recalling, although he was agreat orator, also hated not having his notes in his hands.On such occasions he would sometimes come home andsay: "I had to speak on the unpinioned wing." So pleaseforgive me, Professor Schlesinger, if I speak on the unpinionedwing, and do not express the deep gratitude andappreciation I am sure the present company are all feeling.But thank you for your wit and your magisterialexposition of history as it is being written today. I know ithas enlightened and comforted me, because sometimesone can't help feeling a bit dunched, when one sees historywhich is part of the world jigsaw puzzle in a minutecorner one has lived through, written in a form that canbe almost unrecognizable. But you have helped us seemore clearly, and accept that of course history is a perpetualargument, and must be so. Thank you very muchindeed. It has been a great privilege to hear you, and weshall for very long remember your thoughts and words.FINEST HOUR 89/27CONFERENCE TAPES & PUBLICATIONSPrices are postpaid. Make check payable to ICS and send toConference, PO Box 385, ContoocookNH 03229 USA.Cheques in equivalent UK/Can/Aus currency welcome.Churchill, Roosevelt and the End of World War II""Give Usthe Toolsand WeWill FinishtheJob""Sail On,Oh ShipofState"»w«»HH«»iniinmnMnmmfmM-»Hil»«».»Intamittwui Churehlll Socl*t]>, P.O. Sox llf, Hoj>k!nton,NH DJ1» USA • »01-T4M41]• Poster: Red, white and blue 18x24" printed on heavycoated stock suitable for framing: the immortal Roosevelt-Churchill 1940 exchange. Shipped in tubes $71£5• Programme: A 16-page documentary with articles onall speakers and Churchill's many visits to Boston, printedtwo-color with many illustrations. $5/£3• Buckley Cassette: "In Praise of Famous Men," withintro/response by Langworth/Arnn and Buckley's answersto a barrage of questions from the floor. $10/£6.• Schlesinger Cassette: "Churchill and the Historians,"with intro/response by Manchester/Soames + introductionsto the Harrow Songs (but not Songs themselves). $10/£6CONFERENCE STAFFChairwoman: Barbara LangworthVice-Chairmen: Cyril Mazansky, Richard LangworthChief of Staff: Parker H. Lee IIIAcademic Programs: James W. Muller, Patrick PowersPresenters: Larry Arnn, Kristen Binette,Neil Crawford, Megan Desnoyers, Kelly Domaingue,Kirk Emmert, Fred Farrow, Geoffrey Gelman, BarryGough, Warren Kimball, Cyril Mazansky, Steven Mitby,Caitlin Murphy, Johnny Parker, Kristey Pischetola, JohnPlumpton, Paul Rahe, Douglas Russell, Jeffrey Warren.Volunteers: Richard Batchelder, Sr., Richard Batchelder, Jr.,Charles & Sandy Cornelio, John & Margo Cox, JohnGrant, Dick & Posey Leahy, Barbara Lee, Pat Murphy,Cynthia Newberry, Jane Nixon, Jane Parker, Mike Ryan,Duane Sargisson, John Tucker/. C.S. Stores: Alan & Pat Fitch, Brock Comegys, JoannaGreen, Jack Nixon, Fred Sheehan, David SimpsonGuest Speakers & Programme Design: Richard LangworthPhotography: Jonah Triebwasser & Atlantic Photo $5
Page 2 and 3: THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIETI
Page 4 and 5: FINEST HOURISSN 0882-3715Richard M
Page 6: Despatch Box, continuedFinest Hour
Page 9 and 10: RECORD MEETING OF THE ICS LEADERSHI
Page 11 and 12: 1996 CHURCHILL TOURFILLING UP FASTO
Page 13 and 14: special Churchill birthday cake.The
Page 15 and 16: Riddles, continuedhitherto secret d
Page 17 and 18: crowds, who objected to his declara
Page 19 and 20: THE CHURCHILL CENTERReport for trie
Page 21 and 22: almost singlehandedly campaigned fo
Page 23 and 24: LEFT: "Randy, you're soaked through
Page 28 and 29: THESINEWSOF PEACE19461996ANNIVERSAR
Page 30 and 31: Americans, who believed the Second
Page 32 and 33: FULTON +50very unfortunate for the
Page 34 and 35: THIS is Winston Churchill speaking,
Page 36 and 37: My father, however, could not make
Page 38 and 39: VE-Day: One More MemoryA meeting of
Page 40 and 41: BOOK REVIEWS"Glory that ShinesUpon
Page 42 and 43: mous expressions throughout his wri
Page 44 and 45: fax or Chamberlain once France fell
Page 46 and 47: Jl-The Great Invasion:Churchill in
Page 48 and 49: RECAPSSalisbury Hall, the Pike and
Page 50 and 51: Woods Cupboard:Churchill CookeryR.
Page 52: IMMORTAL WORDSIf the Western Democr

1 - Winston Churchill

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?