KBIttI › wp-c… · Star, the Africa Star, Italy France and Germany Star, and the Defence Medal. (The sixth World War II campaign medal, the War Medal 1939-45, came in December

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KBIttI

JOURNAL OF THE CHURCHILL CENTER &

INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIETIES

T H E C H U R C H I L L C E N T E RI N T E R N A T I O N A L C H U R C H I L L S O C I E T I E S

UNITED STATES • UNITED KINGDOM • CANADA • AUSTRALIAPATRON: THE LADY SOAMES, D.B.E. • WWW.WINSTONCHURCHILL.ORG

Tke Ckurckill Center is a non-profit organization wkick encourages study of tke life and tkougkt of Winston SpencerCkurckill; fosters researck akout kis speeckes, writings ana deeds; advances knowledge of kis example as a statesman; and, by

programmes of teacking and puklisking, imparts tkat learning to people around tke world. Tke Center was organized in 1995 bythe International Ckurckill Societies, founded in 1968 to educate future generations on tke works and example of Winston

Ckurckill. Tke Center and Societies jointly sponsor Finest Hour, special puklications, symposia, conferences and tours.

JOINT HONORARY MEMBERSConrad M Black OC PC • Winston S. ChurchillThe Lord Deedes KBE MC PC DL • Sir Martin Gilbert CBEGrace Hambiin OBE • Robert Hardy CBE • Yousuf Karsh CCThe Lord Jenkins of Hillhead OM PC • William ManchesterThe Duke of Marlborough JP DL • Elizabeth NelSir Anthony Montague Browne KCMG CBE DFCColin L. Powell KCB • Wendy Russell RevesAmbassador Paul H. Robinson, Jr.The Lady Thatcher LG OM PC FRSThe Hon. Caspar W. Weinberger GBE

THE CHURCHILL CENTERBOARD OF GOVERNORSRandy Barber • David Boler • Nancy H. CanaryD. Craig Horn • William C. Ives • Nigel KnockerRichard M. Langworth • John H. Mather MDJames W. Muller • Charles D. Platt • John G. PlumptonDouglas S. Russell

OFFICERSJohn G. Plumpton, President130 Collingsbrook Blvd., Toronto, Ont. Ml W 1M7Fax. (416) 502-3847Email: [email protected]

William C. Ives, Vice President77 W. Wacker Dr., 43rd fir., Chicago IL 60601Tel. (312) 845-5798 • Fax. (312) 845-5828Email: [email protected]

Dr. John H. Mather, Secretary12144 Long Ridge Lane, Bowie MD 20715Tel. 301-262-0430 • Fax. 301-352-0472Email: [email protected]

D. Craig Horn, Treasurer8016 McKenstry Drive, Laurel MD 20723Tel. (888) WSC-1874 • Fax. (301) 483-6902Email: [email protected]

Charles D. Platt, Endowment Director14 Blue Heron Drive West, Greenwood Village CO 80121Tel (303) 721-8550 • Fax. (303) 290-0097Email: [email protected]

BOARD OF TRUSTEESWinston S. Churchill • The Hon. Jack Kemp • George A. LewisChristopher Matthews • Amb. Paul H. Robinson, Jr.The Hon. Celia Sandys • The Hon. Caspar W Weinberger GBE

Richard M. Langworth CBE, Chairman181 Burrage Road, Hopkinton NH 03229Tel. (603) 746-4433 • Fax. (603) 746-4260Email: [email protected]

BUSINESS OFFICESLorraine C. Horn, AdministratorDebby Young, Membership Secretary8016 McKenstry Drive, Laurel MD 20723Tel. (888) WSC-1874 • Fax. (301) 483-6902Email: [email protected]

CHURCHILL STORES (Back Issues & Sales Dept.)Gail Greenly, PO Box 96, Contoocook NH 03229Tel. (603) 746-3452 • Fax (603) 746-6963Email: [email protected]

WWW. WINSTONCHURCHILL ORGWebmaster: John Plumpton, [email protected]: [email protected] host: Jonah.Triebwasser, [email protected]

CHURCHILL CENTER ASSOCIATESWinston Churchill Associates:

ICS United States • The Churchill CenterThe Annenberg Foundation • David & Diane BolerColin D. Clark • Fred Farrow • Mr. & Mrs. Anthony E. GillesMr. & Mrs. Parker H. Lee III • Michael & Carol McMenaminDavid & Carole Noss * Ray L. & Patricia M. OrbanWendy Russell Reves • Elizabeth Churchill SnellMr. & Mrs. Matthew B. Wills • Alex M. Worth Jr.

Clementine Churchill AssociatesRonald D. Abramson • Winston S. ChurchillJeanette & Angelo Gabriel • D. Craig He Lorraine HornJames F. Lane • Barbara & Richard LangworthDrs. John H. & Susan H. Mather • Linda & Charles PlattAmbassador & Mrs. Paul H. Robinson Jr.James R. & Lucille I. Thomas

Mary Soames AssociatesSolveig & Randy Barber • Gary J. BonineDaniel & Susan Borinsky " Nancy Bowers • Lois BrownNancy H. Canary • Dona & Bob DalesJeffrey & Karen De Haan • Ruth &C Laurence GellerFrederick C. & Martha S. Hardman • Glenn HorowitzMr. & Mrs. William C. Ives

Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Drake Kambestad • Elaine KendallRuth J. Lavine • Mr. & Mrs. Richard A. LeahyCyril & Harriet Mazansky • Michael W. MichelsonMr. & Mrs. James W Muller • Earl & Charlotte NicholsonBob & Sandy Odell • Ruth & John PlumptonHon. Douglas S. Russell • Shanin SpecterRobert M. Stephenson • Richard & Jenny StreiffPeter J. Travers • Gabriel Urwitz • Damon Wells Jr.Jacqueline & Malcolm Dean Witter

BOARD OF ACADEMIC ADVISERSProf. Paul K. Alkon, University of Southern CaliforniaSir Martin Gilbert CBE, D. Litt., Merton College, OxfordProf. Barry M. Gough, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityProf. Christopher C. Harmon, Marine Corps UniversityCol. David Jablonsky, US Army War CollegeProf. Warren F. Kimball, Rutgers UniversityProf. Paul A. Rahe, University ofTulsaProf. John A. Ramsden,

Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of LondonProf. David T. Stafford, University of EdinburghDr. Jeffrey Wallin, President, The American AcademyProf. Manfred Weidhorn, Yeshiva University

Prof. James W. Muller, Chairman,University of Alaska, Anchorage1518 Airport Hts. Dr., Anchorage AK 99508Tel. (907) 786-4740 • Fax. (907) 786-4647Email: [email protected]

AFFILIATEWashington Society for ChurchillCaroline Hartzler, PresidentPO Box 2456, Merrifield VA 22116Tel. (703) 503-9226

Members of The Churchill Center also meet regularly inAlaska, California, Chicago, Detroit, Florida, New England,North Texas, Northern Ohio and Philadelphia.

INTERNATIONAL COUNCILOF CHURCHILL ORGANIZATIONSAmbassador Paul H. Robinson, Jr., Chairman208 S. LaSalle St., Chicago IL 60604 USATel. (800)621-1917Email: [email protected]

ICS AUSTRALIARobin Linke, 181 Jersey Street, Wembley WA 6014

ICS CANADAAmbassador Kenneth W Taylor, Hon. Chairman

Randy Barber, President4 Snowshoe Cres., Thornhill, Ontario L3T 4M6Tel. (905) 881-8550Email: [email protected]

Jeanette Webber, Membership Secretary3256 Rymal Road, Mississauga, Ontario L4Y 3C1Tel. (905) 279-5169 • Email: [email protected]

Charles Anderson, Treasurer489 Stanfield Drive, Oakville, Ontario L6L 3R2

The Other Club of OntarioNorman MacLeod, President16 Glenlaura Court, Ashburn, Ontario LOB 1A0Tel. (905)655-4051

Winston 5. Churchill Society of Vancouver (Affiliated)Dr. Joe Siegenberg, President15-9079 Jones RoadRichmond, British Columbia V6Y 1C7Tel. (604)231-0940

ICS UNITED KINGDOMChairman:Nigel Knocker OBEPO Box 1257, Melksham, Wilts. SN12 6 G QTel. & Fax. (01380) 828609Email: [email protected]

TRUSTEESThe Hon. Celia Sandys, Chairman;The Duke of Marlborough JP DLThe Rt. Hon. Eatl Jeliicoe KBE DSO MC FRSDavid Boler • David Porter • Geoffrey Wheeler

COMMITTEENigel Knocker OBE, ChairmanWylma Wayne, Vice ChairmanPaul H. Courtenay, Hon. SecretaryAnthony Woodhead CBE FCA, Hon. TreasurerJohn Glanvill Smith, Editor ICS UK NewsletterEric Bingham • Geoffrey Fletcher • Derek Greenwel!Michael Kelion • Fred Lockwood CBE • Ernie Money CBEElisabeth Sandys • Dominic Walters • John Crookshank

NORTHERN CHAPTERDerek Greenwell, "Woodstock"

6 Wilstrop Farm Road, York. YO2 3RY Tel. (01904) 702844Eric Bingham, Car Lane, Hambleton,

Blackpool, Lanes. FY6 9BB Tel. (01253) 701275Email: [email protected]

ICS UNITED STATESBoard of TrusteesAmbassador Paul H. Robinson, Jr., ChairmanGeorge A. Lewis; Wendy Reves; The Hon. Celia SandysThe Lady Soames DBE; The Hon. Caspar W Weinberger

The staff of Finest Hour, published by The Churchill Centerand International Churchill Societies, appears on page 4.

4$4r

SUMMER 2001 JOURNAL OF THE CHURCHILL CENTER AND SOCIETIES NUMBER 111

10 Cover Story: Orders, Decorations and MedalsExcerpted from the Forthcoming Churchill Center BookThe Hon. Douglas S, Russell

12 Churchill in the 21st CenturyThe London Conference: Contentions for Years to ComePaulAddison, Stuart Ball, David Cannadine, David

Carlton, John Charmley, Peter Hennessy, Roland Quinault,

John Ramsden, David Reynolds, Chris Wrigley, John Young,

Tony Benn MP, Lord Carrington, Lord Deedes, Lady Soames

Edited by Paul H. Courtenay

24 Man of Kent, Kentish ManChurchill, Chartwell, and the Garden of EnglandDouglas J. Hall

28 Our Vanishing National AnthemsDo Children Even Know the Words?Richard M. Langworth

33

(1)

Leading Churchill Myths"Alcohol Abuser"

Michael Richards

4569212232424348505152

Despatch BoxDatelinesChurchill CalendarRiddles, Mysteries, EnigmasEminent ChurchilliansAction This DayWit & WisdomInside the JournalsChurchill OnlineRecipes from No. 10ChurchilltriviaAmpersandImmortal Words

34 Churchill and OldhamHow the grandson of a Duke came to representa working class suburb of industrial ManchesterAllen Packwood

BOOKS, ARTS & CURIOSITIES:39 Alanbrooke's diaries probably prevented more rowsthan they started; Geoffrey Best's Study in Greatness willprobably start lots of rows among Churchill's detractors,writes Andrew Roberts....More trouble for revisionists,according to David Freeman, is Ian S. Wood'sChurchill....The. Fulton speech was both art and failure,says Chris Hangers abstract; Palestine was the "Twice-Promised Land," says another abstract and ListservWinston.... The New York Times prints some news not fitto print, and Duvall Hecht responds.

44 Woods Corner: The Second World WarPart III: The Chartwell and Later Editions

49 Question Time: Orders, Decorations & MedalsPrime Minister's QuestionsEdited and annotated by Paul H. Courtenay

Cover: Churchill in the Royal Air Force uniformof Honorary Air Commodore, No. 615 (Countyof Surrey) Squadron, with eighteen ribbon bars.

Included are the five World War II campaign

medals Churchill received in 1945: the 1939-45Star, the Africa Star, the Italy Star, the France

and Germany Star, and the Defence Medal. (Thesixth World War II campaign medal, the War

Medal 1939-45, came in December 1946, afterthis portrait had been completed.) Portrait by

Doublas Chandor, reproduced by courtesy of the

National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D. C.

Story on page 10.

FINEST HOUR 111/3

DESPATCH BOX

Number 111* Summer 2001ISSN 0882-3715www.winstonchurchill.org

Barbara F. Langworth, Publisher([email protected])

Richard M. Langworth, Editor([email protected])

PO Box 385, Hopkinton,NH 03229 USATel. (603) 746-4433Fax. (603) 746-4260

• Address changes. USA: send tothe business office of The ChurchillCenter. UK, Canada & Australia:send to ICS business offices.All offices are listed on page 2.

Senior Editors:Ron Cynewulf RobbinsJohn G. Plumpton

Associate Editor:

Paul H. Courtenay

News Editor: John FrostFeatures Editor: Douglas J. Hall

ContributorsGeorge Richard, Australia;Randy Barber, Chris Bell,Barry Gough, Canada;Inder Dan Ratnu, India;Paul Addison, David Boler,Winston S. Churchill,Sir Martin Gilbert, Allen Packwood,Phil Reed, United Kingdom;Chris Hanger, Chris Harmon,Warren F. Kimball, Cyril Mazansky,Michael McMenamin,James W. Muller, Mark Weber,Manfred Weidhorn, Curt Zoller,United States

Finest Hour is made possible in part throughthe generous support of members of TheChurchill Center and Societies, and with theassistance of an endowment created by TheChurchill Center Associates (listed on page 2).

Finest Hour is published quarterly by TheChurchill Centet and International ChurchillSocieties, which offer various levels of supportin their respective currencies. Membershipapplications should be sent to the appropriateoffices on page 2. Permission to mail at non-profit rates in USA gtanted by the UnitedStates Postal Service, Concord, NH, permitno. 1524. Copyright 2001. All rights reserved.Designed and edited by DragonwyckPublishing Inc. Production by New EnglandFoil Stamping Inc. Printed by ReprographicsInc. Made in U.S.A.

MAYFLOWER ANCESTRY:THE CASE AGAINST

I am a member of the New England His-toric and Genealogical Society, The New YorkGenealogical and Biographical Society, TheMassachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendantsand The Churchill Center. I have a fairly com-plete set of documents on Churchill's Americanancestry, viz... 1) "The American Ancestry of theRight Honorable Winston Churchill," by Con-klin Mann, New York Genealogical and Biograph-ical Record, Vol. 31, July 1942. 2) Francis Cookeof the "Mayflower": The First Five Generations, byRalph V. Wood, Jr., 1996. 3) "Six Generationsof the Anglo-American Ancestry of Sir WinstonChurchill," by Scott C. Steward, Nexus, theNewsmagazine of the New England HistoricGenealogical Society, Vol. XIII, No. 5, Septem-ber-October 1996. 4) The Churchills, Pioneersand Politicians, by Elizabeth Snell, 1994.

Conklin Mann's article, published shortlyafter the U. S. entry into World War II, made agreat deal out of the "relationships" betweenChurchill and prominent Americans: with Presi-dent Roosevelt (8th cousins once removed, de-scent from Mayflower pilgrim John Cooke); withGeneral MacArthur (8th cousins, descent fromJoseph Farnsworth); and (in a later article, Vol.31, October 1942) with Vice President HenryWallace (8th cousins once removed, descentfrom James Clark).

I believe that the most authoritative refer-ence is Wood's work, as does Steward in hisNexus article. No genealogies have been morecarefully prepared or reach a higher standardthan the Mayflower Society genealogies. There issolid evidence that Daniel Wilcox married a firstwife prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Cooke,granddaughter of Francis Cooke. There is no ev-idence that Elizabeth was the mother of his sonsDaniel (Churchill's ancestor) and Samuel. Thereis circumstantial evidence that she was not. Ingenealogy, absence of evidence means absence ofconclusions.

If Churchill had applied for membership inthe Mayflower Society in 1942, I have no doubtthat he would have been accepted based on theMann article and the standards of acceptancethen in effect; and probably as a patriotic gestureto the war effort. However, if his descendantsshould apply today, research done since Mann'sarticle would not allow membership.

On the basis of current research, therefore,I can no longer claim to be a tenth cousin ofWinston Churchill's through descent fromRichard Warren of the Mayflower (ElizabethCooke's maternal grandfather). Churchill, how-ever is still related to Roosevelt: he is an eighthcousin, twice removed of FDR through their de-scent from Arthur Howland, brother ofMayflower passenger John Howland. Arthur didnot, however, accompany John Howland onthat famous voyage to America.

GREGORY B. SMITH, PHOENIX, ARIZ. USA

THE CASE FOREven before the Mann article appeared in

1942, G.A. Moriarty had suggested that Chur-chill's ancestor Daniel Wilcox Jr. was the son ofDaniel Wilcox by an unknown first wife, ratherthan by Elizabeth Cooke, descendant of FrancisCooke and Richard Warren of the Mayflower.Francis Cooke of the 'Mayflower'in its third edition(1944) noted that Daniel Wilcox Sr. names hiswife Elizabeth as the mother of four of his chil-dren (Daniel Jr. not among them), leading thecompilers to state: "it seems certain that Daniel[Jr.] was by the first wife."

The only evidence I know of the unknownfirst wife is a deed where Wilcox (Sr.) appar-ently mentions her. I am unaware of any directevidence that, if she existed, she had any chil-dren, much less Daniel (Jr.). The absence ofDaniel Jr. from the list of Elizabeth's childrencould be for any number of reasons. Absence ofevidence is not necessarily evidence of absence.She remains his only clearly identified wife andclearly was fertile.

Under these circumstances, while there isreasonable doubt that Churchill was Mayflowerdescended, it hardly can be dismissed as a myth.While it would be unfair to accuse the mytholo-gists—when asserting that the alleged prior wifewas Daniel (Jr.'s) mother—of constructing a di-nosaur out of a tailbone, the vigor of their posi-tion greatly exceeds the quantity and the qualityof evidence they have mustered to back it up.

DUNCAN KINDER, [email protected]

Editor's response: Daniel Wilcox Sr. men-tions a first wife, but she may not have existed?

One of Webster's definitions of "myth" is"an ill-founded belief held uncritically, esp. byan interested group." Well, the belief is certainly"held uncritically by an interested group"; is thestory ill-founded? Steward says, "the Mayflowerlines from Francis Cooke and Richard Warrento Sir Winston Churchill seem to have been dis-proved." Francis Cooke of the 'Mayflower says,"...it seems certain that Daniel [Jr.] was by thefirst wife." Against this, what are the odds thatDaniel Wilcox Sr. forgot to list one of his andElizabeth's children in his probate records?

We phoned Gary Boyd Roberts of the NewEngland Historical Genealogical Society, whosays the Society does regard the Cooke theory asill-founded. They acknowledge the connectionvia John Howland of the Mayflower, but notethat it is more tenuous, since Churchill's motherwas descended from John's brother Arthur, whodid not sail with John on the Mayflower.

We can't help it if the evidence of Messrs.Wood, Steward, Roberts, and Snell fails to sat-isfy. But until solid genealogical evidence is pro-duced to the contrary, we can only regard theclaim that Churchill was directly related to aMayflower passenger as a myth. Any well-docu-mented case to the contrary will be publishedwith every delight. $5

FINEST HOUR i n / 4

DATELINESQUOTE OF THE SEASON

"We nave arrived at a new time. Let us realize it. And with that new time strange methods,

nuge forces, large combinations—a Titanic world—nave sprung up around us.

The foundations of our power are changing....We must go forward...into a way of life

more scientifically organised, more consciously national, tnan any we nave known."

—WSC, FREE TRADE HALL, MANCHESTER, 23 MAY 1909

No Pigeonholes AvailablePESCADERO, CALIF.—A contributing mem-ber of The Churchill Center sent withhis annual contribution a note of con-cern that the makeup of the Centerseemed to be mainly "aging conserva-tives with outmoded ideas, thinkingabout the past rather than adapting tothe future." We have no idea of the po-litical makeup of our members, otherthan that it is pretty wide, ranging fromworld federalists to nationalists and iso-lationists (issues on which both sidesdraw supporting quotes from WSC).Conservatives seem to gravitate toChurchill for his wartime leadership,forgetting that he was a cutting edgeliberal on many issues, and not just inhis youth. Churchill cannot be pigeon-holed.

The good news is that our mem-bership is not aging; in fact, the oppo-site. Average age of USA members isaround 48 and, because most newmembers hear of us from our website,the average age of new members is 44.

We would probably not have sur-vived this long had we become em-broiled in contemporary politics, out-moded ideas, and thinking about thepast. Indeed Churchill's ideas about lib-erty, fraternal association among thegreat democracies, and collegiality andhonesty among politicians need moreemphasis than ever today. If they got it,people might be less cynical about poli-tics. Whether civilization will survivewithout a ready knowledge of history isa question. We are grateful, as always,for these gentle reminders, and are al-

Churchill running Left and Right (on the issue of inter-vention in the Russian civil war) Daily Express, 8Sepl9.

ways glad to have the thoughts of ourcontributing members.

Dresden P.S.Anent the Bombing of Dresden

(this column last issue), Jonathan Hayesreminds us: "At the Churchill confer-ence in Alaska last year, Sir MartinGilbert presented a discussion on Dres-den as part of the Bletchley decrypts. Itseems that Bletchley had picked up evi-dence that the Germans were movingseveral armored divisions toward theEastern Front and they would be goingthrough the Dresden rail junction. TheRussians were very insistent that Dres-den be bombed—they had no aircraftof their own that could do the job—and even moved the bomb line to the

east temporarily to allow the British todo the job (very unprecedented, andvery un-Russian)."

D-Day +57: Lest We ForgetHALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, JUNE 6TH—

Churchill is mentioned a number oftimes in The Diary of Anne Frank ("ourbeloved Winston Churchill"), a testa-ment to his figure as a symbol of hopeand strength, not only to Anne and theother residents of the Annex, but tomillions trapped in Hitler's capturedlands who heard his words, or heard ofthem. Reading or hearing his radio ad-dresses, one is certainly impressed andinspired, but another level of meaningis added when you can glimpse what hiswords and his leadership meant to thosewho were gathered round their clandes-tine radios at the time.

Anne Frank was clearly thrilledwith news of D-Day, which she and herfamily received around noon 57 yearsago today. She later comments withpride and envy of the fearlessness of hisdesire to take part in the landing per-sonally, and hoping to take a pop at theGerman shore positions.

Canadians take pride this anniver-sary in their forebears who stormedashore at Juno Beach. A year fromtoday, the Juno Beach Centre will openat Courselles, France.

For the Juno Beach story see thiswebsite: http://www.vacacc.gc.ca/gen-eral/sub.cfm?source=history/second-watr/normandy/dday.

—Mike Campbell

continued overleaf

FINEST HOUR 111/5

DATELINES

"You're Drunk...You're Ugly!"SUFFOLK, UK, SEPTEMBER 28TH— J. B r i a n

Blacklock claimed in the Daily Tele-graph that the exchange between BessieBraddock MP (Lab., Liverpool) andChurchill (Cons., Woodford) in 1946("Winston, you're drunk!"... "Bessie,you're ugly, but tomorrow I shall besober and you shall still be ugly.") is amyth: "This was first recorded, wordfor word, in the mid-18th century in aLondon theatre between a bibulouslatecomer and a lady whose enjoymentof the play had been disturbed.'

We don't dispute the origins, butbodyguard Ronald Golding said he wasstanding next to Churchill and heardthe remark. Having found Golding asincere individual, we accept his storyuntil it is disproved. Churchill mayhave read the theatre exchange andhoused it in his capacious memory. Hisuncharacteristically ungallant responseto a lady came, Golding believed, be-cause Churchill was manifestly notdrunk, just tired and wobbly. See LordCarrington, p. 19, for another Churchillremark re Mrs. Braddock. —Ed.

" Tupenny-Ha'penny"LONDON, MAY 1ST— The UK Reader's Di-gest recapped WSC's famous loathingfor television: He "laughed at the ideathat television would have any part toplay in politics. 'It's just a tuppenny-ha'penny Punch and Judy show,' saidChurchill, when he returned to powerin 1951." But during his final term thetelevision audience rose to over 12 mil-lion and WSC reluctantly arranged ascreen test: "His contempt for themedium comes over clearly. 'I'm sorry tohave to descend to this level,' he growls.It's as if television is some malignantvirus. The old man hated his screen testand ordered it to be destroyed; happilyfor us he was disobeyed." (Why "hap-pily"? So that sophisticated voyeurs fivedecades hence could laugh at heroes?"Malignant virus" accurately describesmuch on TV.) Macmillan, the Digestwent on, was the first Prime Ministerwho came to terms with the tube,though he described a TV studio as "a20th century torture chamber."

CHURCHILL CALENDAR 2001All postings welcome; owing to our quarterly schedule, we need copy at least three months in advance.

• 24-26 August: Visit of USS Winston S. Churchill to Portsmouth, UK. Contact: NigelKnocker ([email protected]), tel. (01380) 828609, full address on page 2.

• 28 September: Lansdowne Churchill Dinner. Contact: Gerald Dumont, Lansdowne ResortHotel, 44050 Woodridge Pkwy., Lansdowne VA 20176, tel. (800) 541-4801.

• 30 November: 127th birthday celebration, Kenneth Rendell Museum of World War II,NatickMA. Contact: Suzanne Sigman ([email protected]), tel. (617) 696-1833.

• 30 November: 127th birthday celebration, Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage AK. Contact:James Muller ([email protected]), tel. (907) 786-4740, address on page 2.

OUR PREMIER EVENTS FOR 2001• 2-3 November: Student Seminar, RMS Queen Mary, Long Beach CA: "WinstonChurchill: A Leadership Model for the 21st Century." Contact: John Plumpton

([email protected]), tel. (416) 495-9641, full address on page 2.Accommodations: Queen Mary, tel. (562) 435-3511. Mention the CC special rate of $149.

• 4-7 November: 18th International Churchill Conference, San Diego CA Contact:Judith Kambestad ([email protected]), 1172 Cambera Lane, Santa Ana CA 92705,tel. (714) 838-4741. Accommodations: Hotel del Coronado, tel. (800) HOTEL-DEL.A registration packet will be mailed shortly, but you should reserve your room now.Call 800-HOTEL-DEL. Mention the preferred rates beginning at $220 per night.

There is a wide choice of alternative accommodation, including guest housesand B&Bs. For information contact the San Diego visitor center

(www.sandiego.org) or telephone (800) 872-6343.

2002• 7th-14th Oaober: 1.9th International Churchill Conference sponsored by ICS UK: A

cruise of Churchill's Mediterranean: Barcelona-Monte Carlo-Civitavecchia (Rome)-Sorrento-Malta-Crete-Athens. Details forthcoming in future issues of Finest Hour.

Hitler Edges Out WSCNEW YORK, MAY 14TH— Somebody has fi-nally published some nice things aboutHitler (we can't tell you how avidlywe've awaited this development); actu-ally it's an interesting article. Writing inThe New York Times, Doug Harveycompared the painting styles of thosethree World War II artist-warriors,Hitler, Eisenhower and Churchill, con-cluding that Hitler was the best of thelot (but not for aesthetic reasons):

"Hitler's most common subject wasarchitecture—careful renderings of oldtown squares, churches and the like, ontop of delicate washy watercolor back-grounds. Heavily influenced by the19th-century Austrian watercoloristRudolph van Alt, Hitler adopted manyof that artist's stylistic tropes, particu-larly his dramatic skies....He had amarked soft spot for artistic types like

the filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl and thearchitect Albert Speer, and went out ofhis way to champion art that met hisstandards and vilify art that did not, asin the famous 'Degenerate Art' exhibitof 1937. He spent much effort to collecthis own work for a museum he plannedfor in his hometown in Austria, once theThird Reich had triumphed.

"Of course, thanks to the efforts ofthose other renowned painters, Win-ston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisen-hower, Hitler's dream never material-ized. But what if the war had been de-cided on artistic merit? Eisenhowerdoesn't really count, because he onlybegan painting after the war, atChurchill's urging, and never becamevery good. Churchill is another story.Though he never made his living as anartist, Churchill maintained a lifelongpassion for painting, even publishing a

FINEST HOUR in /6

DATELINES

book extolling its therapeutic value."Churchill was drawn to nature

studies and to a more expressive palette.But in terms of formal accomplish-ment, it's a tossup. Both politicians un-derstood 'good' painting to be limitedto the representation of 'nice' views—art was a hothouse vocation not to bedespoiled by the full spectrum ofhuman psychological content. Bothartists' works reflect this unambitiousaesthetic. In the end, though, it isHitler's insistence on the importance ofart and his place in it—as opposed toChurchill's amateur pursuits—that givehim the edge.

"The Nazi Party's allure for theGerman people was, to some extent,due to the aesthetic power of its sym-bols and public displays its rituals, pro-paganda, even its uniforms. The Nazishelped invent the politics of image thatwe all live with today. In making poli-tics his sordid canvas, Hitler was re-defining the limits of art-making." Thisis a point we made last issue while tour-ing the Kenneth Rendell Museum ofWorld War II.

Costner Outed?LONDON, MARCH 22ND— "Not content

with distorting the Second World Waron screen, Hollywood stars have re-sorted to blackening its heroes' reputa-tions," says "Londoner's Diary" in theEvening Standard. Kevin Costner, whoaroused controversy with both "JFK"and "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,"told The Guardian, "...we've grown cyn-ical. And look at what we do to all ourheroes: Churchill, FDR, Kennedy, theyall had affairs." Re Churchill, this washotly denied by historian AndrewRoberts ("another striking example ofHollywood injustice. He should look tothe inaccuracies in his own movies...")and Allen Packwood of the ChurchillArchives Centre ("no evidence withinthe Churchill papers to substantiate...I've never heard this before.") On all ofwhich a couple of observations:

1) The far-out scenario of "JFK"aside, it doesn't appear to us that any-one who admires Kennedy, as Costnerdoes, would cite him as a flawed hero;possibly Costner meant to defend those

Churchill setting off for a round of golf with Maxine Elliot, Cannes, February 1913. (FromGilbert, Churchill: A Photographic Portrait, 1974; Radio Times Hulton Picture Library.)

whom modern society tries to knock offtheir pedestals.

2) We have heard this whisper be-fore. The previous Marquess of Bathmaintained that Churchill had beenunfaithful with one woman, Maine-born actress Maxine Elliott (formerlyJessie Dermot). On several occasions in1934-38, WSC visited Elliott at hervilla, Chateau de L'Horizon, GolfeJuan, south of France. She was then 66-70, but Churchill had known her sincebefore the Great War. But Lord Bathnever offered evidence and the theory,as far as we know, died with him.

Oldham 2001: EditorialMay's violence between Asians and

whites in Winston Churchill's old con-stituency of Oldham, Lancashire—where he first came face to face withpoverty and resolved to do somethingabout it—was a sad reminder of justhow bad relations are between certaingroups among the English-speakingpeoples Churchill loved. Unfortunately,our societies themselves fan the flames.

In May after a two-month search Ifound a cheap set of Churchill's Marl-borough for one of our academic advis-ers who wanted it for his coursework,and sent it along with a bill for $54. Afew weeks later I received a five-foot-long fax from his university's purchas-

ing department asking for a truckloadof "financial disclosure" and other in-formation, including a federal form, tobecome a "vendor" and to receive my$54. Since I was not interested either inbecoming a vendor or answering imper-tinent questions about the color of myskin, I wrote him asking for a check,which he duly sent, informing me thatthe purchasing department had deniedsending me the documents.

As I bunged the fax into an enve-lope, I noticed that the person who sentit had a name clearly not derived fromone of the "ethnic groups" the univer-sity was seeking as vendors: "Asian-Pa-cific American, Black American, Sub-continent Asian (Asian-Indian Ameri-can), Hispanic American or NativeAmerican." How can she face herself inthe morning? Perhaps being a femaleexcuses her, for lo, there is also a box onher form to check if your business is "atleast 51% owned by a woman orwomen." I looked in vain on the formfor "Latvian Americans," whose rela-tives were just as dispossessed as certainNative Americans in the past.

The balkanization of the English-speaking peoples into ethnic Bantu-stans is a cancer growing on our soci-eties. Our Judeo-Christian heritageprompts us to be generous to the disad-

continued overleaf

FINEST HOUR mil

DATELINES

OUham2001...vantaged; if we exercised generosity tothe needy based upon need, therewould be fewer antagonisms of the kindwhich produce riots in Oldham.

Actress Whoopi Goldberg returnedfrom a visit to Africa saying, "I'm notan African-American, I'm an American—nothing there relates to America," orwords to that effect. RandolphChurchill, filling out a landing card ap-proaching Johannesburg in the Sixties,was asked to declare his race. He filledin "human," and was promptly sentpacking by their immigration authori-ties. He was, of course, delighted.

Churchill said of Britain, America,Canada, Australia and like nations thatwe have the worst system of govern-ment, except for all the other systems.By and large we have a good thinggoing in these lands, and nobody ismore generous toward the disadvan-taged than we are, which is why somany disadvantaged people are eager toget in. The word "immigration" shouldbe replaced by "assimilation" and effortsshould turn to blending "minorities"into the societies that have served uswell for centuries. Instead we have edu-cators, politicians and administratorswho patronize ethnic groups in an ef-fort to play them off against each otherfor their own gain. The motto of theUnited States is "e pluribus unum,"which means "from many, one," not theopposite. People may take pride in theirheritage without being made to appearforeign in their own lands. The saddestthing is that we have grown so used tothis racial profiling that we simply ac-cept it. RML

Local & NationalVirginiaALEXANDRIA, VA., AUGUST 5TH— The Wash-ington Society for Churchill (WSC)held its annual picnic and book semi-nar. The topic of the evening was"Dealing with Disaster: Churchill andGallipoli," and suggested reading wasthe first two chapters of Robert RhodesJames's Churchill: A Study in Failure, awidely-available 1970 analysis by the

AROUND & ABOUT

Two Pullman carriages, 246 Lydia and 247 Isle ofThanet, which formed part of Churchill's funeral

train, are to be returned to Britain. They were pur-chased by an unnamed buyer for a six-figure sum.The two Pullmans will become part of the new Wes-sex Belle dining train on the Swanage Railway in theIsle of Purbeck, Dorset....Congratulations to WSC'sgrandson Nicholas Soames MP and his wife Serenaon the birth in January of their son, Christopher,named for his grandfather, the late Lord Soames. "My mother is especially happyand very touched that we have named him after my father," said Mr. Soames."He's a magnificent specimen, but it's difficult to see who he'll take after. He hasn'tgot any discernible features just yet."...."I am surprised that Nicholas Soames re-ports that his new-born son has no discernible features," wrote The Rev. D. W.Johnson of Oxford to the Daily Telegraph. "In my experience of baptising them,all babies invariably betray an uncanny resemblance to Winston Churchill....Britain's flap over the Alanbrooke Diaries died early, possibly crowded out by theGeneral Election. Nevertheless, some of the conclusions drawn by London review-ers show a remarkable lack of perspective and comprehension. In an otherwise bal-anced review, Simon Jenkins wrote: "Alanbrooke was Britain's top soldier andChurchill's top military counsellor. He never left Churchill's side. He appeared todetest the man and his cronies but, when offered command of the North Africancampaign, declined it out of duty to his country. He feared what catastrophemight befall Britain if Churchill were left without him." Only the unread woulddraw such a strange conclusion, given that Alanbrooke badly wanted to leaveChurchill's side to direct Overlord!....Other reviewers wondered if Alanbrookemight have preferred to work for Stalin, of whom he does not have a bad word tosay. The current Lord Alanbrooke replied: "My father greatly admired Churchill.Although he respected Stalin's resolution in the war, he realised that he was not thetype of man one would invite to dinner." (Oh, we don't know—Churchill did!)Our own favorite remark about Alanbrooke remains the one by ClementineChurchill when the first Alanbrooke Diaries were published in 1957: "We mighthave won the war without Alanbrooke; I don't think we would have won it with-out Winston." $

editor of Churchill's speeches. Two aca-demic advisers to The Churchill Centerled the discussion: Chris Harmon, andJeffrey Wallin, author of the book ByShips Alone: Churchill and the Dard-anelles. For future events please contactCaroline Hartzler, (703) 503-9226.

New EnglandHOPKINTON, N.H., AUGUST liTH— Taking aleaf from the Washington Society'sbook, New England Churchillianstoday held their first summer picnicand book discussion at Putney House,home of Barbara and Richard Lang-worth, where Richard led a discussionof William Manchester's two volumesof Churchill biography, The Last Lion.

On hand was a mountainous manu-script for Manchester's Volume II, sentto Richard for proofing prior to publi-cation. "It has been repeatedly pointedout to me that I didn't catch all the mis-takes," he said, "though I did manageto pick about 600 nits." It was the con-sensus that Manchester is a brilliantstylist who has brought thousands toChurchill through his soaring prose,particularly his prologues.

Next up is a black tie dinner mark-ing Winston Churchill's 127th birthdayon November 30th at Kenneth Ren-dell's private museum of World War IIin Natick, Massachusetts. Mailers willbe sent to local members. Contact:Suzanne Sigman, (617) 696-1833. M>

FINEST HOUR i n / 8

RIDDLES,

MYSTERIES,

ENIGMASSend your questionsto the editor

Q 9 Whatever happened to Detec-• tive Inspector Thompson, who

accompanied Churchill throughoutWorld War II? I cannot find any refer-ence to him after 1940. A friend thinkshe was killed in an air raid during theBlitz. —Bill Fisher, Atlanta, Ga. USA

A^ Walter H. Thompson served with• the Special Branch, Scotland Yard

beginning 1913. He was bodyguard toLloyd George (1917-20) and Churchill(1930-32), and accompanied Churchillon his American lecture tour in 1931-32 (but was unfortunately not on handwhen WSC was knocked down by thecar on Fifth Avenue, New York, in1932). Thompson retired from the Yardin 1936 and became a greengrocer, butwhen Churchill joined the Governmentin 1939 he called him back, and he re-mained a bodyguard until May 1945.

Thompson's tall, angular featuresappear in a remarkable number of pho-tos; he stuck pretty close. He was notkilled in the Blitz but did lose a son inthe war. He either married or courtedone of Churchill's secretaries. One ofhis successors, the late Ronald Golding,told me that Thompson left under acloud involving the waving around of afirearm at Chartwell. Gilbert's Vol. Vdoes not record birth and death dates,but Thompson was still around in theSixties, signing copies of his variousbooks, most of which, except his first,Guard from the Yard (1932), are readilyavailable. They include / Was Churchill'sShadow (1951), Sixty Minutes WithWinston Churchill (1953), and Assign-ment Churchill (1956). —Ed.

Q» Was Churchill for or against the* atomic bombing of Hiroshima

and Nagasaki? I have read numerous ar-ticles saying the decision was debatable.—[email protected]

REMEMBER WINSTON CHURCHILL

Will future generations remember?Will the ideas you cherish now be sustained then?

Will someone articulate your principles?Who will guide your grandchildren, your faith and your country?

There is an answer.

The Churchill Center Associates (page 2) are people who have committed $10,000or more, over five years, all tax-deductible, to the Churchill Center and Society

Endowment funds earning interest in the United States and Canada.

With their help—and yours—those earnings guaranteethat The Churchill Center will endure as a powerful voice,

sustaining those beliefs Sir Winston and you hold dear.Now. And for future generations.

If you would like to consider becoming a Churchill Center Associateplease contact

Richard M. Langworth, Chairman, Board of Trustees(888) 454-2275 • [email protected]

A Churchill wrote in his war mem-> oirs, Vol. 6, Triumph and Tragedy

(1953, chapter 19): "British consent inprinciple to the use of the weapon hadbeen given on July 4, before the testhad taken place. The final decision nowlay in the main with President Truman,who had the weapon; but I neverdoubted what it would be, nor have Iever doubted since that he was right.The historic fact remains, and must bejudged in the after-time, that the deci-sion whether or not to use the atomicbomb to compel the surrender of Japanwas never even an issue. There wasunanimous, automatic, unquestionedagreement around our table; nor did Iever hear the slightest suggestion thatwe should do otherwise.

[Note: some historians have cited aminor official in the Foreign Officewho argued that Japan would surrenderwithout the bomb, if the Alliespromised she could keep her emperor;it was never proven that this everreached the plenary level. —Ed.]

Churchill continued, "I had in mymind the spectacle of Okinawa island,where many thousands of Japanese,rather than surrender, had drawn up inline and destroyed themselves by hand-grenades after their leaders hadsolemnly performed the rite of hara-kiri. To quell the Japanese resistance

man by man and conquer the countryyard by yard might well require the lossof a million American lives and halfthat of British—or more if we could getthem there: for we were resolved toshare the agony.

"Now all this nightmare picturehad vanished. In its place was the vi-sion—fair and bright indeed it seemed—of the end of the whole war in one ortwo violent shocks. I thought immedi-ately myself of how the Japanese peo-ple, whose courage I had always ad-mired, might find in the apparition ofthis almost supernatural weapon an ex-cuse which would save their honourand release them from being killed tothe last fighting man."

In introducing Alistair Cooke atthe 1988 Churchill Conference, Iquoted his words on the 25th anniver-sary of the bombing, which I have longsince committed to memory: "Withoutraising more dust over the bleachedbones of Hiroshima I should like tocontribute a couple of reminders: Thefirst is that the men who had to makethe decision were just as humane andtortured at the time as you and I werelater. And, secondly, that they had tomake the choice of alternatives that Ifor one would not have wanted to makefor all the offers of redemption from allthe religions of the world." $3

FINEST HOUR i n / 9

COVER STORY

ORDERS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALSExcerpted from Tne Cnurcnill Center's Next Pumication by Douglas S. Russell

As a young man, Winston Leonard SpencerChurchill set out to become a hero. In the event,he exceeded everyone's expectations, save perhaps

his own. Churchill was the recipient of a remarkablevariety of honors and awards. Few statesmen havereceived so many honorary degrees, freedoms of cities,honorary citizenships and memberships. Few have beennamed honorary citizens of the United States. Althoughseveral received the Nobel Peace Prize, none saveChurchill received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Among Churchill's honors are 37 orders, decora-tions and medals received between 1885 and 1963.Readers have surely noticed photographs of him at vari-ous stages of his career in military uniform or court dresswearing rows of colorful ribbon bars or a long row ofmedals. Reading and research over the past 12 years hasbrought to light much information and detail concern-ing these awards about which little was published before.

Of the orders, decorations and medals Churchillreceived, 20 were awarded by Great Britain, three byFrance, two each by Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg

Pre-publication offer:It has been over ten years since first publication of Judge Russell's

book, The Orders, Decorations and Medab of Sir Winston Churchill.The Churchill Center now proudly announces the new edition, up-dated with new information, all new photographs of Churchill's ac-tual medals, and Douglas Chandor's famous portrait on its cover.

Special to Members only: order your copy at a pre-publicationdiscount: Sl5/£10/C$20 postpaid. (UK airmail add £5). Send name,address, and cheque payable to "Churchill Center" (USA) or "ICS"(UK or Canada). Mail to: PO Box 385, Contoocook NH 03229 USA.

and Spain, and one each by Egypt, Libya, Nepal, theNetherlands, Norway, and the United States. Ten wereawarded for active service as an Army officer in Cuba,India, Egypt, South Africa, England, France, andBelgium. The greater number of awards was given inrecognition of his service as a minister of the British gov-ernment. All of the orders, medals and decorationsawarded to Churchill have been located. Thirty-three arein the possession of his grandson, Winston S. Churchill,loaned for display at the Cabinet War Rooms, London.The other four were returned to the Sovereigns whogranted them following Sir Winston's death in 1965. Allphotographs are of Churchill's actual awards, with theexception of the Order of the Garter insignia (collectionof Spink & Son, Ltd., London) and the Danish andNetherlands orders, which are replicas on exhibit at theDwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas.

In discussing Churchill's orders, decorations andmedals it is important and useful to define one's terms.The awards discussed in this book are official ones givenby national governments or heads of state for military orgovernment services. They do not include diplomas, cer-tificates, gifts, tokens or table medals from any source ormedals from universities, local or state governments, orcivil organizations public or private. Although the fol-lowing definitions may not be universally accepted, theyare used with consistency herein and will lend a clearerunderstanding and appreciation.

1. An Order is an institution, derived from themedieval monastic or secular orders of knighthood.Although originally closed fraternities, modern ordersare honorific, having generally been created by a sover-eign or head of state to reward meritorious service. Anorder is generally the highest honor a citizen may receivefor a career or service of great distinction in the servicesof one's country. Membership in an order is generally

continued overleaf

FINEST HOUR HI /10

granted by the sovereign or head of state, who is typical-ly the "grand master" of the order. In the UK the Kingor Queen is the "Sovereign" of each order and the "Great[or Grand] Master" is a member of the Royal Family.Membership is usually limited to a specific, small num-ber. Orders may have several classes of membershipwhich are denoted by a variety of insignia or badges ofrank and distinction. The badges are often referred to as"orders." The insignias typically are made of preciousmetals with enameled or jeweled designs.

2. A Decoration is an award conferred by a sover-eign or national government for heroism, meritoriousachievement or distinguished service. Decorations donot normally denote membership and are awarded forspecific categories or types or service, civil or military, byan individual. Decorations usually take the form ofcrosses or medallions of gold, silver, bronze or enameledmetal suspended from a ribbon and worn on the left sideof the chest.

3. A Medal is an award given by a sovereign ornational government to recognize the recipient's partici-pation in a military campaign, royal coronation or othersignificant event and is usually awarded to all who par-ticipated in the event. Medals are also given to recognizelong periods of service in the military, in government, orin a royal household. Medals are usually medallion inform and are worn on the left side of the chest, suspend-ed from a colorful ribbon.

I have written of Churchill's orders, decorationsand medals as a chronology, thinking it best to let thestory be told as it happened. In some cases this meansthe sequence in which the awards were earned ratherthan the order in which they were received. The follow-ing order of precedence lists the awards in the officialranking and the order in which Churchill wore them.This book is a history of one aspect of Churchill's career,one which I trust will be of interest both to those inter-ested in orders, decorations and medals, and to thoseinterested in Sir Winston Churchill.

Left: Churchill reviewing troops as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports,1946. Churchill wears both the Order of Merit and the Order of theCompanions of Honour on his neck, foreign order stars on his chest.There is a gap in the medal row for missing World War II medallions.

The Order of Precedence1. Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the

Garter, UK, appointed 24Apr53, installed I4jun54.2. Order of Merit, UK, appointed Ijan46, installed 8Jan46.3. Order of the Companions of Honour, UK, appointed

19Oct22, invested 16Jun23.4. India Medal, 1895 (clasp: Punjab Frontier 1897-98), UK,

authorized lODec 1898.5. Queens Sudan Medal 1896-98, UK, authorized 27Mar 1899.6. Queens South Africa Medal 1899-1902 (clasps: Diamond

Hill, Johannesburg, Relief of Ladysmith, Orange Free State,Tugela Heights, Cape Colony), UK, authorized 15Jul 1901.

7. 1914-1915 Star, UK, authorized 10Octl9.8. British War Medal 1914-1918, UK, authorized 13Octl9.9. Victory Medal, UK, authorized 4Jun20.10. 1939-1945 Star, UK, authorized 9Oct45.11. Africa Star, UK, authorized 9Oct45.12. Italy Star, UK, authorized 2Aug45.13. France and Germany Star, UK, authorized 9Oct45.14. Defence Medal 1939-45, UK, authorized 9Oct45.15. War Medal 1939-45, UK, authorized HDec46.16. King George V Coronation Medal, UK, 1911.17. King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, UK, 1935.18. King George VI Coronation Medal, UK, 1937.19. Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, UK, 1953.20. Territorial Decoration (King George V), UK, 31Oct24.21. Cross of the Order of Military Merit, Red Ribbon, First

Class, Spain, granted 6Dec 1895, ratified 25Jan 1896.22. Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold with Palm,

Belgium, 15Nov45.23. Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Lion of the

Netherlands, Holland, May 1946.24. Grand Cross, Order of the Oaken Crown, Luxembourg, I4jul46.25. Grand Cross with Chain, Royal Norwegian Order of St.

Olav, Norway, HMay48.26. Order of the Elephant, Denmark, 9Oct50.27. Order of Liberation, France, awarded 6Nov58.28. Most Refulgent Order of the Star of Nepal, First Class,

Nepal, 29Jun6l.29. Grand Sash of the High Order of Sayyid Mohammed

bin Ali el Senoussi, Kingdom of Libya, awarded l4Apr62.30. Army Distinguished Service Medal, United States,

authorized 10Mayl9, awarded 16Jull9.31. War Cross with Palm, Belgium, 15Nov45.32. Military Medal 1940-45, Luxembourg, I4jul46.33. Military Medal, France, 8May47.34. War Cross with Palm, France, 8May47.35. Cuban Campaign Medal, 1895-98, Spain, awarded 1914.36. Khedives Sudan Medal (clasp: Khartoum), Egypt, 1899.37. King Christian X's Liberty Medal, Denmark, 10Sep46. $

FINEST HOUR in / l l

CHURCHILL IN THE 2 1 S T CENTURYAbstracts rrom the London Conference: Contentions ror Years to Come

An important three-day conference was held at London University on 11-13 January. Arranged jointly by the Royal HistoricalSociety and the Institute of Historical Research, its theme was "Churchill in the 21st Century." A galaxy of leading historians

presented papers ranging from the loyal to die revisionist on various aspects of Sir Winston Churchill's career. One of the highlightswas a round-table discussion by Lady Soames and three well-known political figures, who recalled some of their memories of the

great man. A number of ICS members from both the United Kingdom and the United States were present. Each session lasted forone hour, so the summaries of some of the conference items, given below, are necessarily truncated. It is hoped that the fullproceedings of most of this very interesting conference will appear in book form. I regret that my absence from the last day's

discussions prevented me from creating abstracts of four sessions: "Churchill in Caricature" by Tim Benson; "Churchill and Europe"by John Barnes; "Churchill and the British Empire" by John Darwin, and the concluding session, "Churchill's Place in History."

If any reader can provide these, they would be appreciated by the editor. —Paul H. Courtenay

The Three Careers of Winston ChurchillPAUL ADDISON, Director of the Centre for Second WorldWar Studies, University of Edinburgh, author of TheRoad to 1945 and Churchill on the Home Front.

There were three main phases to Churchill's career: theLiberal reformer until 1915; the interwar Tory; and,

from 1940, the national and international hero. In thefirst phase he saw himself less as a Tory than as a ToryRadical and political heir to his father. His radical phasewas brief and reflected Lloyd George's ascendancy overhim, but by 1915 he was a different Churchill and veeringback towards the Tories. This was because of changing cir-

cumstances and his own world perceptions. The 1911Agadir crisis led to a focus on strategic issues and awokethe Napoleon in him: inside the politician was a soldiertrying to get out. He emerged from the Dardanelles era asa conservative statesman and a military leader.

In the second phase he was concerned at theprospect of a Russo-German Bolshevist bloc, which ledhim to praise Italian Fascism and initially to favour Francoin Spain. But his recognition of Germany as the hinge,and of the Nazi wish to dominate, made him see the needfor solidarity against Germany. His attack on the Govern-ment of India Bill contributed to his reputation as a misfitby the parties, as in 1914. After Munich he was ostracised

FINEST HOUR m /12

by the Conservatives; the winter of 1938/39 was his trueperiod in the wilderness.

As well as the inspiration he gave from 1940,Churchill also had wonderful luck. He was proved rightabout the Nazi threat, while bearing no responsibility forwhat happened in the 1930s; his perceived weaknesses,such as alleged militarism, were now assets; his ability totranscend party was a further asset; and there was roomfor someone who could imagine the impossible. But thealliances with USA and USSR led to unwelcome changes;they weakened his opposition to Socialism, obliged himunwillingly to legitimise the Polish borders, and damagedthe British Empire. These were personal blows toChurchill, but not to Britain itself.

Churchill was great for two main reasons: firstly, be-cause he was right about the Nazis in the 1930s, and butfor his leadership all might have been lost; secondly, be-cause in all three of his careers he was a great man in hisown right, by virtue of the sheer size of his personality.

Churchill and the Conservative PartySTUART BALL, Reader in History, University of Leicester,author or editor of many books on the ConservativeParty in the 20th century.

Churchill always navigated by his own compass. Hiswartime premiership was above party, and after 1945

the Conservatives were glad to claim him, but raided hispast only for 1940. Though accused of flawed judgment,he stumbled no more than most. It is surprising that heattracted so many followers, especially over India, whichled to the greatest rebellion the Conservatives had everknown.

Appointing Churchill to any post in 1924 was riskyfor Baldwin, but the Treasury was less politically sensitivethan, for example, the Home Office, and there were soundpolitical reasons for his return to government. Churchillnow placed the greatest emphasis on loyalty to Baldwinand the Cabinet; he viewed the General Strike in the sameway as Baldwin, i.e., a challenge to the constitution.

His eclipse in 1931 was not due to India or to tar-iffs. There was a third factor: the feeling against the "oldgang" and the need to refresh the Conservative frontbench; he was one of those washed into a backwater dueto party feeling. He was unhappy at Lord Irwin's declara-tion on Indian independence, but his 1931 resignationfrom the Business Committee was not a leadership bid; itwas the only option open to him. He was aware from1929 that Chamberlain was Baldwin's likely successor, sohe followed his own course and took little account of theviews of others. He was one of several ministers whose in-fluence had declined, and he now had time to devote todomestic affairs: painting, Chartwell, etc.

Churchill expected a recall to government to take

charge of Defence Coordination and his conduct in the1930s made little sense if he was seeking the leadership.His stance on India was separate from all other issues andthe excess of his opposition made official policy morecredible; at party meetings, however, this policy was op-posed by large majorities, the wider question being seen asone of confidence. Churchill was thus regarded as seekingto destroy the National government. His call for a Min-istry of Supply was supported by others, but he moder-ated his public statements in order not to prejudice thepossibility of his return. The Abdication crisis was a set-back to him, but the storm was as brief as it was intense.

Churchill was the seconder when Chamberlain waselected party leader. This was not just a symbol of unity,but showed that Churchill still counted in Conservativepolitics. Though he was still listened to in the appease-ment period, he was seen as a lonely figure, even meetinghostility in his own constituency. But he followed the pru-dent strategy of looking after his own base and retainedthe support of his local chairman. After March 1939 theanti-appeasers were seen as realistic and, after his return tothe Admiralty, Churchill gave total support to Chamber-lain, notably over Norway.

Two party problems which he had to face duringWorld War II were the fact that there was a national, not aparty, government; and domestic policy—which, whilenever threatening his position, sometimes caused concernto Conservatives. He neglected his party responsibilitiesduring the war, but there was little he could do about thetide against the "guilty men of Munich." His wartimerecord saved him from losing the party leadership, whichhe retained until 1955.

Despite creeping socialism during the war, his re-luctance to move left reassured the Party. The 1951 elec-tion was seen as his victory; he now gave a lead on mainoccasions, delegating details to others. Churchill wascloser to mainstream Conservative opinion than is usuallyrecognised, especially in 1924-1931. His instincts wereshared by many, if not always openly. After the war he ledthe Tories from the mainstream centre-right and was amore capable party politician and effective leader thangenerally acknowledged. His final years as Prime Ministerwere overshadowed by his stroke and failing physical pow-ers; yet under him the Conservatives established them-selves in a role which was to last for decades to come.

Churchill and the MonarchyDAVID CANNADINE, Director, Institute of Historical Re-search, Professor of History, University of London; au-thor of The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy.

Churchill was an ardent admirer of the monarchy, buthis relations with the royal family were far more com-

plex and he sometimes found individuals unappealing. »

FINEST HOUR in /13

Churchill and the Monarchy...

He saw Queen Victoria as a good and constitutionalmonarch; additionally her personal propriety set highstandards and she was the great presiding personage overthe British Empire; but he never forgot that governmentwas responsible to Parliament and not directly to theCrown. Long evolution had led to a happy Parliamentand a docile monarchy.

Although well acquainted with Edward VII,Churchill came to view him as obstructing his reformingzeal, while the King saw Churchill as more of a cad in of-fice than in opposition. Both Edward VII and George Vthought that Churchill wanted to erode their royal posi-tion, while George V thought him unreliable. Churchill,with his ducal links, was not intimidated by royal displea-sure. While recognising George V's zeal, he made no se-cret that he thought him to be a dim reactionary. Therewas relief in royal circles in 1915 when Churchill left theAdmiralty. These mutual views began to change betweenthe wars. The collapse of the European empires, and thecivil wars and revolutions which followed, led Churchillto see George V no longer as a reactionary, but as a livingtradition in a turbulent era and one who was above classstrife; in turn the King warmed to Churchill.

Churchill's hopes for Edward VIII were sincere andrested on an exaggerated sense of Edward's virtue; he wasblind to the King's faults. During the Abdication crisis herallied to the King and tried to play for time—a wrongdecision, which did damage to his reputation because hehad seriously misjudged the character of the King and thepublic mood. He later remained loyal to the Duke ofWindsor as far as he could without prejudicing his greaterloyalty to the Crown.

George VI initially disapproved of Churchill, notonly over WSC's support for his elder brother, but be-cause WSC was opposed to Chamberlain, whom the Kingadmired, along with Chamberlain's policies. He viewedthe prospect of Churchill as Prime Minister with regretand would have preferred Halifax.

Churchill was soon seen by the public as a symbolof national unity, upstaging the King. Nevertheless, rela-tions improved and the King came to recognise WSC'svigour and indispensability. In 1945 George VI was as dis-mayed to lose him again as he had been to appoint him in1940. Henceforth Churchill remained a firm favourite.On his 80th birthday Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mothersaid, "We are all very proud of you."

Churchill admired the young Queen Elizabeth II,who reciprocated. On his death she ordered a State Fu-neral, which she attended in person. His ultimate opinionon six sovereigns took time to establish. His attitude toEdward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI (andtheirs to him) fluctuated over time; only the Queens, Vic-toria and Elizabeth II, had his unstinted admiration.

Churchill and the Two "Evil Empires"DAVID CARLTON, Lecturer in International Studies at theUniversity of Warwick. Biographer of Anthony Eden,author, recently, of Churchill and the Soviet Union.

It is usually argued that Churchill was always clear thatonce Hitler had come to power, the Soviet Union must

be courted as a potential ally, much though he disap-proved of the Soviet regime. This view needs to be chal-lenged: In 1936, Churchill wavered from his line of work-ing with the Soviets against the Nazis; he feared a Red vic-tory in Spain and was undecided which of the two "evilempires" was the greater threat to Britain. After Franco'svictory was assured, he returned to his earlier position.

A. J. P. Taylor stated that, on becoming Prime Min-ister, Churchill's aim was the defeat of Hitler and the un-doing of his conquests—and that he never wavered fromthis aim; but the truth is again more complicated. Duringthe Dunkirk crisis Churchill contemplated in principle anagreement with Germany, provided Britain's vital interestswere protected; but he opposed Halifax's wish to explorepeace terms immediately, as he felt it would be detrimen-tal to public morale at that critical point if it becameknown that an approach had been made.

In the summer of 1941 Churchill anticipated Amer-ican entry into the war and Soviet withdrawal from it.Eventually Hitler did declare war on the United States,but by then the Americans were, to an important degree,distracted from Europe by being also at war with Japan.On the other hand, Churchill was wholly wrong aboutthe Soviets and perhaps never fully recovered from theblow of seeing Soviet victories relentlessly leading to theemergence of the Soviet Union as the dominant power inthe new Europe. Certainly he spent much of the later partof the war planning to frustrate the Soviet Union's maligndesigns, real or imagined.

By 1946, now out of office, Churchill was publiclyexpressing anti-Communist sentiments, though contain-ment is usually assumed to have been his goal in his fa-mous Fulton speech. In reality he had a hidden desire forconfrontation. As he privately told the Americans in1948, he favoured a showdown with the Soviet Union be-fore the latter had its own nuclear weapons, thus disprov-ing the belief that he spent ten postwar years seeking con-ciliation. Fortunately, however, Truman took no notice ofhis wish to prepare for a preventive nuclear war.

After his return to office in 1951 his well-knownsearch for summitry was essentially insincere: his aim wasto retain office. He had nothing of substance to proposeto the Soviets and it is understandable that the UnitedStates rejected his pleas. Moreover, in 1953, when the Eu-ropean Defence Community was on the verge of collapse,Churchill wrote an alarmist minute which was surely notthat of a serious supporter of detente, but rather that of anunreconstructed enemy of Moscow. Thus it is reasonable

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to claim that he never ceased to be anti-Soviet from the1917 revolution until his retirement in 1955; and it mayeven be argued that his anti-Nazi phase was for him some-thing of a digression, however necessary. In short, his con-test with Bolshevism gave his life its greatest meaning.

Churchill and the American AllianceJOHN CHARMLEY, Professor of History at the Universityof East Anglia, author of Churchill: The End of Gloryand Churchill's Grand Alliance: the Anglo-American Spe-cial Relationship.

In 1927 Sir Maurice Hankey said that making conces-sions to gain American good will would not work: "We

should be more abused than ever as we should be thoughtweak." How different this was post-1945; the change wasbrought about by Churchill himself. When he was chidedby Anthony Eden for having made too many concessionsto the United States, he retorted that he had got a gooddeal of his own way as a result. In his war memoirsChurchill disguises the traumatic loss of power by referringto the special relationship: the British were viewed not asforeigners but almost as citizens of a new Roman Empire.

Churchill's version of 1940-41 disguises the true po-sition, which is that of a heart made sick by constant hopedeferred; he persisted in the belief that the United Stateswas about to enter the war and concessions were thereforenecessary to achieve this end. Roosevelt liked to maintainflexibility and to keep his options open; he saw folly inlooking too far ahead. He wanted the Fascists to be de-feated and for Britain to remain in the war against them.But Churchill saw Roosevelt as a noble idealist who wasfrustrated by isolationists. Churchill paints him as a com-rade-in-arms with his heart in the right place, but FDRwas more astute than Churchill and in his handling ofWSC than vice-versa.

Churchill was a suitor in this instance; any criticismof him must ask why he did not act like de Gaulle andspurn appeasing Roosevelt. The latter aimed at regionalhegemony: after assisting with convoy protection, he didnothing new until the Japanese attack. The British elite didnot accept Churchill's view that no major concessions hadbeen made, feeling that the destroyers received in exchangefor bases in the West Indies were out-of-date and suppliedat a slow rate; Churchill preferred to see the deal as sym-bolic. Although Churchill called Lend-Lease an "unsordid"act, there was some shoddiness about it. The Roosevelt Ad-ministration wanted to destroy the British Empire;Churchill did not dissent from Beaverbrook's view that theUnited States had made Britain pay the uttermost, butsuch a statement did not suit his view of the alliance.

The Soviet alliance prejudiced the world order Roo-sevelt wanted to see. The Atlantic Charter had referred tothe right of all peoples to self-determination; Churchill

did not see this as referring to the British Empire. It wasHitler, not Churchill, who brought the United States intothe war in Europe. Churchill did influence Allied strategyin 1942, including his bad Mediterranean strategy, but hehad to defer to Roosevelt's insistence that Overlord shouldbe given highest priority.

Churchill's assumption of an identity of interests be-tween Britain and the United States extended as far as adream of ultimate union. Even though this phantasm wasunrealisable, enough of the Churchillian attitude toAmerica rubbed off on his fellow politicians to make themassume that Britain's future as a great power lay exclusivelyin a transatlantic connection. This led them, andChurchill, to neglect the opportunities of Britain to take aleading part in the move towards a European Union.

By the end of the war the Americans were more in-terested in a special relationship with the Soviet Union;this contrasts with Churchill's picture. In reality the illu-sion over the United States allowed Britons to think thatBritain was still a great power, which was no longer true.

Churchill and the PremiershipPETER HENNESSY, Professor of Contemporary ModernHistory, Queen Mary & Westfield College, Universityof London. Author of books on British political and con-stitutional history including The Prime Minister: TheOffice and its Holders since 1945.

Churchill told Lord Moran that he was a great believerin Cabinet discussion, which always took place in his

peacetime government; but he was frustrated if he did notreceive support. The conduct of his wartime premiershipis widely known. This paper therefore concentrates on hispostwar period of office, but includes comparisons withthe earlier time; it is too simplistic merely to contrast thetwo tenures. During the war he had to devote some timeto postwar reconstruction and the global future; the Bev-eridge Report of 1943 is a good example.

Churchill initialled the minute authorising the use ofatomic bombs against Japan without consulting the Cabi-net, the only British Prime Minister to have agreed to usethis weapon in war. The best of his failing energies were di-rected to the search for peace before "equality of ruin."

Although he was convinced that his wartime use ofoverlordships was not necessary once the war emergencyhad receded, he told the Cabinet in 1953 that he did notwish to deal directly with so many ministers; he persistedwith overlords because of a sense of his failing powers andlack of touch on domestic matters. His postwar govern-ment can be seen under four overlapping shadows: hisWorld War II experience (including the use of overlord-ships), waning British power, concerns over the H-bomb,and his growing physical infirmities. He took pleasure inbeing surrounded by his honorary family of familiars »

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Churchill and the Premiership...

at 10 Downing Street and in his peculiar late-night work-ing hours. By 1951 he had long since passed the age whennew faces were palatable to him.

His failing powers were known by a small inner cir-cle. In 1953 the newspaper proprietors were prevailedupon not to reveal details of his stroke. He often overre-acted to newspaper comment and initiated some absurdmilitary sideshows, e.g., the recreation of the HomeGuard in response to a perceived Soviet parachute threat.But the Cold War was the most important aspect of thisperiod. He was uneasy at the use of napalm in Korea and,in connection with atomic research, recoiled from peace-time deception. He felt that without nuclear weaponsBritain could not maintain its position as a world power;he saw their possession as narrowing the gap betweenBritain on the one hand and the United States and SovietUnion on the other. But the Cabinet was not wholly sup-portive on this point.

Churchill would often work in bed, accompaniedby his cat and budgerigar, and not rise until lunchtime. Itis inconceivable now that a Premier could work from bedin this way, and such eccentricity will never be seen again.

Churchill and DemocracyROLAND QUINAULT, Reader in History, University ofNorth London. Author of various studies on WinstonChurchill and other members of his family.

His father's belief in Tory Democracy and his favouritephrase "Trust the People" had a profound influence

on Churchill. He wanted universal suffrage, but onlywhen the conditions were right; with the same proviso healso wanted the suffrage to be extended to all women, notjust to those from the propertied classes. Although he ini-tially saw the House of Lords as a bulwark against an over-mighty Commons, he later changed his view, being in-censed by the Lords' rejection of the 1909 Budget; heconsidered peers in government to be unrepresentative.

Churchill considered Imperial Germany to be lessdemocratic than Britain but more democratic than Russia,and so welcomed the Russian revolution. But he de-nounced Lenin and Trotsky when they abandoned parlia-mentary rule: he objected less to their ideology than totheir terrorism. He saw the 1926 General Strike as anti-democratic, as it sought to compel Parliament to dosomething it would not otherwise do; in this he remainedtrue to his father's "Trust the People."

He was opposed to Indian independence because hesaw India as unsuited to democracy, with its small (mostlyilliterate) suffrage denied to numerous citizens, e.g., the60 million Untouchables. He saw the Nazis like the Com-munists, as anti-democratic; his opposition to appease-

ment was partly due to his view that it undermineddemocracy. During the Second World War he felt thatdemocracy was on trial, first against the Nazis and thenagainst the Communists.

Churchill predicted that "the wars of peoples will bemore terrible than the wars of kings." He believed in grad-ual levelling up, but his fight for democracy in World WarII strengthened independence movements in India andthe Empire. Though an aristocrat, his instincts were de-mocratic, and that was a large part of his success.

Churchill's Posthumous ReputationJOHN RAMSDEN, Professor of Modern History, QueenMary & Westfield College, University of London. Au-thor of several histories of the Conservative Party and ofa study of Churchill as his own historian.

Before 1914 Churchill was seen as a self-publicist withpoor judgment. But two aspects gave him an unfair

image. As political heir to his father, added to the circum-stances of the Boer War, he was not popular with the Irish(including the large Irish population in Australia), al-though he was generally in favour of Irish Home Rule; hewas viewed as anti-working class, although he had insti-tuted major social reforms. He was frequently consideredto be a politician who had to explain himself too often.Gallipoli was, after all, government policy, and we knowthat his reputation on Russia was not deserved (thoughthis was not known at the time); his stance on the Abdica-tion of Edward VIII was partly derived from his opposi-tion to Baldwin.

His longevity in politics, and the transformationfrom a Victorian cavalry officer to one who lived to travelby jet, meant that he did not necessarily adapt well to themodern era; but it was amazing that he adapted at all. Fivepillars of his later reputation were: his extraordinary per-sonality, his prophecies on defence issues in the 1930s andpostwar, his inspirational courage as war leader in 1940,his drive and resourcefulness as war leader for five years,and his matching of words to deeds in speeches and writ-ings. The New York Times considered that his two greatachievements were to fight on in 1940 and his later warn-ings about Stalin. He was seen as the embodiment of theBritish war effort and as an outstanding personality, whosesuccesses and failures were on an equally grand scale; nev-ertheless his personality was humanly earthbound.

How does Churchill stand the test of time?

• More and more information is becoming avail-able, and the opening of public records is giving a morebalanced story.

• He was the prophet of war and of cold war, whichrevealed some critics.

• He told Roosevelt not to make concessions toStalin, but could have done so more strongly.

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• His Fulton speech had official support whichcould not be given openly; only he could have said whathe did.

• He was the key figure in 1940. Cabinet papersshow that he did not rule out a compromise peace, andwas less heroic than his war memoirs suggest.

• He heavily defeated a vote of No Confidence inthe central direction of the war.

• Attempts to cut him down to size were easily de-molished.

• His centrality was understood in Germany, wherean attack on Churchill was seen as essential to wreckBritish morale.

• His reputation as a warrior was exaggerated by hisfriends. Three or four decades have chipped away at theseaspects, but most are intact. BBC Radio 4 named himrunner-up (after Shakespeare) as Man of the Millennium.

Churchill's Writing of History:Appeasement and The Gathering Storm.DAVID REYNOLDS, Fellow of Christ's College, Cam-bridge. Author of Rich Relations and other works onAnglo-American relations during and after the SecondWorld War. Currently writing a book on Churchill's TheSecond World War.

Churchill originally planned only four volumes of warmemoirs, with five chapters on 1919-1939; in the

event 21 chapters were devoted to the inter-war period.The Gathering Storm was shaped by the available sources(Churchill's team of researchers ensured that this accounthad inside information) and his determination to high-light lessons for the current Cold War.

Among British leaders, he saw Baldwin and Cham-berlain as the villains; Baldwin wanted a quiet life andChamberlain wanted to be the peacemaker. Churchill'swarnings helped to galvanise the government towardsrearmament in the air. But alarm at his exaggerated figureson German air strength led to timidity and were thuspartly counter-productive, leading to fewer resources forthe army; conscription and a larger army would have hada greater impact on Hitler.

His concentration on the German threat led to hislargely neglecting Italy and Japan. His coverage of theSpanish Civil War was scant, while his anti-communistline predominated in 1936; by 1938 he was concerned atprospects of a Franco victory. The idea of a Grand Al-liance was much clearer by the end of this period.

The 1930s were not wholly "wilderness years";Churchill was an outside adviser to the government (onthe Air Defence Research Committee) and hoped for of-fice. In the early 1930s he attacked Baldwin on India, butafter Baldwin's 1935 victory, he hoped to join the Govern-ment and pulled his punches in the Rhineland debate.

The Gathering Storm still has enormous power, dueto the main issues raised: democracy and appeasement.Churchill's underlying point was that strong leadershipcan have an effect on modern democracy. He felt that ap-peasement could be good or bad according to the circum-stances. If followed from fear it is useless; if adopted fromstrength it is noble and might lead to world peace. But bythe 1950s, in his second premiership, the lessons of ap-peasement (which he had helped to teach) were too pow-erful; he found it easier to make than unmake history.

Churchill and the Trades UnionsCHRIS WRIGLEY, Professor of Modern British Historyand Head of the School of History & Art History, Uni-versity of Nottingham. Author of works on British tradeunions, economic and political history. President of theUK Historical Association, 1996-99.

Churchill began his career proclaiming himself to be aTory Democrat. Between 1897 and 1911, and after

1940, he was generally favourable to trade unionism. Be-tween 1911 and 1926, in the face of social tension and ahigh number of militant strikes, he became identified as anotable defender of order. With the trade unions' role inthe Second World War, and his need for working classsupport after his 1945 general election defeat, Churchillin his later career again spoke of Tory Democracy and waswarm in many of his comments on trade unions.

In his first attempt to enter Parliament in 1899he stood with James Mawdsley, a trade unionist who wasmore conservative than many historians subsequently re-alised; although he later became Chairman of the TradesUnion Congress, Mawdsley was a notable anti-socialist.

Churchill's approach was to help the workerswithout affecting their competitiveness; he had a deep be-lief in market forces and individualism and wanted tohelp the underdogs, but not organised Labour. Until 1911his contact had been primarily with moderate tradeunionism, but he later became more alarmed about mili-tant miners and railwaymen, rioting crowds, etc. He sawtrade unions not as socialistic, but as individualistic, andfelt that the right to strike would not be possible in a so-cialist society.

As Home Secretary his duty was the maintenanceof law and order, rather than to act as Judge between in-dustrial disputes. As Minister of Munitions in 1917 hetried to remedy the grievances of skilled workers onhourly pay by giving a 12 1/2% pay rise, in spite of civilservice warnings that this would set off a chain of pay de-mands and strikes. In the turmoil of 1919 he saw tradeunionism as a bulwark against revolution; the curse oftrade unionism was that there was not enough of it. Hesaw the General Strike of 1926 as a constitutional out-rage, though he viewed the accompanying coal strike »

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as legitimate. He was keen that workers take part in tradeunion meetings and not let the communists and socialistsmake all the decisions.

In 1940 the trade unions were ready to supportChurchill's coalition government because of the presenceof Ernest Bevin, who was able to meet the Prime Ministeron equal terms. Churchill praised the union movement'scontribution to victory and to postwar reconstruction.

Churchill and DetenteJOHN YOUNG, Professor of Politics, University of Not-tingham. Author of Winston Churchill's Last Campaign:Britain and the Cold War 1951-55.

The statesman who lambasted the Soviets in 1919 wasthe same one who was allied to Stalin from 1941 and

who later sought a Peace summit with the Russians. YetChurchill's search for a postwar summit was consistent.He recognised that once the Soviet Union had a nuclearcapability, Communism could not be destroyed by ashowdown, only diplomacy; trade and personal contactscould achieve this. His faith in humanity told him that re-pressive regimes did not last forever and that there wastherefore no need for a violent confrontation.

Churchill advocated an alliance with the UnitedStates after the war, justifying it by the Soviet threat; buthe also made positive remarks about the "valiant Russianpeople" and admired their strength. He said in 1949 thatthe Kremlin feared friendship, because free intercoursewould destroy Communism, and the following year calledfor "a parlay at the summit"; but the Americans did notlike this idea.

In 1953, seizing on the death of Stalin, Churchillagain called for a summit conference; Eisenhower was notconsulted. Churchill's reaction to the East German upris-ings in June 1953 was that he had no wish to see a prob-lem for the Russians there. After his stroke that month hewas obsessed with a narrower group of subjects: the H-bomb and detente.

He had some success in 1954 in reducing thelimitations on East-West trade. He stated publicly that in-creased trade would lead to a weakening of the Sovietregime; this gave Eisenhower a reason to introduce such apolicy in the United States. Although Churchill proposeda bilateral meeting to Molotov, British ministers were op-posed; he was saved by a Soviet message that they wantedto discuss European security, which was not Churchill'saim. He was thus able to withdraw his proposal and avoida major Cabinet crisis.

By the end of his career he was unapologetic, say-ing that two decades of peace would bring profoundchange in the Communist bloc. He continued to believe

that the safest way to fight Soviet Communism was to en-gage in trade and other links. He failed in his aim becauseof ill health, and the fact that the Foreign Office neverliked the idea of a summit, combined with his inability towin over the United States to his view.

Churchill Remembered:A Round Table Discussion

"You Must Carry On..."TONY BENN, Labour MR Technology Minister 1966-70.Energy Secretary 1975-79. On the death of his father,Viscount Stansgate, in I960, he was barred from theHouse of Commons because he had inherited a seat inthe House of Lords. He fought a rigorous battle tochange the law on this issue, eventually succeeding. Hewas re-elected to the Commons and resumed his career.

Before 1914 Churchill was a radical. He introducedlabour exchanges and nationalised British Petroleum;

he was well to the left of today's New Labour. His policiesin the 1920s as Chancellor of the Exchequer were similarto those of the present. Had he died in 1931, he wouldhave been regarded as a failure. In 1936 when I was 12, Iheard him in the Commons warning about the Nazis. Inmy family there was great hostility to Chamberlain andadmiration for Churchill. In 1940 he was an inspirationto everyone, as I remember very well; he was very modestin later saying that he only gave the lion's roar.

In 1940 there was discussion about sending chil-dren to safety in America. My brother, aged 11, wrote toThe Times, saying he would rather be bombed to frag-ments than to leave England; Churchill wrote to my fa-ther about this and sent my brother a signed copy of MyEarly Life. Later Churchill said that more peers wereneeded in government and my father, a Labour MP,agreed to go to the House of Lords.

I was returning home in a troopship in 1945 andheard his "Gestapo" speech; I knew that Attlee wouldn'thurt a fly. I asked Churchill a question in the House, dur-ing his postwar premiership, about the atomic bomb. Att-lee rebuked me, saying that I had no right to ask such aquestion without reference to him.

[Well before my father's death] I wrote toChurchill asking him to help me in my efforts to remain inthe House of Commons [when the time came to succeedhim]. He sent an encouraging reply and I asked him if Icould publish it; he refused, saying that as Prime Minister,he could not be quoted on this issue. On the day after hisretirement I repeated my request and, by return of post, re-ceived a repetition of his earlier letter, with permission topublish. I only spoke to him once, when I thanked him forthis action. He replied, "You must carry on."

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"Would you like to join my shoot?"LORD CARRINGTON, junior minister in Churchill's post-war government. First Lord of the Admiralty 1959-63.Foreign & Commonwealth Secretary 1979-82. NATOSecretary-General 1984-88.

Lord Deedes and I are the last two surviving membersof Churchill's postwar government; I was a junior

minister and only went to Cabinet meetings twice. Myfamily was Liberal Imperialist and agreed with Churchillon India, but this was against the general view and doubtsabout his judgment, reinforced by his stand during theAbdication, were dominant; to some extent he was mis-trusted. Though most people were pleased when he be-came Prime Minister in 1940, Jock Colville (then Assis-tant Private Secretary at 10 Downing Street and my firstcousin) made clear his trepidation at the prospect. It did-n't take him long to say he'd been wrong about this.

There was very great relief in my battalion thatwe now had a leader who was a fighter. Those alive at thattime will never forget what we owed him. With his voice,his hat, boiler suit, face and personality, it was impossibleto believe that we could be defeated. I was at Hythe onthe south coast at the time and spent the nights on thebeach; in my platoon I had 48 men and 3 1/2 miles ofcoast to cover. It never occurred to us that we might bedefeated and I am sure that this spirit was due toChurchill. I thought we were in good hands. Those whoare today critical of him were not alive then.

When I sat in the House of Lords after the war, Ilooked down at the Commons from the Peers' Gallery, ex-pecting that MPs would look quite different from ordi-nary people. I was disappointed to see that they did not—with two exceptions: Churchill and Ernest Bevin (wholooked like a big, benign frog). Looking back, what a dif-ficult time that was for Churchill in the face of an un-grateful electorate. His behaviour was remarkable.

A year later I became a whip in the House ofLords. One day Churchill, as party leader, came to lunchwith the Tory whips; I looked at him in awe. He was eitherbored or in a bad temper or both. During the first twocourses he never spoke. Then in came Bessie Braddock [anobese Labour MP]. Churchill looked and said, "Ah, theregoes that constipated Britannia." He was so pleased withthis remark that he became a different person.

In 1951 it never occurred to me that I would geta government post, so I did not wait by the telephone; Iwent out shooting partridges. Then I was told that thePrime Minister wanted to speak to me on the telephone.He said, "I hear you are shooting partridges; would youlike to join my shoot?" Can you imagine a Prime Ministertoday making such an invitation by telephone?

As a junior minister in the Ministry of Agricul-ture & Fisheries I once attended a Cabinet meeting atwhich derationing was discussed. Gwilym Lloyd George

[the Food Minister] said it was impossible at that time.The Prime Minister replied, "We said we would do it andwe will do it." So we did, and everything went all right.This showed his determination. In 1954 the CrichelDown affair came to a head; this was a dispute betweenlandowners and the need for mass production of food. SirThomas Dugdale (then Agriculture minister and my boss)resigned and I thought I should do the same. The PrimeMinister sent for me. "Do you want to resign?" "No.""Well, don't."

You could say that he stayed too long; who does-n't (other than Harold Wilson)? Robert Menzies in Aus-tralia resigned and then regretted it, as he didn't like hissuccessors. My party has great disloyalty to its leaders, so aPrime Minister has to ignore this. There is a fashion nowto judge people of a different generation by the thoughtsof our own time. How can you think thus of people bornnearly 130 years ago? Critics ignore this point.

When I was NATO Secretary-General, I visitedZurich. People think that in a speech there he advocatedBritish membership of Europe. This is not so; he said thatpeople should get together, but the United Kingdomwould not herself be a part of any union—we had an em-pire. People do not understand that now. Of all the peopleI met, I admire him most. He did more than anyone toenable us to lead our lives now. I am happy I met him.

Mental RobustnessLORD DEEDES, junior minister in Churchill's postwargovernment. Minister without Portfolio 1964. Editor ofThe Daily Telegraph 1974-86. Syndicated columnist, au-thor of "The Lion in Peacetime," Churchill Proceedings1996-1997. Honorary member of CC/ICS.

One quality is underrated; I thought of it the otherday in Martin Gilbert's latest companion volume on

1941.1 was reminded that Wavell had said that the primerequirement of any general was mental robustness. Thatwas a quality which Churchill had abundantly and it wasan enormous factor in getting him and us through thewar; it is rarer in politics now than in 1941. There werenot many happy days in 1940-42. Churchill had to gov-ern with a string of bad news and was also privy to disas-ters the rest of us knew nothing about; this was a supremetest of mental robustness.

Hardest to bear was the bombing and the conse-quent casualties. He visited Plymouth after four nights ofbombing and was appalled at what he found; he was toldthat people would not be able put up with much more.He told Jock Colville, "I never saw the like." Then therewas the U-boat problem, which he knew could defeat us,problems of France (de Gaulle, Vichy, the French Navy),the threat of invasion and the need to rebuild the Armyafter Dunkirk for an ultimate return to Europe. After »

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the Nazi attack on Russia, there were constant calls forsupport and for a second front. The House of Commonswas critical, many of Churchill's loyalists being absent inthe services. The loss of Crete was a great blow to himand there was an urgent need to keep the United States onour side with aid.

There were nine constant anxieties, any one ofwhich was a horror, and there was no relief at all. I canthink of no time in history when a Prime Minister hadsuch an unrelieved burden; by contrast, the burden ofWorld War I had been shared. Though he devised his ownrecreation, it was not much. He enjoyed films, such asLady Hamilton, meals and company; he kept eccentrichours.

King George VI was sometimes depressed andthe Prime Minister had a weekly, frugal lunch with him.Churchill's whole life had been a preparation for thisthreat to sanity. He had survived wars, such as Omdur-man, and a set-back in the Dardanelles, after which heleft the government to join the Army on the western front(initially with the Grenadier Guards, where he liked tea incondensed milk). But alcohol was available in the frontline, so he wanted to go to the front line! He demon-strated mental robustness during the wilderness years,over the battle on India and in the fight for rearmament.

Few could have sustained the adversity of those28 months [between taking office and the first sustainedvictories] and emerged triumphant. Some could, thoughthey would have been less sensitive—and would have hadno cat on the bed or pet canary. There was a very gentleside to his character which is rarely met, and tears cameeasily. So there was mental robustness as well as a kindlierside. He was not ruthless and had a sensitive tempera-ment. No one has yet assessed what mental robustnessmeant to this country; he made us come very close to be-lieving in Destiny.

His Faults Will Be Forgottenin His AchievementsLADY SOAMES, youngest daughter of Sir WinstonChurchill, Patron of the Churchill Center and Societies.Author of Clementine Churchill, Winston Churchill thePainter, editor of Speaking for Themselves: The PersonalLetters of the Churchills.

Iwould like to pick out two aspects of my father's life: hischaracter and his quality of naturalness, which was seen

by his friends. He was very natural, lacking in hypocrisy,and the least pompous person. The public and privatepersona were very much the same, and this testifies to hisoneness. His uninhibitedness and candour surprised those

used to more guarded people.I remember once accompanying him somewhere.

I was in charge and told him we would be late. He fussedand looked at his "turnip" [pocketwatch]. We arrived andwere quite unhappy at being late, but our hosts were un-derstanding. My father went pink (a sign that he wasbeing truthful) and said, "Most kind, but I started late."This characteristic of unguarded spontaneity (which hecame to be aware of) caused him to prefer a small groupof the golden circle—close friends and family—and hewas always wary of strangers.

He was blessed that the boundary between workand recreation was smudged. His life's work was his zestfor heroic action, and we were the lucky beneficiaries,though for a long time he took luck for granted. But thecharm of being his bricklayer's mate palled when Idropped heavy bricks. His love for animals was appealing.My memories are of a man with a zest for life, who nevergave up his toys. I recall him in old age at Chartwell, sit-ting in front of buddleia bushes, watching butterflies; heknew all the species.

I would like to consider how we envisage him.No one can envisage him other than as an old man, seenas a legendary war hero and crowned with honour fromhis Finest Hour. I like to see him as a young man and torecall the sheer dash and daring of the young Winston.Though at Harrow he did not distinguish himself atgames, he did win the public schools fencing champi-onship. He was very fit due to his riding exercises at theRoyal Military College and became an expert at polo. Hehad many brushes with death in India, Sudan, and in theBoer War, where his capture and escape made him front-page news. This was all grist to his mill as a writer, thoughsome saw him as bumptious and a medal hunter.

I am reminded of the effect the younger Winstoncould have on people. As an emerging politician the starquality already shone. This was recognised by VioletAsquith (then 19, later Lady Violet Bonham-Carter), whowas used to the company of brilliant people, when she satnext to the 32-year old Winston at dinner: "Until the endof dinner I listened spellbound. I thought ' This is whatpeople mean when they talk of seeing stars—that is what Iam doing now.' I knew only that I had seen a great light. Irecognised it as the light of genius."

At the time of his engagement, Lady BlancheHozier [Clementine's mother] wrote to Wilfrid Blunt:"He is so like Lord Randolph, he has some of his faultsand all his qualities. He is gentle and tender, affectionateto those he loves, much hated by those who have notcome under his personal charm." Sir Edward Grey, refer-ring to his reputation for talking too much, said "Winstonvery soon will become incapable, from sheer activity ofmind, of being anything in a Cabinet but Prime Minis-ter....He is a genius, whose faults will be forgotten in hisachievements." M>

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EMINENT CHURCHILLIANSCnurcnill Center and Society Leadersnip

Paul H. Courtenay, Hon. Secretary, ICS (UK)Paul was eleven in 1945

and, though only superficiallyaware of the election then takingplace, has a clear recollection offeeling bewildered and somehowbetrayed when Churchill, such atowering and indispensable figurefor almost as long as he could re-member, lost office. He becamean avid reader of The SecondWorld War as each volume ap-

peared, and acquired a corpus of knowledge about the author.Although his father sometimes shared political platforms withChurchill in the 1930s, Paul regrets that he only twice set eyeson the great man.

He passed through RMA Sandhurst, where one agedservant claimed to remember Gentleman Cadet Churchill 58years earlier—just at the edges of credibility! He was commis-sioned into The Royal Sussex (later merged into The Queen'sRegiment), with which he travelled the world with ICS UKchairman Nigel Knocker, who has been giving him orders eversince. After duty in Germany, Korea, Gibraltar and Libya, Paulbecame an Army pilot in Kenya which, with a new wife, madethis the most memorable period of his life. Bush pilot dutiestook him from East Africa to Kuwait (as part of a force to detera threatened Iraqi invasion—30 years before it materialised but40 years after Churchill had predicted it). His final period ofactive flying found him in Cyprus, where he recalls beingbuzzed by a Turkish Sabre high above Nicosia when the Greeksand Turks first started having a go at each other.

After more assignments in Malta, South Arabia, Ger-many, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, and Cyprus, punctuated byattendance at Staff Colleges in UK and Virginia, Paul was ap-pointed Commanding Officer of one of his regiment's battal-ions in the Territorial Army (part-time reservists). After eightand one-half years in the Ministry of Defence, he retired after35 years' service to his country.

Paul then joined the Independent Broadcasting Au-thority (responsible for all non-BBC television and radio) inLondon. His final move was to the City, where he joined the

Institute ofChartered Ac-countants inEngland andWales. He says

Paul's father,William Courte-nay (left), sharesa platform withWSC(1935).

that chartered accountants are verygood at organising other people, butneed someone to organise them.

Paul jumped to become Hon. Sec-retary of ICS (UK) when ordered by

Nigel to take over. He also runs Heraldry courses and, with hiswife Sara, keeps a keen eye on his four married children andseven grandchildren, all within 11/2 hours of his village,halfway between Salisbury and Winchester.

William C. Ives, Vice-President,Cnurcnill Center (USA)

Bill was twelve duringthe 1945 British election, whichhe is sorry he missed, while agree-ing with Paul Courtenay about theoutcome. He attended Knox Col-lege (History and Political Science,Phi Beta Kappa, 1955) and gradu-ated from Harvard Law School in1960. He has been chairman ofthe management committee of a 350-lawyer, ten-office nationallaw firm, specializing in anti-trust, trade and professional associ-ations, international law and regulatory agencies. He is cur-rently a senior partner with the Chicago office of Michael, Best& Friedrich. His military service was in the Army Counter-in-telligence Corps in Germany, where he emerged as a 1st Lieu-tenant. Though he held a pilots license, he met his greatestasset as an airline passenger: he is married to the vivacious Vir-ginia, a senior flight attendant for Delta Airlines, has three chil-dren and eight grandchildren. He has served as a PresidentialElector (1968-72-76), delegate to the 1976 Republican Na-tional Convention and a member of the Rules Committee andchaired several Illinois political campaigns.

Every Churchill Center governor who plays golf hasprobably been bested by Bill Ives, notably on his treacheroushome course at the Governors Club, Chapel Hill, N.C., whereBill and Virginia make their home, complete with an expansivetoy room containing Bill's fine collection of Churchilliana, firsteditions, videos, and the massed naval might of the World WarII contending nations, all in exquisite metal miniatures. On amap in his basement work-out room, Bill and Virginia have af-fixed pins to signify their world travels. They have visited over200 countries. Bill has written and spoken about several tripsto the former USSR since 1953, and has appeared on "Today"and other national TV and radio shows.

Bill Ives has served as Vice-President of The ChurchillCenter since its founding in 1995 and was Vice-President of itspredecessor, ICS (USA), for a similar period; this year he chairsour International Conference in San Diego. He is careful tonote that he is not "our attorney," but his legal and political ex-perience have been helpful on everything from registering ourtrademark to keeping our editorial mouth shut when we havebeen tempted to do quite the opposite. Each President of TheChurchill Center since its inception has had ample cause to begrateful on countless occasions that Bill was there. $3

FINEST HOUR i n / 2 1

100-75-50-25 YEARS AGO

Michael McMenamin

One hundred years ago:

Summer 1901 'Age 26

"The Hughligans"

The war in South Africa droned on,and the expense of paying for it

was the major issue. Speaking in theHouse on 17 July, Churchill said:"What is of great importance is thatthis House as a whole is thoroughlyagreed upon the principal features ofthe policy that has led to all this expen-diture which everyone deplores. Buthon. members opposite have indeed ad-vocated a somewhat curious policy. TheRt. Hon. Gentleman the Leader of theOpposition I believe hopes to check theexpenditure and to bring the war to anend at an early date by combining thepolicy of swords with that of olivebranches. That is an extraordinary pol-icy, and I quite agree with the Rt. Hon.Gentleman that the party opposite isthe only party in the State who couldcarry it out, for it is the only partywhich has in itself all the elementswhich make for peace and for war."

It was during this period thatChurchill joined forces with a few otherdissident young Tory MPs, Ian Mal-colm, Lord Percy, Arthur Stanley, andLord Hugh Cecil. As Churchill's sonwrote in the Official Biography, "Laterthey were on occasion to be outrageousin their Parliamentary manners and thecritics dubbed them the Hughligans, orHooligans." Together, they made thingshot for the Tory establishment.

Churchill spent the last week ofAugust and most of September in Scot-

bn Malcolm Arthur Stanley

T H E HUCHUCAM

land, including visits with the Duke ofSutherland, Lord Londonderry andChurchill's uncle, LordTweedmouth.

During his stay in Scotland, hewrote several letters to The Times de-fending the sanitary conditions in theScottish tweed industry against ananonymous correspondent, who hadsuggested that "scrupulously cleanlypersons will hesitate to wear such gar-ments." Churchill replied: "Of course itmay be possible that your correspon-dent is only one of those pseudo-scien-tific persons who have a mania for dis-covering bacilli in everything; and who,when they are neither anonymous norinsignificant, from time to time, andparticularly in the holiday time, endeav-our to alarm the British public throughthe columns of the newspapers."

Seventy-five years ago:

Summer 1926* Age 51

"What the Pig Likes"

A fter the General Strike, Baldwin. / i a s k e d Churchill to join the Cabi-net Committee on Coal. Churchillspent the rest of the summer unsuccess-fully attempting to mediate a settle-ment. Churchill, in fact, felt betrayedby the mine owners. As Sir MartinGilbert writes, "On June 15 the Gov-ernment informed the Commons thatit had decided to introduce a Bill legal-izing an eight-hour working day in themines, and that, in return, the mineowners had promised to put forwarddefinite wage offers in each districtwithin a national framework."

The mine owners subsequently re-neged on their agreement. Churchill, bynow de facto head of the Coal Commit-tee in Baldwin's absence abroad due toan attack of lumbago, chastised theowners in what the Committee's secre-tary described in his diary as a "Ding-dong debate at No. 10 between Win-ston and Evan Williams," the mineowners' representative: "I am quite sureof this, that if we had known that fol-lowing the passage of the Eight HoursBill into law a new obstacle to a settle-ment, a new complication, would arisethrough the closing of one of those

| doors to peace we never should have' passed the Bill or proceeded with it.

Therefore, if you take up the attitudethat...there can be no national negotia-tions of any kind...I do think you willsee that we shall have been placed in aposition which is from our point of viewat any rate, extremely unfortunate andeven, as it might be thought, unfair...."

When Williams denied there wasever a link between the Eight HoursBill and a national framework for agree-ment, Churchill shot back: "I cannotpossibly accept that." Mine owners, hesaid, well knew of the linkage and hadsaid nothing at the time: "You singu-

| larly failed to undeceive us."Churchill proposed to Baldwin

that the Government "amend the EightHours Act so as to deny its indulgenceto any pit which does not conform to


certain conditions." But, in the event,Baldwin agreed with those Tories whowere critical of what they perceived tobe Churchill's sympathies for the mineworkers, and did nothing.

One Committee member observedthat Churchill was "jolly difficult whenhe's in a Napoleonesque attitude, dictat-ing instructions in military metaphors,and the spotlight full on him....he is amost brilliant fellow, but his gifts aren'tthose of judgment, nor of appreciatingindustry, nor of a negotiator." Anotherparticipant gave a milder report: "Idon't think Winston's activities are atpresent beyond what the circumstancesof the situation call for, or are actuatedby any desire for self-advertisement."

Even his closest friend, LordBirkenhead, was critical, writing in atelegram: "I am not happy about yourattitude....Why should we impose uponowners national settlement if they arestrong enough to obtain district settle-ments?" Finally, while not offering heropinion on the merits, even his wifeClementine offered a gentle suggestionon how to treat his cabinet colleagueson the Committee: "You are having ananxious but a thrilling & engrossingtime with power & scope which is whatthe Pig likes....I suppose Steel-Maitlandand Lane-Fox are not often allowednear the trough? I hope you let themhave a tit-bit now & again. If the Catwere Minister of Labour or Mines shewould not give up her place there with-out a few 'miaows.'"

Fifty years ago:

Summer 1951 • Age 76

"Bland Truisms and Platitudes"

Sensing an election was near,Churchill continued to speak criti-

cally of the Government throughoutthe summer even as he completed workon the fifth volume of his World War IImemoirs. On 21 July he spoke at theRoyal Wanstead School in Woodford:"It is six years almost to a week sincethe Socialist Government came into of-fice and we entered upon that melan-choly period of eclipse and frustration

which if it continues will lead to our de-cline and fall....[A]nd what is the cause?It is the attempt to impose a doctrinaireSocialism upon an island which hasgrown great and famous by free enter-prise and valour and which six years agostood in honour though not in size atthe summit of the world."

On 30 July he attacked the Gov-ernment's foreign policy in the MiddleEast, opening his statement with thenot-so-subtle suggestion that HerbertMorrison, the Foreign Secretary, was alightweight: Morrison, he said, "hastreated us to an able and agreeable pa-rade of bland truisms and platitudeswhich I fear must, in these busy times,have caused him many long hours oftoil and study." Churchill's commentsranged from Palestine ("the mistakesand miscalculations in policy which ledto the winding-up of our affairs inPalestine in such a way as to earn al-most in equal degree the hatred of theArabs and the Jews"), to Egypt ("Theserich, well-to-do classes who have somuch control in Egypt are the very oneswho are trying to keep a popularitywith the masses of the people by un-gratefully assailing us today"), to theGovernment's failure to secure Iranianratification of a new agreement with theAnglo-Iranian Oil Company.

Churchill left for France on 15 Au-gust for a week, followed by two moreweeks in Venice, buoyed by the favorablereviews on Volume IV of his memoirs inThe Times: "Mr. Churchill's true geniusis not epic but dramatic. The essence oftragedy lies in reversal of fortune. So alsodoes that of comedy, and Mr. Churchill,with die youthful zest which has carriedhim unfatigued through half a centuryof public life, here misses no opportunityof picking out the little comic things inthe midst of the sorrows and terrors ofwar." The Times Literary Supplementwrote: "It is a breathtaking book. To saythat Mr. Churchill is a romantic, as im-mortally young as the hero of Treasure Is-land, is not to lose sight of the massivecommon sense of his judgment at thegrimmest moments or his superhumanresilience in facing the ugliest factssquarely and taking tremendous deci-sions. It is rather to point at one deep

source of his strength."Returning to England in the third

week of September, Churchill undoubt-edly enjoyed even more a note on 20September from Prime Minister Attlee:"My dear Churchill, I have decided tohave a General Election in October..."

Twenty-five years ago:

Summer 1976

"Half^admiring, Halfdisbelieving"

' I he Times focused on our honoraryJ. member Winston Churchill MP,

Sir Winston's grandson, in a July 11tharticle, producing in the process a trib-ute to Sir Winston's son: "He will re-peat the worst anecdotes involving Ran-dolph Churchill, his father, with a half-admiring, half-disbelieving grin....Hisfather remains in his thoughts, not onlyin pity for that self-desiccating man'sperpetual eclipse by the Churchillianshadow. He remembers being required,as a small child, to read out to his fatherthe leading articles from The Times. Heused to fear the consequences of his fa-ther's rage: only gradually did he cometo respect its absolute impartiality andunderstand the appalling disappoint-ment that was its source. And Ran-dolph did inspire him. It was his father'sperformance in Korea, rather than hisgrandfather's in South Africa, which at-tracted him to the life of a foreign cor-respondent. He speaks of Randolph'sliterary style with more than a littleenvy.

"As an MP, he has proved compe-tent....He is fettered by no party ap-pointment beyond his secretaryship ofthe Conservative Commonwealth andForeign Affairs Committee, and so isable to indulge in bursts of foreign re-porting. His articles appear promi-nently in the Daily Telegraph, drawingattention to the menace of Russia. Hehas almost completed a biography ofhis father, uncovering much about Ran-dolph—including a strain of physicalheroism—that is new to him." In theevent the biography, His Fathers Son,was delayed until 1996, but receivedcritical acclaim (see FH 92:30). &


Kent, that largely maritime county in the extreme southeast of England, was Winston Churchill's spiritualhome for almost half his life. When he became resident in "The Garden of England" in 1924, if not before,he undoubtedly discovered that amongst the natives there is an ancient and obscure rivalry between "Kentish

Men" and "Men of Kent." The story's origins are uncertain and its perpetration equally ambiguous. Very approxi-mately, Kentish Men are from the largely land-locked west of the county, whilst Men of Kent are from the east whichis bounded on three sides by the sea.

Churchill's purchase of Chartwell may, he might have thought, have given him some claim to being a KentishMan, and some years later he was able to delight in considering himself uniquely an affiliate of both fraternities whenhis appointment as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports brought him the right to reside in Walmer Castle. In fact, na-tive-born Kentish Men and Men of Kent guard their birthright with consummate jealousy, and "foreigners" immi-grating merely to take up residence are not normally or readily admitted to either clan. However, Churchill came tobe regarded with equal approbation throughout his adopted county.

Born in Oxfordshire, Churchill had been itinerant for more than half his life, but when he did decide to putdown roots for the first time in 1922 he was delighted to discover Chartwell, virtually on Kent's western boundary.The tranquillity of the place captivated him. Looking out over the Weald of Kent, many years later, he was to say, "Ibought Chartwell for that view." The bonus was that the view was also within 25 miles of the House of Commons.

Chartwell, Westerham, Kent, tel. (01732) 868381, is open 11-5 Tuesdays to Sundays, March through November (closed Mondays, except bankholidays). It is signposted at the bottom of Westerham village on the A25. By rail, travel via Victoria Station to Oxted, the nearest station, then bycab (about £7). An alternate is the Chartwell Explorer coach from Charing Cross Station, offering several trips daily on weekends and bank holi-days during May-September, and also on Wednesdays through Fridays in July and August; tel.: (0345) 696996. Mr. Hall is Fffs features editor.

FINEST HOUR in /24

Left: On your visit to Chartwell, take former administrator and honorary member Grace Hamblin's advice and toddle off up to the hill along the line oftrees at far left of the property as viewed from the car park (as Barbara Langworth does here). Churchill once told Miss Hamblin, "You're a fool if you've notbeen up here." This sweeping vista helps to explain his oft-quoted remark, "I bought Chartwell for that view." Below: Chartwell when Churchill bought it;and after the brilliant alterations by WSC and architect Philip Tilden. Photos from Robin Fedden's Churchill and Chartwell, Oxford, Pergamon: 1969.

Clementine had written to him, "I long for a country home but I would like it to be a rest and joy Bunny not a freshpreoccupation." In the event, for the next 15 years or so, Chartwell became the biggest preoccupation imaginable, asWinston spent upwards of £30,000 (£l40,000/$200,000 in todays money) in addition to the original purchase priceof £5,000, on an extensive programme of rebuilding and improvements.

He was heard to remark, "A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted," although in fact by the time the variousenhancements had been completed to his satisfaction circumstances dictated that Chartwell was to become some-thing of a pied-a-terre whilst he found it necessary to spend more of his time in London—successively at MorpethMansions, 10 Downing Street and 28 Hyde Park Gate—or at Chequers, the Prime Ministers country residence.Churchill's preference was always strongly for Chartwell but, as Anthony Montague Browne related in his book LongSunset (Cassell: 1995), the permutations of domestic arrangements became something of a trial for Clementine. Herecalled one conversation at Downing Street during the early 1950s:

Winston: "I shall go to Chartwell next weekend."Clementine: "Winston, you can't. It's closed and there will be no-one to cook for you."Winston: "I shall cook for myself. I can boil an egg. I've seen it done."Churchill's threat was received in dumbfounded silence on all sides but it was not carried out. His gastronomic

priorities clearly prevailed!In 1945 Churchill feared that his income was no longer sufficient to allow him to maintain Chartwell and a

consortium of wealthy friends offered to purchase the property on behalf of the National Trust, on condition that hecould continue to live there, at a nominal rent of £350 a year, for the rest of his life. There is some dispute over thepurchase price. Sir Martin Gilbert in the Official Biography (Volume VIII, page 304) quotes £43,800 but inChurchill: A Life, page 873, he cites £50,000. Most other sources quote the higher figure. That would have been a fairreturn on Churchill's total expenditure on the property over more than 20 years, and by the time he died in 1965 itsvalue would have appreciated to over £100,000. In today's money that is in excess of £1 million but, it is stressed, thisis merely a "bricks and acres" value and its historical associations and contents are priceless.

The original Cinque Ports were Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romney and Sandwich. Until the reign of Henry VII(1485-1509) these ports had enjoyed certain privileges in return for supplying the King with a navy. Henry VII nation-alized the privateers, creating the first truly Royal Navy, and withdrew the privileges, but the ancient title of Lord War-den of the Cinque Ports remained as an honorary and purely ceremonial office within the gift of the King. It had be-come the custom for the King to award the office in recognition of distinguished service to the State and previous in-cumbents had included Palmerston, Pitt and Wellington.

Once awarded, the office was for life and in 1941, on the death of Lord Willingdon—a former Governor-Gen-eral of Canada and Viceroy of India—George VI offered the Lord Wardenship to Churchill. In fact, as Jock Colvillerevealed in The Fringes of Power (Hodder & Stoughton: 1985), Churchill's name had been suggested to the King'sprivate secretary by Anthony Bevir, who looked after all patronage matters at No. 10 Downing Street. Churchillnever knew this but it didn't matter since the King was delighted to accept the recommendation. »

FINEST HOUR in /25

The Prime Minister himself was much attracted by the historic splendour of the ap-pointment, although somewhat daunted by the cost of rates, taxes and upkeep of WalmerCastle, and within a month travelled to the coast to inspect his new bailiwick. Although hisappointment as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports took effect from September 1941,Churchill deemed that he was too busy prosecuting the war to attend the colourful installa-tion ceremony at Dover Castle. Of course it would have been quite unthinkable to mountsuch an event at a location within range of the German cross-channel artillery, and subjectfurthermore to frequent visits by the Luftwaffe. In the event the traditional ceremony washeld in August 1946. (The resident Scotland Yard bodyguard, Ronald Golding, recalls theday, and other happenings at Chartwell at this time, in Finest Hour 33 and 34.)

Churchill delighted in wearing the splendid Lord Warden's uniform on any ceremo-nial occasion (see page 11), whether or not the occasion had any remote connection withthe office. He wore it, for example, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, reck-oning that as Prime Minister he should not be outshone by anyone at the ceremony otherthan the Queen herself. There are at least three portraits of Churchill wearing his LordWarden's uniform: by John Leigh-Pemberton (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich),Bernard Hailstone (Dover Town Hall) and Dennis Ramsey (Deal Town Hall).

When Churchill reopened Chartwell after World War II he hoisted large and colour-ful flags, bearing the heraldic devices of the office of Lord Warden, from the Chartwellflagstaff (right) whenever he was in residence. But because of the proximity of the flagstaffto a chimney stack, the flags soon suffered undue damage and flag flying was soon re-stricted to special occasions. He was elected an Honorary Life Member of the Associationof Men of Kent and Kentish Men in 1949. The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway,a 15-inch-gauge light passenger railway running for 13 1/2 miles along the southern coastof Kent, connects two of the Cinque Ports and has appropriately commemoratedChurchill's Lord Wardenship. One of its locomotives, a one-third scale replica of a NorthAmerican Pacific 4-6-2, to this day proudly carries the nameplate "Winston Churchill."

This Blessed Plot:The Garden at Chartwell

Robin Fedden, the former Deputy Director-General of the National Trust, was theauthor of Churchill at Chartwell (Oxford, Pergamon: 1969), the definitive accountof Winston Churchill's acquisition, transformation and occupation of the house and

garden he so dearly loved. One sentence in Mr Fedden's book has always struck me asrather singular. He begins his chapter entitled "The Garden" with the words: "The charmof the garden relates to its simplicity."

Certainly the garden is charming—one of the most charming I know—but to describethat wonderfully sophisticated and expensively contrived panorama of earthworks, water-works, rockeries, brickwork, trees, shrubberies, pastures, formal terraces, lawns, beds and bor-ders as "simple" has always struck me as being something of a terminological inexactitude or,at least, a gready restrained understatement. Speaking in Commons, on 27 July 1950,Churchill said, "It is always, I think, true to say that one of the main foundations of theBritish sense of humour is understatement," so perhaps Mr. Fedden was having his little joke.Fortunately, the rest of his chapter accurately describes one of the greatest glories of Chartwell.

Mary Soames wrote in Clementine Churchill (Cassell: 1979), that soon after the end ofthe war the garden at Chartwell, which during the 1920s and 1930s had been an earthlyparadise to Winston but had afforded Clementine only worry and fatigue, became an in-creasing source of pleasure and satisfaction to her mother. Although in the past Clementinehad often tried to dissuade Winston from undertaking large-scale works, now the boot wason the other foot as she conceived and carried out several major improvements whilst Win-ston made the demurring noises.

FINEST HOUR 111/26

Above: Narcissus "Sir Winston Churchitall. Full sun or partial shade. Ideal forbowls; suitable for naturalizing, excellei

Above: Chartwell in Summer (Nationaiston Churchill." Bred in the USA in 1'Fuschia varieties, but is very tender an<grown in pots in a conservatory or on :

rchill": Scented, mid-Spring flowering, 12-16"for borders, patio tubs, window boxes or indoorclient cut flowers. (Author's photograph.)

Dnal Trust photograph). Below: Fuschia "Win-n 1942, it remains one of the most popular• and will not tolerate the slightest frost. It is beston a sheltered patio. (Authors photograph).

She had always found the gardens too spread out and exhausting, and among hermajor improvements were the removal of the old dilapidated greenhouses and potting shedsto provide a wide sunny terrace and the conversion of the tennis court to a croquet lawn.The Golden Rose Garden was created in 1958 as a Golden Wedding present to their parentsfrom the Churchill children. Clementine became immensely proud of "her" garden andloved to preside over the several charity open days held each summer for various good causes.

To Robin Fedden's 30-year-old and Lady Soames's 20-year-old accounts of theChartwell garden we can now add a relevant hands-on perspective:

Chartwell: A Gardener's Viewby Mary Digby

Assistant Head Gardener at ChartwellReprinted with permission from The National Trust Magazine

When Chartwell first opened in 1966, it was Lady Churchill's wish to have freshflowers in the house, as there had been in Winston's lifetime. These simplearrangements of cottage-garden flowers have been a feature ever since.

In March, when the house opens, daffodils forced in the greenhouse add variety tothose growing outside, and are especially necessary after a cold winter. Freesias grown inpots in the greenhouse follow on, with tulips and De Caen anemones from the garden.These are grown in beds which were left for cut flowers when the kitchen garden was land-scaped with trees and shrubs. Here, later in the year, Dutch and Spanish iris, gladioli, Can-terbury Bells, Sweet Williams and permanent herbaceous plants like aquilegia and Alstroe-merie "Ligru Hybrids" will flower.

Brompton Stocks are a long-lasting cut flower. The seed is sown in the greenhouse inlate July, then the seedlings transplanted into a cold frame in September where they growthroughout the winter and flower in May. Cosmea "Sensation Mixed" is an excellent an-nual for picking as it flowers all summer. The plants do need supporting, however, as theycan reach four feet in height. Asters, larkspurs and lavateras add variety in season.

A good crop of sweet peas is obtained by sowing the seeds in pots in November andplacing them in a cold frame where they over-winter. The seedlings have their tips removedin late January to encourage young basal shoots, which are reduced to one per plant inApril, when they are planted in the garden. The plants are trained up bamboo canes tied tosupporting wires; all side-shoots and tendrils are removed to get long straight flower stalks.In a good season flowers will be produced from June to September and the plants will belaid in August. This entails releasing them from their canes, laying them along the groundand tying them to another cane about three feet away.

Dahlias can usually be relied on to flower until the end of October, as we usually es-cape early frosts due to the garden being on a slope. The varieties "Corydon" (peach), "Su-sannah York" (pink), "Glorie van Heemstede" (yellow), and "Wiegenlid" (white) have beengrown here for years, the tubers being stored in the basement of the house in winter. Care istaken to bring them into growth in frames before planting out as only "Glorie van Heem-stede" seems to be commercially available. Chrysanthemums from the greenhouse fill thehouse in November. The only flowers not grown specifically for cutting are roses, but withabout 1000 bushes in the garden there are plenty to pick without their being missed.

Besides cut flowers, pot plants are grown for the house. These must be flowering andinclude hyacinths in spring, followed by Regal pelargoniums, fuchsias and Charm chrysan-themums for the autumn. We have a large collection of amaryllis (hippeastrums) whichoriginated when Sir Winston was given one by the late Princess Marina; he was so takenwith it that he said there must always be amaryllis at Chartwell. Some annuals make goodpot plants: we find salpiglossis, browallias and white petunias most useful; the latter if cutback after the first flush will flower again. Lady Churchill loved white flowers so we alwaystry to have a plant of that colour in her bedroom. M>

FINEST HOUR in /27

ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES

OUR VANISHING

NATIONAL ANTHEMSDo Children Even

Know the

RICHARD M. LANGWORTH

White-maned and oozing dignity, the 83-year-old senior senator from West Virginia, RobertC. Byrd, rarely accepts interviews because he

has the unfortunate habit of saying whatever occurs tohim. Sure enough, no sooner did the Senator break prece-dent to appear on the Fox cable channel March 4th thanhis office was issuing an apology for his use of a racial ep-ithet that took our breath away when we heard it—twice.Had he not achieved the status of a national monument,Mr. Byrd would be drummed out of Congress for an of-fense, in modern convention, of genocidal magnitude.

But something else the Senator said on March 4th isworth repeating. Asked what alarmed him most about thestate of the nation, Mr. Byrd replied: "The long decline inthe standard of our culture. I have been in politics 49years, and these past few years I've seen a more rapid dete-rioration in our country's culture than ever before."

It's too bad that remark didn't collect the headlines,because Senator Byrd couldn't be more right. Examples ofthat deterioration are everywhere. Take for example theslow but sure erosion of national anthems.

All Americans "of a certain age" were taught inschool how Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-SpangledBanner" in 1814, while detained temporarily on a Britishwarship in Baltimore Harbor during the shelling of FortMcHenry, in what Americans call the War of 1812. In theFifties, most of us kids sang at least two of Key's four stan-zas, although the obscure third stanza was unknown tous—possibly because its bloodthirsty sentiments wereconsidered too repugnant for our youthful ears. (Keymust have written that stanza surreptitiously; had it beenread by a British officer he would surely have been hangedfrom the nearest convenient yardarm.)

"English-Speaking Peoples" is a periodic opinion series on matters ofmoment among the Great Democracies Churchill loved. Criticismand counter-opinions are always welcome.

I owe to William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Stan-dard, the observation that the first stanza alone is quite in-sufficient: "I looked up the full 'Star-Spangled Banner' re-cently, and was struck by the interesting differencesamong the four stanzas. One problem of singing only thefirst is that it ends in a question that's answered in thenext three."

Alas the "Star-Spangled Banner," if sung at all, at adiminishing number of sporting events and schools, con-sists only of the first stanza, which is fashionably non-judgmental and innocuous. (Big whoopee: a few bombsburst and the flag is still standing.) I am willing to betthat not one child in a thousand has ever heard the greatcoda of stanza four ("O thus be it ever..."), which we kidsoften sang; let alone the eerie and mystical stanza two("On the shore dimly seen..."), which we summoned upon special occasions. As for stanza three ("Their blood haswashed out their foul footsteps, pollution...")—thatshocking sentiment had been confined to almanacs evenwhen I went to school. Imagine trying to get today's class-rooms to recite that—though we seem to have no troubleliving with schools in which teenagers routinely do intheir classmates and teachers with firearms.

Even the single-stanza "Star-Spangled Banner" isunder threat. The proposed replacement is that syrupylovefest "America the Beautiful": promoted in part be-cause everyone can sing it. "The Star-Spangled Banner"can be properly rendered only by Alan Keyes or a col-oratura soprano. (At the 1993 Churchill Conference Am-bassador Keyes not only sang the national anthems of fivecountries represented, but strolled to the Lincoln Memor-ial, where he rendered every verse of the "Battle Hymn ofthe Republic." That was a moment....)

Still, if we could stomach Roseanne Barr's desecra-tion of the Anthem at a sporting event a few years ago, orthe intriguing but inappropriate renditions of soul singers,we can probably put up with missing the high note in"rockets' red glare...." But "America the Beautiful," soawe-inspiringly corny as to win broad support among cor-rect-thinkers, has begun to eclipse not only "The Star-Spangled Banner" but all the other noble songs we young-sters once sang lustily in class: "God Bless America,""Roger Young," and "Columbia the Gem of the Ocean."(It would be unthinkable to suggest nowadays, as "Co-lumbia" does, that "the world offers homage" to that bigtroublemaker, the sole remaining superpower.) When"America the Beautiful" was scrubbed at the last minutefrom the commissioning ceremony of USS Winston S.Churchill, this writer made a thankful private obeisance tothe memory of Francis Scott Key.

Britons tell of similar experiences and contrasts be-tween the anthems of their schooldays and today's jinglytreacle. The blurring of national distinctions, eccentricitiesand quirks that make nations interesting or quaint, mem-orable or unique, is far advanced in Cool Britannia, where

FINEST HOUR I.U /28

even display of theUnion Flag is consid-ered in some quartersthe act of a crackpot,or at least an unrepen-tant racist. You canguess how infrequentlyeven the first verse of"God Save the Queen"is sung, althoughBritain's right-thinkersshould really welcomea song that remindseveryone that theQueen reigns but doesnot rule.

"O Canada," theCanadian anthem, hasan advantage by beingfrequently sung in twodifferent languages—but that is a sop topeople who think thata motto like "epluribus unum" means"from one, many." Afew lines have beenchanged to bring "OCanada" in line withmodern concepts ofsexual equality, whichis all to the good. Butanother fine old Cana-dian song, "Maple LeafForever," containing such robust sentiments as "Wolfe thedauntless" planting "firm Britannia's flag on Canada's fairdomain," "God save our Queen and heaven bless," and soon, was just too patriotic to bear. So incorrect was thisfine tune that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporationinitiated a competition to rewrite the lyrics. The sappywinning entry was full of "blue unending skies" and"mountains strong and sparkling snow." These register thesame high reading on the pap meter as "beautiful for spa-cious skies" and "purple mountains, majesty." (Whatabout "lobster pots forever full" and "Penobscot Baywhere eagles play"? Equal time for Mainers!)

Similar philosophers Down Under occasionally sug-gest replacing the resolute "Advance Australia Fair" withthe whimsical but unmoving "Waltzing Matilda," nodoubt accompanied by new lyrics to render it as inclusiveand gender-free and balanced as all get-out. But "Matilda"will probably never be adopted, an Aussie friend says:"Apparently it is a direct take from some Irish tune, and itwould not be very stylish to have an anthem whose wordsdescribe the activities of a sheep-stealer!"

Francis Scott Key drafting "The Star-Spangled Banner," Baltimore Harbor,13 September 1814. (Ideals Publishing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1961.)

One placewhere national an-thems still flourish isthe Churchill Centerand Societies, whoseinternational confer-ences are replete withYanks, Brits, Canadiansand the occasionalAussie. From time totime in conferenceplanning I float theidea of singing the al-ternative verses, choos-ing stanzas with themost rousing lyrics andprinting them in theprogram so the assem-bly could join in. I re-gret to record that mycolleagues have alwaysgreeted this notionwith the kind of enthu-siasm one reserves forsauerkraut ice cream.

Finest Hourreaders are more likelythan most to be famil-iar with the forgottenwords. But just in casethey are not, we offeras a public service all

the stanzas of all the na-tional anthems from

countries where Winston Churchill organizations exist.See that you remember them. There will be a quiz.

The Star-Spangled BannerO say can you see, by the dawn's early light,What so proudly we hail'd, at the twilight's last gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.O say, does that star-spangled banner yet waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,Where the foe's haughty host, in dread silence reposes,What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,As it fitfully blows, half conceals half discloses?Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! »

FINEST HOUR 111/29

The Star-Spangled Banner...

And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war, and the battle's confusion,A home and a country, should leave us no more?Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when free men shall standBetween their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued landPraise the Pow'r that hath made and preserve! us a nation!Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,And this be our motto, "In God is our trust."And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O CanadaO Canada! Our home and native land!True patriot love in all thy sons command.With glowing hearts we see thee rise,The True North, strong and free!From Far and Wide, O Canada,We stand on guard for thee.Refrain:God Keep Our Land, glorious and free!O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.How dear to us thy broad domain,From East to Western Sea,Thou land of hope for all who toil!Thou True North, strong and free!(Refrain)

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skiesMay stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,To keep thee steadfast through the yearsFrom East to Western Sea,Our own beloved native land!Our True North, strong and free!(Refrain)

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,Hold our dominion within thy loving care;Help us to find, O God, in theeA lasting, rich reward,As waiting for the Better Day,We ever stand on guard. (Refrain)

Buchan version: not officialJohn Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, the famous author,

was Governor General of Canada. You will see in a momentwhy this one didn't stick...

O Canada, our heritage, our loveThy worth we praise all other lands above.From sea to seaThroughout their lengthFrom pole to borderland,At Britain's side, whate'er betideUnflinchingly we'll stand.With hearts we sing, "God save the King,"Guide then one Empire wide, do we implore,And prosper Canada from shore to shore.

Advance Australia FairAustralians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free;We've golden soil and wealth for toil,

our home is girt by sea.Our land abounds in natures gifts, of beauty rich and rare;In hist'ry's page let every stage Advance Australia Fair.In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia Fair!

>

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross we'll toil with hearts and hands;To make this Commonwealth of ours renowned of all the lands;For those who've come across the seas we've boundless plains to share;With courage let us all combine to Advance Australia Fair.In joyful strains etc.

Original Version:Australian sons let us rejoice, for we are young and free;We've golden soil and wealth for toil, our home is girt by sea;Our land abounds in nature's gifts, of beauty rich and rare;In history's page, let every stage Advance Australia fair.In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia fair.

When gallant Cook from Albion sailed, to trace wideoceans o'er;

True British courage bore him on, till he landed on our shore;Then here he raised Old England's flag, the standard

of the brave;"With all her faults we love her still,""Britannia rules the waves."In joyful strains etc.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross,we'll toil with hearts and hands,

To make this Commonwealth of ours renownedof all the lands,

For those who've come across the seas we've boundlessplains to share;

With courage let us all combine, to Advance Australia fair.In joyful strains etc. >»

FINEST HOUR in/30

Should foreign foe e'er sight our shore,or dare a foot to land,

We'll rouse to arms like sires of yore, to guard our nativestrand;

Britannia then shall surely know, beyond wide oceans' roll,Her sons in fair Australia's land, still keep a British soul.In joyful strains etc.

God Save the QueenGod save our gracious QueenLong live our noble Queen,God save the Queen:Send her victorious,Happy and glorious,Long to reign over us:God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,Scatter our enemies,And make them fall:Confound their politics,Frustrate their knavish tricks,On thee our hopes we fix:God save us all.

Not in this land alone,But be God's mercies known,From shore to shore!Lord make the nations see,That men should brothers be,And form one family,The wide world o'er.

From every latent foe,From the assassins blow,God save the Queen!O'er her thine arm extend,For Britain's sake defend,Our mother, prince, and friend,God save the Queen!

Thy choicest gifts in store,On her be pleased to pour;Long may she reign:May she defend our laws,And ever give us causeTo sing with heart and voiceGod save the Queen.

NotesAccording to associate editor Paul Courtenay, "Usu-

ally verse one alone is sung although verse five is some-times added. I don't think verse two has been sung since

World War II, and I have never heard verses three or foursung." Well, at Lady Soames's birthday party during theAlaska conference last September, soloist Keith Paddensang three verses of "God Save the Queen," including thesecond one about scattering enemies, and the crowdseemed to enjoy it, although our Patron thought we weregoing well over the top.

Rafal Heydel-Mankoo of ICS Canada writes that"another verse to the British Anthem was added duringthe Jacobite Rebellion of 1746, but it stopped being usedonce the rebels had been duly crushed." You can see why:

God grant that Marshall Wade,May by thy mighty aid,Victory bring,May he sedition hush,And like a torrent rush,Rebellious Scots to crush,God save the King.

"Interestingly," continues Rafal, "although 'GodSave the King' became the Anthem in the Hanoverian era,it was actually first used as a patriotic tune by the StuartJacobites during their battles against the Hanoverians.(The Jacobite/Stuart version had existed for at least fiftyyears prior to this.) The Hanoverian verse (which becamethe National Anthem) was first sung in public in Septem-ber 1745 in a London theatre. The audience leapt to theirfeet and demanded encores." Here is what they heard:

God save our noble kingGod save great George our KingGod save the King!Send him victoriousHappy and gloriousLong to reign over usGod save the King!

According to Linda Colley, "God Save the King" (or"Queen," as the case may be) did not become an "an-them" until the 1800s and was the first National Anthemin the world. Rafal adds: "The term 'anthem' is a Britishcreation. Between 1760 and 1781 it received only fourformal performances in the theatres but from 1781 to thestart of the 19th century it received over ninety perfor-mances before becoming the National Anthem. It is alsothe Royal Anthem of Canada and provided the tune forthe National Anthem of Liechtenstein and the American'My Country 'Tis of Thee.'"

A story, perhaps apocryphal, involves HMS Prince ofWales sailing into Argentia for the Atlantic Charter meet-ing in August 1941. Aboard USS Augusta, as her Marineband struck up "God Save the King," Franklin Rooseveltis reported to have cracked: "That's the best rendition of'My Country 'Tis of Thee' I've heard in years!" M>

FINEST HOUR m / 3 1

Wjt&Wisdom

Winston ChurchillEdits the Bible!

On 19 May 1940 Churchill endedhis first broadcast as Prime Ministerwith a majestic coda: "Today is TrinitySunday. Centuries ago words were writ-ten to be a call and a spur to the faithfulservants of Truth and Justice: 'Armyourselves, and be ye men of valour,and be in readiness for the conflict; forit is better for us to perish in battle thanto look upon the outrage of our nationand our altar. As the Will of God is inHeaven, even so let it be.'"

We have somehow imagined foryears that these words were taken fromthe Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth! Infact, as we finally learned recently, whenthe source was requested over ListservWinston (our online discussion group)they came from the Bible—with a cer-tain editing by Churchill.

The reference is 1 Maccabees 3:58-60. Maccabees? Barbara Langworth, re-searching the matter on Internet Biblesites, offered the following:

"The Books of the Maccabees, alsospelled 'Machabbes,' number four,none of which is in the Hebrew Biblebut all of which appear in some manu-scripts of the Septuagint. The first twobooks are part of canonical scripture inthe Septuagint and the Vulgate (henceare canonical to Roman Catholicismand Eastern Orthodoxy) and are in-cluded in the Protestant Apocrypha."

Churchill used the King JamesBible, which contains the Apocrypha.But either his capacious memory de-

serted him on this occasion, or he tookhis red pen in hand to edit the Biblicalinjunction. Having now read both, wethink Churchill made a notable im-provement! The King James version:

[58] And Judas said, arm yourselves,and be valiant men, and see that ye be inreadiness against the morning, that yemay fight with these nations, that are as-sembled together against us to destroy usand our sanctuary:

[59] For it is better for us to die inbattle, than to behold the calamities ofour people and our sanctuary.

[60] Nevertheless, as the will of Godis in heaven, so let him do.

Russia's MisfortunesJoy West ([email protected])

wrote: "I am trying to find out whoWinston Churchill was referring towhen he said, that the Russian peoples''worst misfortune was his birth: theirnext worst—his death.' I am undecidedbetween Stalin and Lenin. Any help ismuch appreciated."

Not quite so famous as Churchill'sremark about the Germans sending himinto Russia like "a phial containing aculture of typhoid or cholera to bepoured into the water supply," this wasa description of Nikolai Lenin, fromThe Aftermath (London and New York:1929). It is also quoted in Halle, Irre-

pressible Churchill, just republished as atrade paperback, available from the CCNew Book Service:

"He alone could have led Russiainto the enchanted quagmire; he alonecould have found the way back to thecauseway. He saw; he turned; he per-ished. The strong illuminant thatguided him was cut off at the momentwhen he had turned resolutely forhome. The Russian people were leftfloundering in the bog. Their worstmisfortune was his birth: their nextworst—his death."

Irish EncountersTerry McGarry, a gent of Irish her-

itage helping to organize the 2001 In-ternational Churchill Conference inSan Diego, was preparing a news releasefor an ethnic Irish newspaper, andasked us for a brief summary of

Churchill's involvement with Irish af-fairs. We replied with a comment—per-haps inadvertent—of ClementineChurchill's, which belongs here.

The main point to make on behalfof our man is that Churchill negotiatedthe Irish Treaty with some pretty dis-trustful Irishmen, and got it throughthe House of Commons; and that oneof the Irish negotiators, MichaelCollins, said just before he died, "TellWinston we could have done nothingwithout him." Dr. Paul Cantor's piecein the new edition of Churchill Proceed-ings 1996-1997 is superb, and fairlyrepresents what Churchill thought theTreaty would do, and where his think-ing was off. WSC did want to see peacein Ireland, and he thought the Ulstercounties would eventually join theSouth. Sir Martin Gilbert believes hisefforts on the 1921 Treaty should bemore widely recognized, since they didkeep the peace for nearly 50 years. Ofcourse, his role on the Treaty has notprevented the Irish from taking a ratherdim view of Churchill's imperial lean-ings, and his acquiescence in sendingthe infamous "Black and Tans" to quellIrish unrest after World War I.

Clementine Churchill's amusementwas told by Churchill's bodyguard, thelate Eddie Murray. In the days whenaircraft refueled in Shannon before fly-ing the Atlantic, a Churchill flightalighted there and Eddie went to ordersome duty free Irish whisky for his Se-cret Service friends in the States. TheIrishman at the counter said he'd box itup, and what name should he put on it?"Murray," Ed told him.

When he arrived at the counter topick up his box, the man handed it tohim saying he hoped he would enjoyit—"But can ye tell me, Mr. Murray,what's a man with a name like Murraydoing working for an old bastard likeChurchill?"

As the flight resumed, Eddie re-lated the incident to Churchill, whothought it uproariously funny and re-lated it to his wife. About five minuteswent by in silence; then suddenlyClemmie exclaimed, in her high-pitched Scottish voice:

"But he was wrong, Winston, hewas quite wrong—you DO know whoyour father was!" $

FINEST HOUR in /32

LEADING CHURCHILL MYTHS(1) "Alcokol Atuser"

MICHAEL RICHARDS

In "Ampersand, "Finest Hour 110:47, ToddRon-nei listed, and asked us to puncture, 18 commonly repeatedChurchill myths, while in the letters column William Roederasked if the Churchill Center has "ever considered undertak-ing a booklet, Winston Churchill: Setting the RecordStraight. Herewith we commence hacking away at the weedgrowth. Perhaps we will eventually produce the manuscript1.More myths (and counter-arguments) welcome.

Any discussion of thissubject absent John H.Mather MD, who has

spent a decade researchingChurchill's medical history, willbe only that—a discussion. Buthere is a summary of what weknow and why we know it.

Most historians rejectthe commonly held belief thatChurchill was an abuser of alco-hol. Perhaps "abuser" is a toobroad a word. Professor WarrenKimball of Rutgers, editor of theWSC-FDR correspondence andseveral erudite books on the twoleaders, maintains that Churchillwas not an alcoholic—"no alco-holic could drink that much!"—but "alcohol-dependent," citing his occasional glass ofhock with his breakfast(!) and his heavy imbibing at meal-times. A doctor attending him after he was knocked downby a car New York in 1931, Otto C. Pickhardt, actually is-sued a medical note that Churchill's convalescence "neces-sitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at mealtimes,"specifying 250 cc per day as the minimum {FH 101:51).Still, if he were truly dependent, it seems he would havehad a hard time winning his 1936 bet with Rothermerethat he could abstain from hard spirits for a year {FH108:24)—which apparently he did.

The story of what his daughter calls the "PapaCocktail" (a smidgen of Johnnie Walker covering thebottom of a tumbler, which was then filled with waterand sipped throughout the morning), is confirmed by somany observers that it could hardly be untrue. WSC'sobservation that he learned this habit as a young man inIndia and South Africa (in My Early Life) appears to beliterally true: the water being unfit to drink, one had to

add whisky and, "by dint of careful application I learnedto like it." The concoction he grew to like was, JockColville said, more akin to mouthwash than a highball. Itbarely qualifies as "scotch and water."

Where he did put away copious amounts of al-cohol was at meals (see for example A.L. Rowse's descrip-tion of his lunch time visit to Chartwell, FH81:9). Per-haps this was Churchill's secret to sobriety and health.(Dr. Mather, speaking in Boston recently, reported thatWSC's blood pressure was 140/80 well into his eighties,asking his rather younger audience if they would mindnumbers like those.) Churchill did not nurse a bottle, asan alcoholic would, and occasionally remarked to those

who took whisky neat, "you are not likelyto live a long life if you drink it like

that," or words to that effect. Drink-ing at meals may be less deleterious

than drinking at random, but inany case no colleague who can be

taken seriously ever reports seeingChurchill the worse for drink. ThusWSC's famous quip, "I have takenmore out of alcohol than alcoholhas taken out of me."

Judging the degree of his "de-pendence" is obfuscated by his own

contradictory remarks. On the onehand he amused himself by allowing

people to think he had a bottomless ca-Drunken "Weltanschauung" pacity. (There was his famous

Der Sturmer, Nuremberg, 26Feb42: "Churchill tries to f ind luck in ^ ^ ^ „ ^ ~ f

drink, but the bottle distorts the view [Weltanschauung]. oChurchill was often portrayed as a drunk by the Nazi press. Saudi Arabia that his absolute

rule of life required drinkingbefore, during and after meals.) At the same time in hiswritings you catch indications that he knew his limit: thedrinking stories with the Russians were exaggerated, hewrote in The Second World War ("I was properly broughtup"). Elsewhere he remarked, "my father taught me tohave the utmost contempt for people who get drunk." Heremarked that a glass of Champagne lifts the spirits, sharp-ens the wits, but "a bottle produces the opposite effect."When encountered by Bessie Braddock MP with the fa-mous "you're drunk" remark in 1946, his bodyguard, RonGolding, was with him at the time, insisted that Churchillwas not drunk, just tired and wobbly—hence his famous,devastating response. It would appear that his affinity tothe bottle was at least partly a prop—like his cigars, whichwere often allowed to go out, rarely smoked beyond athird, and usually discarded after being well-chewed. Nev-ertheless he had a formidable capacity.

For Churchill's remarks on Champagne, scotch,and alcohol in general, see Finest Hour 86:14-15. M>


CHURCHILL AND OLDHAMAllen Packwood explains now the grandson or a Duke came to

represent a working class suburb or industrial Manchester

Churchill's links with the town of Oldham began inthe summer of 1899 when he was approached bythe local Conservative Party and asked to stand as

a Tory candidate in the impending by-election. At firstglance he appears a strange choice. He was certainly not alocal man. In fact, it would be fair to say that his rootswere both geographically and socially far removed fromthe industrial North-West.

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, born atBlenheim Palace to the second son of a Duke, wasbrought up by a nanny in large houses full of servants.His education was typical of the Victorian aristocrat, pass-ing from private boarding schools to Harrow and then toSandhurst. He did not excel at all of his studies. His earlyschool reports make for entertaining reading. His firstheadmaster described him as "a constant trouble to every-body...always in some scrape or other" and, on anotheroccasion, opined (with notable lack of prescience) that helacked ambition.

But by 1899 Churchill did have two things goingfor him. The first was the reputation of his father. LordRandolph Churchill's glittering political career had beencut short by illness, and he had died in 1895 aged only45. But at the height of his powers in the early 1880sLord Randolph had been famous for his wit and fieryspeeches. It was Lord Randolph who conceived of appeal-ing for support of the Conservative Party to ordinaryworking classes under the slogan of "Tory Democracy."Although he never really defined what Tory Democracyactually was, it ensured that he was remembered fondly inplaces like Oldham, where his speeches had been well re-ceived.

Young Winston's second advantage by 1899 was hisown rapidly developing reputation. Although only in histwenties he was already master of the art of self-promo-tion. On leaving Sandhurst he had joined the army as acavalry officer, but it was never his intention to remain inuniform for long. He wanted to "forge his sword into a

The Churchill Archives Centre was delighted to provide a smalldisplay for an exhibition in Churchill's first constituency, held by theNorthern Chapter of ICS (UK) on 14 October 2000. These notes onChurchill and Oldham are based on the constituency files in theChurchill Archives. Mr. Packwood ([email protected]) is a CACarchivist. Cartoons by kind courtesy of Churchill Archives Centre.

despatch box" and enter the world of politics. In order todo this he needed to make both money and a name forhimself. His solution was to transfer himself to as manydanger spots as possible and then to publish his experi-ences as newspaper articles and books.

In 1895 he had used his army leave to travel toCuba and observe at first hand the uprising against theSpanish authorities. Here he came under fire for the firsttime. His adventures were serialised in the Daily Graphicnewspaper. In the winter of 1896-97 he fought on theNorth West Indian frontier. This led to a mention indespatches and to his first book, The Story of theMalakand Field Force. In 1898 he popped up with Gen-eral Kitchener's expeditionary force in the Sudan and tookpart in the famous cavalry charge against the Dervishes atthe Battle of Omdurman. Inevitably, this escapadespawned another book, The River War. All of this literaryactivity provided him with an income and, perhaps moreimportantly, with publicity.

Churchill's candidature at Oldham was very much amarriage of convenience. A "young man in a hurry," he wasdesperate to follow in his famous father's footsteps. And theConservative Party in Oldham was keen to field a candidatewith the Churchill name and family connections.

A t the end of the last century the borough of Old-L\ ham still returned two MPs to Parliament. At the

_/. JLprevious election the town had returned two Con-servatives, Robert Ascroft and James Oswald. The by-elec-tion of 1899 had been brought about as a result of an un-fortunate set of circumstances. Ascroft had died suddenlyand Oswald had resigned because of ill health, therebyleading to a contest for both seats. Churchill's "runningmate" from the Conservative Party was James Mawdsley, alocal man, general secretary of the Lancashire branch ofthe Amalgamated Association of Cotton Spinners. In hisautobiography, My Early Life, Churchill concedes that thiswas a strange combination: The "scion of the ancientBritish Aristocracy" and the "Tory working-man candi-date." Their opponents were the two Liberal nominees:Alfred Emmott, owner of a local cotton spinning firm andthe shipping magnate Walter Runciman.

The election campaign provided Churchill with hisfirst impressions of Oldham. His contemporary letters tohis mother survive amongst the Churchill Papers and pro-

FINESTHOURIH/34

vide a rare insight into histrue feelings. They reveala certain culture clash.

Writing from Old-ham on 25 June 1899 heasked Lady Randolph tocome down for his bigopening address on Tues-day night. He pointed outthat there was no hotel—by which he meant thatthere was no hotel suit-able for someone of herstatus—and observed that"There is practically nolocal society—only multi-tudes of workers." He washowever very confidentabout his own abilitiesand prospects, assertingthat, "there is no doubtthat if anyone can winthis seat I can."

The letters alsoprovide a vivid insightinto how the election wasconducted. In an age be-fore radio and television,campaigns were sustainedalmost entirely throughspeeches and public ap-pearances before large au-diences. In a 29 Juneletter to his cousin, theDuke of Marlborough,Churchill summarises his

date: "I

The Oldham Election.

"SAFELY THROUGH!"Joey (to Winston Churchill): Bravo! Well done!In the beginning they welcomed him warmly...

campaign toopened on Tuesday night with a big meeting of 2,500 inthe Theater, and last night I addressed two meetings ofabout 1,100 each, and 1,600 tonight." It is difficult toimagine such attendances at election meetings today.

Churchill's confidence about the election result wasshort lived. There was a lot of local opposition from Old-ham's large, nonconformist population to the Conserva-tive Government's Clerical Tithes Bill, which subsidizedthe Church of England from local rates. Churchill clearlyfeared that this was driving people towards the Liberals:his letter of 29 June goes on to complain that "the tide isturning strongly against the Tory Party" and expresses hisbelief that the Conservatives will be beaten "simply be-cause the Government have brought forward this stupidbill." His attempts to distance himself from the Party linewere not successful. The voting on 6 July saw the two Lib-erals elected and Churchill and Mawdsley beaten intothird and fourth place. Churchill wrote later that he "re-

hurchill's failureat Oldham didnot deter him

from continuing to pur-sue politics, and he re-turned to contest theseat again in the generalelection of 1900. Thistime he was successful,and the main reason forhis success was his new-found fame and fortune.

In the after-math of his defeat atOldham the youngChurchill had returnedto his day job as a rov-ing war correspondent,travelling to SouthAfrica to cover the BoerWar for The MorningPost. On 15 November1899 he boarded an ar-moured train making areconnaissance out of

Estcourt. It was am-bushed by Boers, and,after a heroic defence in

which he helped most of the train to escape, Churchillwas captured. He was taken to Pretoria and held in amakeshift prison in the States Model School. Not to bepenned up long, on 12 December he jumped over thewall and on to a passing goods train. The Boer authoritiesissued a reward for his capture; copies of the official in-structions issued by the Acting Commissioner of Policesurvive among the Churchill Papers in both English andAfrikaans. (See Finest Hour 105.)

Churchill was alone and on the run in Africa, whichmust have been the last place on earth that he expected tomeet someone from Oldham. But for three days he washidden in a coal mine, and the mining engineer whohelped to lower him into his hiding place was Oldhamnative Dan Dewsnap. Churchill later described how Mr.Dewsnap locked his hand "in a grip of crushing vigour"and said, "They'll all vote for you next time."

Dewsnap was right. Churchill's escape made him >>

turned to London withthose feelings of defla-tion which a bottle ofChampagne or evensoda-water representswhen it has been halfemptied and leftcorked for a night."

un-

FINEST HOUR HI /35

a national hero and, although he stayed in South Africauntil the following summer, the incident was enough toensure his celebrity status. He returned to Oldham tospeak on 25 July 1900 and was greeted by brass bandsand massed crowds: "Oldham almost without distinctionof party accorded me a triumph. I entered the town instate in a procession of ten landaus, and drove throughstreets crowded with enthusiastic operatives and mill-girls.I described my escape to a tremendous meeting in theTheater Royal." There is an interesting footnote to theDewsnap story here, for when Churchill mentioned therole played in his escape by this son of Oldham "the audi-ence shouted: 'His wife's in the gallery!'"

This warm reception may have been instrumental inpersuading Churchill to stand for Oldham again in thegeneral election of October 1900. The archives show thathe had been approached by the Southport ConservativeAssociation and asked to stand as their candidate as early asApril 1900. But in a letter to his mother from South Africain May he stated that "I have very nearly made up mymind to stand again for Oldham. They have implored menot to desert them." Churchill had lost by less than 1500votes in 1899 and with his newfound fame he clearly feltthat he had a better chance than in the year before.

This time around the other Conservative candidatewas a stockbroker called Charles Crisp. James Mawdsleyhad been forced to retire from political life after an unfor-tunate accident. According to Churchill he was a veryheavy man who "had taken a bath in a china vessel whichhad broken under his weight," inflicting severe injuries.

Churchill clearly took this campaign very seriously.Writing to his mother in August, he explained that he hadturned down other speaking engagements because he feltthat he must concentrate all his efforts upon the cam-paign: "I must be about Oldham everyday, and it wouldbe so foolish to throw away any chance of winning theseat merely for the purpose of pleasure." By 21 Septemberhe was once again imploring Lady Randolph to come andhelp him campaign. Mr. Crisp's wife was apparently "in-defatigable, going about trying to secure voters and gener-ally keeping the thing going." It seems to have been theexpected thing for each candidate to have the support of awoman, and without a wife, Churchill had to turn to hisfamous mother.

Churchill's campaign was also greatly helped byJoseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Coloniesand one of the most famous Conservative politicians ofthe day. For most of his career Churchill would find him-self at odds with Joseph Chamberlain, and indeed his sonNeville; but for now they were allies and Chamberlaintraveled to Oldham to speak on Churchill's behalf.

The polling of 1900 has become known as theKhaki Election because it was conducted against the back-drop of apparent British success in the Boer War. This putthe Conservative Government in a strong position and al-

lowed Churchill to exploit his South African experiencesto the full. In his printed address to the electors of theBorough, Churchill appealed to the growing mood of pa-triotism, asking the voters to set their seal "to the workwhich has been nobly done by the soldiers in SouthAfrica, by proclaiming to the jealous nations of Europethat England believes in the justice of her cause and is de-termined to persevere."

The Oldham result was declared on 1 October. Ithad been a close call. The Liberals retained their overallmajority, but enough Liberal voters had given Churchilltheir second vote to get him elected as the town's secondME Churchill's long career in the House of Commonshad begun.

Letters of congratulation poured in. Lord Salisbury,the former Conservative Prime Minister, wrote, "Ican well understand that your African perfor-

mances, of various kinds, should have had a perceivableeffect on the minds of the electors of Oldham. They havealways been a difficult constituency to tackle."

Churchill launched into his parliamentary careerwith great relish. But what sort of local MP was he? Thetruthful answer is probably that he was a remote figure.His base was certainly London and there are signs that theconstituency organization was fairly primitive. In Decem-ber 1903 Churchill received a letter from Mr. Ware, theorganizing secretary and registration agent of the OldhamConservative Association. The contents give an insightinto the dismal working conditions in the Party's office:

"There is neither warmth nor comfort in the place.Through the recent frost one of my clerks is dead (pneu-monia) and the other has acute bronchitis, & the two ill-nesses can only be attributed to the absence of any fire orwarmth in the office, and to general damp, dark, unsani-tary condition."

Four days later the other clerk had died, forcing Mr.Ware to reflect that, "It is a co-incidence that both myclerks should have been removed by the hand of deathwithin a week from one another." On the positive side,however, he observed that, "I think that our office will beconducted with more discipline, decorum, and efficiencythan what has been possible with old men in the officewho have been accustomed to a 'set' style, and think thatthe world (politically) is coming to an end if one attemptsto alter it."

Churchill's position did involve him in a certainamount of local patronage. There were requests for refer-ences from those wanting to be local tax collectors or san-itary inspectors, and requests for support and money fromlocal institutions. Perhaps the most amusing of these isthe letter from the Oldham Temperance Mission askingfor a donation towards the cost of some building work.Someone, possibly Churchill himself, has underlined oneof the key phrases in the letter: "The only plank of our

FINEST HOUR in /36

surewas

platform is thatthe membersmust be teeto-tal." We can be

that thisone local

group whichdid not askChurchill to be-come its patron.

The maindevelopmentd u r i n gC h u r c h i l l ' stime at Old-ham was hisbreach with theTory Partywhich led tohis resigningthe seat. Thedebate involv-ing tariffs atthe beginningof the last cen-tury can belikened to thecurrent debateover Europe: it

THE END OF THE AFFAIRIrate Oldham Landlady: "Really, Mr Churchill, I can stand your conduct no longer. You have upset

my rooms and broken my favourite ornaments. You are the most destructive lodger I ever took in. Hereis your notice to quit." (The broken bust of Joe Chamberlain lies on the Door. Churchill's oppositionto Chamberlain's tariffs policy caused the Oldham Conservatives to deny him the use of their dubs.)

aroused strong feelings and cut across party lines. A wingof the Conservative Party, under Joseph Chamberlain,wanted to introduce tariffs or taxes on imported foodsand goods, while others like Churchill defended the Vic-torian policy of Free Trade.

It is not clear why Churchill embraced Free Trade sowholeheartedly. In part it must have been principle. But italso provided him with a cause to champion, and a usefulmeans of getting noticed within the House of Commons.In Oldham it quickly led to a breach with the majority ofhis own supporters. By 1903 the grass roots of the Con-servative Party were clearly lining up behind Chamber-lain, and Oldham was no exception. In August 1903 theMarlborough Conservative Club, in the Clarkesfield Wardon Pitt Street East, passed a resolution protesting againstChurchill's conduct "in committing himself to a hostileattitude towards the Fiscal Reform Scheme." And in De-cember Churchill and Earl Lytton appear to have beenphysically prevented from addressing a meeting at theNorth Chadderton Conservative Club. The general secre-tary subsequently sent an apology for this "uncourteoustreatment" which he blamed on "a few of the least intelli-gent members, simply the riff raff of the club."

The matter had come to a head in October whenthe Oldham Conservative Association had reacted angrilyto a letter by Churchill in which he described Joseph

Chamberlainas a quack.S a m u e lSmethurst,vice-chair-man of thelocal associa-tion and oneof Churchill'sfew support-ers withinthe party,wrote thathis letter"seems tohave had theeffect of aspark laid togunpowder"and added,"Frankly Ithink yourchance nowat the nexte l e c t i o nseems small,and if youare to findyour plat-

form it will have to be on the Liberal side.''On 28 December 1903, the General Purposes Com-

mittee of the Oldham Conservative Party formally passeda motion of no-confidence in Winston Churchill. Thiswas ratified by the Executive Committee in January 1904and Churchill ceased to be the official Conservative can-didate. He could have resigned, forcing an immediate by-election, but after considerable negotiation behind thescenes it was decided that this was in nobody's interest.

Thus Churchill remained MP for the borough untilthe general election of 1906. But his interests were nowincreasingly elsewhere. On 31 May 1904 he completedhis break with the Conservative Party, dramatically cross-ing the floor of the House of Commons to take up a seaton the Liberal opposition benches next to the radicalLloyd George. Just days before he had been selected tostand at the next general election as the candidate forNorth-West Manchester. Politically and geographically hehad moved down the road.

It turned out to be a good move. He was swept tovictory in Manchester in 1906 and became a junior min-ister in the Liberal Government. From there he roserapidly, entering the Cabinet as President of the Board ofTrade in 1908, and later serving as Home Secretary andFirst Lord of the Admiralty. But his career was not allplain sailing. He was forced to resign from the Govern- »

FINEST HOUR in/37

Churchill and Oldham, concluded...

ment after the failure of the Dardanelles campaign in1915, and spent most of the 1930s out of office. But bythen he was a national figure.

There can be no doubt that the summer of 1940was Churchill's "Finest Hour." He replacedNeville Chamberlain as Prime Minister on the day

that Hitler began his blitzkrieg in Western Europe.Within two months Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxem-bourg and France had capitulated, and the British Expedi-tionary Force had been evacuated from Dunkirk. Theprospect of a German invasion became a reality, and theChurchill Papers include copies of intelligence reports de-scribing the build-up of enemy forces across the Channel.The might of the Luftwaffe was unleashed as the countryfaced the Battle of Britain, and then the Blitz.

Churchill provided hope and inspiration. Phrasessuch as "Never in the field of human conflict was so muchowed by so many to so few" assumed a great psychologicalimportance. Churchill did more than just talk. He touredthe bomb-damaged towns and cities, and took a keen in-terest in any measure that might improve morale.

It seems appropriate that the borough of Oldham,Churchill's first constituency, was also the first of manytowns and cities formally to recognise his amazingachievements. Churchill was elected a Freeman of Old-ham in 1941, when the outcome of the war was still farfrom certain. He never came to collect the FreedomScroll, although he did visit Oldham briefly in June 1945during his election tour.

In November 1964 Churchill was ninety years old.It was clear that he would not live much longer. Telegramsof congratulation poured in from throughout the UnitedKingdom and around the world. The mayor of Oldhamsent one on behalf of all the townspeople, "whose parentslaunched you on [yjour parliamentary career."

What can we conclude about Churchill's time atOldham? For him it was very much the firstrung on the ladder. Oldham got Churchill into

politics and into Parliament. It gave him his first experi-ences, not only of campaigning and public speaking butalso of political in-fighting and maneuvering. It may alsohave given him his first real insight into the lot of the or-dinary working man, and so contributed to his move to-wards Liberalism. In later life Churchill looked backfondly on his time at Oldham, remembering "the warmhearts and bright eyes of its people," and writing that "Noone can come in close contact with the working folk ofLancashire without wishing them well." I am sure thatOldham has come to regard Churchill in similarly nostal-gic terms. The records reveal a less rosy but far more livelyand interesting reality. $

Crossing the FloorOn 31 May 1903, Churchill entered the House,

bowed to the Speaker and, glancing at the Tory benches, took aseat next to Lloyd George with the Liberal opposition. Theseare the first two documents after that date in Winston S.Churchill, Companion Volume II, Part 1 1901-1907,edited by Randolph S. Churchill, London: Heinemann, 1969.

WSC to Lord Hugh Cecil (Quickswood Papers) 2 June 1904My dear Linky,...I could not help thinking last night what a

wrench it is to me to break with all that glittering hierar-chy & how carefully one must organise one's system ofthought to be utterly independent of it. The worst of it isthat as the Free Trade issue subsides it leaves my personalambitions naked & stranded on the beach — & they arean ugly & unsatisfactory spectacle by themselves, thoughnothing but an advantage when borne forward with theflood of a great outside cause.

Yours alwaysWINSTON SC

WSC to?[Probably aconstituent]9 June 1904

Dear Sir,It is my in-

tention duringthe remainderof the presentParliament tovote as far aspossible accord-ing to the mer-its of the vari-ous questionsupon which di-

visions are taken. When I think that the government arein the right I shall support them, when I think they are inthe wrong I shall vote against them. You will see thereforethat it is not possible for me to answer definitely yourquestions as to the 'arithmetical' effect upon the Govern-ment majority which will result from my occupying a po-sition on the Liberal benches. That partly depends uponthe conduct of the Government & partly on the conductof the Opposition; but I should add that I am strongly ofopinion that a general election should take place at theearliest possible moment in the interests both of Parlia-ment & of the country & that this consideration will nec-essarily weigh with me in deciding how to vote on anyparticular occasion.

Yours faithfully,WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

FINEST HOUR HI /38

& CURIOSITIES

Not ForPublication?Andrew Roberts

War Diaries 1939-1945, by FieldMarshal Lord Alanbrooke, edited byAlex Danchev and Daniel Todman.London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £25($38), member price $28.

"O:|N NO ACCOUNT MUST THE'CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK

BE PUBLISHED," wrote Field MarshalLord Alanbrooke on the opening pageof his wartime diary, and it is easy tounderstand why. As the "Master ofStrategy," the man Churchill had im-plored to become Britain's senior sol-dier, Alanbrooke was the repository ofall the most important wartime secrets.Even when they were published in1957, the diaries were heavily censoredboth on grounds of national securityand for fear of antagonising powerfulfigures such as the then American Pres-ident Dwight Eisenhower and the pastand serving prime ministers WinstonChurchill, Anthony Eden and HaroldMacmillan.

They are now published unexpur-gated for the first time and, although ithas long been no secret that Alan-brooke did not always see eye to eye onstrategic matters with Churchill, it isonly now apparent that for much ofthe war he could hardly bear the prime

Mr. Roberts is the author of EminentChurchillians (reviewed FH 85:38 and 95:4),and Churchill, Embattled Hero (FH 90:35), andis a member of ICS (UK). His reviews werepublished as follows: Alanbrooke's War Diariesin The Sunday Telegraph, 6 May; Best's Study inGreatness in The Daily Telegraph, 28 April. Theyare reprinted here by courtesy of the author.

"Smile for die camera." Field Marshal Sir AlanBrooke (as he was then) with the PM (standing:

Maj.-Gen. L. C. Hollis, Gen. Sir HastingsIsmay), Downing Street, 7 May 1945.

minister. Churchill, on the other hand,seems to have harboured no reciprocalill-will towards Alanbrooke.

Alanbrooke's influence on globalstrategy cannot be underestimated. Itwas he, more even than Churchill,Roosevelt or Stalin, who set out thestages by which Nazi Germany wasgoing to be defeated in the West. It washe who laid down the crucial sequenceof North Africa, Italy and Normandyas the path to Berlin. Once thought ofas a tough, humourless, Ulster-born"brass hat," it is now clear that Alan-brooke was a passionate man given tobouts of depression and elation andalso of fury against many of those withwhom he had to work, especially Gen-erals Marshall, Eisenhower and Pattonand much of the British political estab-lishment.

His cautious, painstaking ap-proach often clashed with that ofChurchill. It was the dichotomy of achess-player versus a poker-player. YetChurchill never once overruled hisChiefs of Staff Committee, howevermuch he might have disagreed withthem at times. The shadow of theGreat War disaster at Gallipoli stillhung over him and he knew betterthan to trust his impulsive genius morethan Alanbrooke's logical arguments.In his turn, Alanbrooke considered ithis duty to prevent Churchill from get-ting Britain into another Gallipoli, atask in which he succeeded whenquashing Churchill's plans for attack-ing the Balkans in 1943 and Sumatrain 1944.

Although the minutes of theChiefs of Staff Committee in the Pub-lic Record Office give the bare, factualoutlines of what was discussed andagreed in the meetings, these new di-aries flesh out the story and record theoften volcanic rows which developedbetween the key players. Far frombeing the impassive, Olympian figuresof wartime propaganda, Churchill andthe High Command were often de-spairing of what to do next and at bit-ter loggerheads over the way the warshould be fought.

Where Churchill was romantic,boisterous, inspirational and occasion-ally, so Alanbrooke suspected, drunk,the Chief of the Imperial General Staffwas cautious, pessimistic, sober andadamant. Both men were combative,wilful, driven, and anxious to prevail.The personal tension between the meneventually worked in Britain's favour,ensuring that grand strategy combineda mixture of Churchill's genius andAlanbrooke's professionalism. It was apained, often exasperated working rela-tionship that nonetheless helped to winthe Second World War, even if it col-lapsed soon afterwards.

"Brookie wants to have it bothways," commented ClementineChurchill when the first of his twomemoirs, The Turn of the Tide, waspublished in 1957, after he had writtena fulsome (if somewhat hypocritical)dedication in the copy he sentChurchill. As Montgomery told thebook's editor, the historian Sir Arthur

FINEST HOUR 111/39

CHURCHILL CENTER BOOKCLUB MEMBER DISCOUNTS:

To order: list books and prices,add for shipping ($6 first booic, $1each additional m USA; $10 mini-mum elsewhere, air more). Mail withcheque to Churchill Center, POBox 385, Contoocook NH 03229USA. Visa or Mastercard welcome;state name, numbers and expirationdate and sign your order.

"In Victory,Magnanimity"Andrew Roberts

Bryant, Churchill was "very angry in-deed" at this, the first crack in the edi-fice of his wartime reputation. Hewould have been apoplectic if he hadread what Alanbrooke and Bryant hadexcised from the diaries.

Yet it must be recalled that Alan-brooke was often generous to Churchillin the diaries and he regularly pointedout that they were written at times oftremendous stress, often late at night,and as a way of letting off steam andthus preventing his irritation with hiscolleagues becoming apparent to theirfaces. They therefore probably saved asmany rows as they documented.

In the major strategic argumentsof the war, and especially in delayingthe Second Front until June 1944when the Allies were properly ready,Alanbrooke was right and it was proba-bly very fortunate that a "No man" waswhere he was instead of yet anotherone of the "Yes men" who surroundedChurchill.

"Alanbrooke was oftengenerous to Churchillin the diaries, [which]

probably saved as manyrows as they documented."

These diaries were a psychologicalsafety-valve for a soldier who labouredunder as great a weight of political andmilitary pressure as any in history andthey should be read as such. As hebroke yet another pencil in half, saying"Prime Minister, I flatly disagree,"Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke wasdoing his duty better than any otherAllied general on active service. Part ofChurchill's greatness lay in the fact thathe appointed Alanbrooke and, albeitoften grudgingly, always accepted hisadvice.

Churchill: AStudy in Great-ness, by Geof-frey Best, Lon-don, Hamble-don, 370 pp.,illus., pub-lished at£19.95 ($30),CC Book Clubprice $25.

History is, as Pieter Geyl called it inNapoleon: For and Against (1945),

"an argument without end," and thisbook is a masterly summation of the pre-sent arguments for and against WinstonChurchill. Although he usually comesdown in Churchill's favour, Geoffrey Bestis scrupulously objective in explainingthe anti-Churchill case of the so-called"revisionists." Indeed, no better book hasbeen written about the state of the histo-riographical struggle over Churchill.

Geoffrey Best is well placed toadopt the Olympian stance necessary toeschew subjectivity in this most emotiveof historical fields. A former history pro-fessor at Edinburgh and Sussex universi-ties, he is a senior member of St AntonysCollege, Oxford. Unlike some academichistorians, he has a felicitous turn ofphrase. I defy anyone who starts hischapter on 1940, "His Finest Hour," notto finish it in a sitting.

Unfortunately, this book has beenpublished just too early for Best to beable to include reference to the secondvolume of David Irving's Life ofChurchill (expected in August). He doesmake short work of several of the morehoary anti-Churchill myths, writing, "Ihave enjoyed making my own mind up."His subtitle—an answer, perhaps, to thelate Sir Robert Rhodes James's Churchill:a Study in Failure (1970)—allows nodoubt as to which side Best finallyfavours.


Yet this is by no means an uncriti-cal, Fifties-style hagiography. Best admitsChurchill's "innocence of false modesty"(that is, his vanity); his error in rejoiningthe Gold Standard in 1925 at a levelwhich dangerously overvalued thepound; his "over-the-top" rhetoric beforethe rise of Hitler; and he states thatChurchill's pro-King stance during theabdication crisis "suggested that there wassomething amiss in his head." These aretoday's standard views, perhaps, but thiseminently sane book is, in its quiet anddignified way, occasionally ferociouslypolitically incorrect. The analysis ofChurchill's anti-independence Indianpolicy includes the opinion that Ma-hatma Gandhi's "own non-violence oftenserved as a signal for the violence of oth-ers." The strategic bombing of Germancities, Best writes, "gave German civiliansthe same opportunity" as British civiliansof joining the dangers of the front line solong endured by their fighting men.

Best agrees with the view I propa-gated in 1994 of Churchill as anunashamed white supremacist, some-thing which caused outrage at the timebut is now generally accepted, especiallyif placed in its historical and social con-text. And we are spared the tendentiousmoralising of historians such as ClivePonting, who wish us to judge Churchillaccording to the standards of the 21st-century BBC rather than those of 19th-century Blenheim Palace.

This book is particularly impressivewhen it comes to criticising the views ofthe Tory Nationalist school, which takesChurchill to task for not making peacewith Hitler in 1941 in order to save theBritish Empire, remain independentfrom America and preserve Britain fromsocialism. Best describes the views of Dr.John Charmley and Alan Clark as the"most prominent and powerful" so farput forward against Churchill, but hedismisses them as resting on the supposi-tions that the Empire was not alreadycrumbling and that Britain could some-how have remained free within easy reachof a Nazi-dominated Europe. Best writes:"These suppositions are simply not be-lievable by anyone who has taken themeasure of the mentality of Adolf Hitler,the principles of National Socialism, andthe directions in which military technol-

continued opposite above

"In Victory, Magnanimity"...

ogy was developing."Full of wise summations of difficult

issues, this book represents far morethan thejeu d'esprit that the authorclaims for it in his introduction. If hefinds Churchill's schooldays "a bit of apuzzle," for example, or believes thatthere "is no generally agreed conclusion"

to the debate over the sinking of theFrench fleet at Oran in June 1940, he hasthe intellectual self-confidence to say so.

By encouraging his readers to cometo their own conclusions, Best subdyguides us towards his own mature andoverwhelmingly pro-Churchill ones. Theargument over Churchill will not end,but it will rarely be conducted as impres-sively as this.

Myth and Revision, Shaken and StirredDavid Freeman

Churchill, byIan S. Wood.British His-tory in Per-spective series,New York: St.Martins Press,220 pp. hard-bound, pub-lished at$49.95. Member price $36.

Ian Wood is a Lecturer in History atNapier University in Edinburgh and a

tutor with the Open University. His bookis aimed primarily at students, but thegeneral reader will find this to be a solid,thoughtful and up-to-date assessment ofChurchill's career. Regarding the produc-tion of yet another conventional biogra-phy as superfluous, Wood adopts a the-matic approach. The brief monograph'snine chapters analyze topics such as:Churchill the Warrior, Churchill and Ap-peasement, Churchill and the UnitedStates, and so on. These essays rely onmuch of the most recent (and best) schol-arship in Churchill studies with all evi-dence duly documented. The results arefirst rate and go a long way towards con-founding recent revisionist theories.

Wood addresses many of the tired oldpoints that revisionists have hammeredaway at over the years, but gives these top-ics a refreshing twist because he takes theresponsible approach of providing balance

Mr. Freeman earned his Ph.D. in ModernBritish History from Texas A&M University. Heteaches at California State University, Fullerton.

and perspective. Thus, on the book's veryfirst page Wood observes that it has oftenbeen said Churchill "derived a real excite-ment for war and preparation for it." Butthe author immediately goes on to writethat "it was a guilty excitement, asChurchill often made clear when hethought aloud about it, and he was neverindifferent to war's implacable humanprice." To follow this up Wood producesan appropriate illustrating quote fromChurchill's very first book, The Story of theMalakand Field Force.

Having dispensed with the persistentmyth that Churchill was a lifelong jingo-ist, Wood goes on to trace the develop-ment of his subject's views on military ad-ministration. One of the principle themesto emerge here and from the rest of thebook is Churchill's passionate commit-ment to parliamentary principles, includ-ing civilian control of the military. Thus,Wood argues, Churchill believed "Ger-many's major errors in the [First World]war . . . were a result of blinkered militaryprofessionals overriding the will of politi-cians, and he came close to despair at theweakness of a Prime Minister over com-manders in the field whom he could notdismiss." Churchill absorbed these lessonsand, as Wood phrases it, "would notflinch from" them later when against alladvice he insisted on assuming the role ofMinister of Defense in 1940 to go withhis commission as Prime Minister (p. 7).

Wood's forte, then, lies in seeingChurchill at all times in the context of hisentire career. This approach serves to an-swer critics who charge that Churchillhimself bore as much responsibility asanyone for Britain's military unprepared-

ness during the Appeasement years. Theallegation rests upon Churchill's strong,and successful, support for economies inthe nation's finances during his tenure asChancellor of the Exchequer. But, asWood observes, Churchill "was simplycarrying out, with the tenacity he broughtto every task, a Treasury brief to bring allexpenditure under control" (p. 10). Byimplication, had the Former Naval Personbeen back at the Admiralty during thelate 1920s, he undoubtedly would havebeen the foremost proponent of navalrearmament.

Churchill's zeal for the British consti-tution included lending the full weight ofhis formidable talents to supporting thepolicies of cabinets in which he servedeven when those policies did not includethe judicious moderation he had oftenadvised. Nowhere is this more clear thanin the events surrounding the GeneralStrike. "Any version of 1926," Wood cor-recdy argues, "based on die notion ofBaldwin as the moderate and Churchillthe uncompromising class warrior isclearly misleading" (p. 130). As readers ofMartin Gilbert's fifth volume in the offi-cial biography {The Prophet of Truth) areaware, Churchill consistendy supported amuch more lenient policy towards thestriking miners than that adopted by theCabinet. But the democratic process hav-ing taken its course, die principled Chan-cellor did not hesitate to rally around thegovernment when crisis erupted.

Finally, Wood makes the crucial pointto remember when assessing the life ofWinston Churchill—a point that Timemagazine lost sight of in selecting its so-called "Person of the Century." The matterarises in Wood's discussion of Churchill'spostwar premiership, when the restoredPrime Minister demonstrated a "disincli-nation to lead Britain into Europe after1951...deferring important decision onthe modernization of industry and indus-trial relations." All of diis may have setBritain up for more painful adjustmentslater on. "Yet the very fact tliat a democra-tic Western Europe re-emerged in 1945 toforge new institutions and relationships tobring former enemies together," Woodconcludes, "owed everything to Chur-chill's decision mat in 1940, Britainshould fight on against Hider whateverthe risks or the cost." 45

FINEST HOUR in/41

INSIDE THE JOURNALS

Tke Fulton Speech as Art & Failure

Churchill and Palestine RevisitedAbstracts by Cbris Hanger

Hostetler, Michael J.: "The EnigmaticEnds of Rhetoric: Churchill's FultonAddress as Great Art and Failed Per-suasion," Quarterly Journal of Speech,83:416-28 (1997).

Those who study speech techniquesdescribe Churchill's "Sinews of

Peace" speech at Westminster College,Fulton, Missouri in 1946 as a master-piece of rhetoric and metaphor, citingthe theatrical "Iron Curtain" metaphor.However, most scholars overlook otherpowerful metaphorical examples thatlink dangers and challenges confrontingthe world, which are contained in itstitle. Churchill's virtuoso use of lan-guage and the power of speech bindseveral metaphors into a comprehensiveargument.

The title of the speech is itself ametaphorical use of muscle and itsanatomic relation, both in terms of lay-ers and as a binding together of relatedstructures. The word "sinew" means"tendon": that part of the musculaturethat permits muscles to be attached tobone. Reference to the singular also per-mits examination of individual"strengths," while plural usage denotesstrength, energy, or the main or chiefsupporting force of something.Churchill uses these to examine com-mon "sinews" between Great Britainand the United States: allies averse towar, sharing a common language, cul-tural connection, religious heritage,common law, love of liberty and peace.Churchill argues that such common at-tributes of law and liberty should be ex-tended to the world community.

Simply to call the speech a warningon the dangers of Communism largelyignores its encompassing aspects: theconstruct of arguments in favor of fra-ternal and world collaboration. For ex-ample, Churchill uses "sinew" to de-

WSCatFulton,5 March1946.

scribe an interrelation between commonhistory and support for a peacekeepingmechanism, the United Nations.Churchill's use of the metaphor addsforce to the argument. Proper placementof essential elements, building one uponthe other, describes the framework ofthe argument: the importance the com-munity of nations must attach to thehopes for success of the UN.

Churchill further metaphoricallydescribes support and promotion of theUnited Nations as the "building of atemple," not by architects and plannersbut by craftsmen, friends, and partnersmutually working toward a commongoal. Metaphorically, the UN is the"temple of peace."

Two primary threats exist to theworld's people: war and tyranny. By useof religious metaphor, Churchill arguesthat the UN must be founded not onshifting sands or quagmires, but uponrock. A third global threat is poverty.Churchill contends that if these twoprimary threats cease, the third may beovercome. Economic and technologicaladvancement will, he states, pave theway for an "age of plenty," yet another"sinew" binding the English-speakingpeoples into a fraternal association. Hethen cements these metaphors with the"Iron Curtain" metaphor to suggest theneed for unity of purpose.

The speech masterfully blends theart of language with argument. Al-though Churchill's call for "fraternal as-sociation" was rejected, more exists inthe speech to suggest that when viewedin its totality, we "recapture a vision ofthe whole of rhetoric's complex art."

Hurwitz, David Lyon, "Churchill andPalestine," Judaism, 44(1): 3-32, Win-ter 1995.

Less than a year later after the Britishoccupation of Palestine ended,

Winston Churchill visited the area withthe purpose of settling Middle East is-sues regarding the establishment of aJewish homeland in Palestine.

Appointed Colonial Secretary inFebruary 1921, Churchill had long sup-ported a Jewish state. His early experi-ence came from prominent Jewish lead-ers in Manchester, one of his early con-stituencies. In a letter written in 1908,he expressed "full sympathy...with theiraspirations of establishing a Jewishhomeland....The restoration to them ofa centre of true racial and political in-tegrity would be a tremendous event inthe history of the world....Jerusalemmust be the only goal."

Churchill played an important partin determining the boundaries of Pales-tine. A natural Arab-Jewish boundarywas the River Jordan, with Jewish settle-ments permitted west of the river andArabs to the east. As eventually con-cluded, the area subject to Jewish devel-opment comprised only 23 percent ofthe total Palestine territory envisionedunder the League of Nations PalestineMandate, and the Balfour Declaration(which seemed to indicate that theBritish government favored a Jewish na-tional homeland).

Militant Arabs argued that Jewishimmigration should be stopped andsupport for a national home for theJews should be ended. Churchill flatlyrefused, stating that it was not withinhis authority as Colonial Secretary, andthat he would not block Jewish settle-ments in the area even if he could. Heinsisted that Arabs "...must live onterms of cordiality and fraternity."

Significant opposition to the Bal-four Declaration came from prominentEnglish Jews who wished for a more"universalist" view of Judaism withoutconsideration of a geographic home-land. They feared eventual exclusionfrom lands and countries in whichmany had built their lives, had >>

FINEST HOUR in /42

CHURCHILL ONLINE

Palestine: The Twice-Promised LandCorrespondence over "Listserv Winston"

The Churchill Center maintains an internet listgroup that allows you to communicate with 500 peo-ple worldwide on any Churchill subject. Subscriptions are free. To subscribe, send the two word mes-sage SUBSCRIBE WINSTON to: [email protected] and then follow the instructions you receiveback. The listgroup is maintained for us by kind courtesy ofMarist College. If you have any problems,email our host, Prof. Jonah Triebwasster ([email protected]).

11 June 2001:"Churchill declared himself as a

Zionist—and probably he was one—but his hands were tied by the British(and US) ruling classes, which wereanti-Semitic."

12 June 2001:"Yes, there was an anti-semitic

streak in British high society, but toclaim that behind all British govern-ment actions lay the anti-semites isnearly as absurd a claim as Hitler's thatJewish financiers were the real Westerngovernments, started the war, etc., etc.(which we know to be rubbish). Inwhat way were WSC's 'hands tied'?"

Editor's note:Consider Douglas Feith, 'Palestine

and Zionism, 1904-1922' in Churchillas Peacemaker (Cambridge UniversityPress 1997), produced in associationwith (and growing out of a symposiumby) The Churchill and Wilson Centers

in Washington. Mr. Feith devotesextensive research to arguing, not onlythat the British government was fla-grantly anti-semitic in its actionstoward Palestine; but that Churchill"refused to see or admit that Arabopposition to Zionism was beyondappeasement," and that he more orless went along with the official gov-ernment stance through 1939.Palestine, Feith says, was the "twice-promised land" (by Balfour to theJews, Lawrence to the Arabs); that suc-cessive British governments neverintended to set up a Jewish NationalHome there.

Churchill, of course, argued oftenfor a "National Home," and Feith doesnote that Churchill attacked theChamberlain government's May 1939Palestine White Paper, which Feithcalls an effort "to appease, respectively,the Arabs in Palestine and theGermans in Europe. Both efforts,[Churchill said] were doomed to

Inside the Journals (continuedfrom, page 42)prospered and, in the case of England, had become titled. Opposition also camefrom the Colonial and Foreign Offices, and the British military. Churchill believedthat current unrest was being fomented to force Britain to disavow the Balfour De-claration of support for a Jewish homeland. He argued that if not honored, futurecommitments of the British government would be worthless. He stated that Britainwas going to honor the Declaration because it was essentially fair, and containedsufficient safeguards for Jews and Arabs alike.

Churchill emphasized the economic benefits of development of hydroelectricpower, industry and settlement that Jewish immigration would bring to the area.He urged the House of Commons to support the proposed Mandate of Palestine,which eventually passed the House and was approved by the League of Nations.

Problems of immigration quotas to Palestine, violence, and uncertainty of thefuture remain with us. It was an unfortunate twist of history that in late 1922Churchill lost his Cabinet position, and even his seat in Parliament. However, hiscontributions to the formation of modern Israel remain. ®

FINEST HOUR in /43

fail....The White Paper had given theArabs a veto over future Jewish immi-gration into Palestine, thereby ensuringpermanent minority status for theJews." But the White Paper, Feithwent on, "anticipated such criticism,"asserting that "Britain had never com-mitted itself to a Jewish majority or aJewish state in Palestine. As evidence,it offered a lengthy quotation from theChurchill White Paper of 1922, inwhich [WSC] had played 'hide theball' regarding the aims of Britain'sZionist policy. Churchill played thisgame with such care that the newcolonial secretary in 1939 could claim,plausibly if disingenuously, that theball never existed in the first place."

Feith's indictment of Churchillwas that he did not rank Palestine"among the top priorities of Britishforeign policy," which struck me asitself disingenuous. After 1930,Churchill had no power to set priori-ties on anything—until late 1939, andfrom that point his main preoccupa-tion was Britain's survival. To thatextent I quarreled with Feith's thesis(as Professor Muller, the book's editor,knows!). Mr. Feith holds that therenever was any chance of Arab accom-modation toward the Jews (those pre-sent at Camp David last year wouldprobably agree). But...when Churchillwas Colonial Secretary in 1921-22,Britain was a superpower which couldhave imposed and enforced any settle-ment she desired, even two separatestates. And Douglas Feith argues withsome justification that there wasn't anofficial in the Foreign Office whowould support such an arrangement—that they were, at least all of those withpower, essentially anti-Zionist.

It is instructive, however, thatFeith made no criticism of Churchill'slater reaction to the Holocaust, andwhat he tried to do about it. See SirMartin Gilbert's famous lecture,"Churchill and the Holocaust"{Churchill Proceedings 1992-1993), orhis later book, Churchill: A Life. M>

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THE SECOND WORLD WARA CONNOISSEUR'S GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF THE CENTURY

PART III: THE CHARTWELL AND LATER EDITIONS

RICHARD M. LANGWORTH

Thr-ll,,,i-lireir KtlllSon «/ I UK SI (KM WOKMt W'.tll h|; II••.«/.... S. I'hui-i-lilll

• ::;;,-*

We complete herewithour discussion of

The Second World War,turning to the numerouseditions and variants pub-lished in all languages sincethe mid-Fifties. Entries areconfined to physical de-scriptions only; much moreinformation, includingquantities and current val-ues, will be found in AConnoisseur's Guide to theBooks of Sir WinstonChurchill, which is nowavailable from the CC NewBook Service at $30.

Chartwell (First Illustrated) Edition:ICS A123e. Educational Book Co.,Ltd., London 1955, 6 vols.

In a special note to this editiondated 1 October 1954, Churchillwrites: "Now a special edition is beingpublished illustrated for the first time,in which all those first minor errorshave been corrected." This beautifuledition carries an entirely new text infine, readable, large type, along withhundreds of illustrations on coatedpaper—interspersed not in thick 16-page sections but spread around intwo- or four-page inserts. Each volumecontains a colour frontispiece andthree-colour maps, silk head and tailbands and duplex endpapers, althoughthe folding maps of the First EnglishEdition are eliminated. There were nodust jackets, though each volume waswrapped in a plain glassine cover.

The books were offered by mailorder in early 1955 in thick, stoutboards bound in two versions by"Britain's finest craftsmen" which were

Centerspread from the brochure advertisingthe standard red cloth and deluxe half blue

morocco leather Chartwell Editions.

rightly described as "beautiful examplesof the Bookbinders' art." The standard,and most-often-seen binding is redcanvas, with titles on brown leatherspine panels; on top boards the volumetitle gilt with a specially commissionedembossed medallion of Churchill on aleather label. It sold for £12 19s. 6d.($36). The much rarer deluxe bindingis blue "Oasis" morocco leather withart vellum cloth, bevelled boards, spineblocked gilt. It sold for £19 19s. ($56).

The Educational Book Companyhelped support students, who sold sub-scriptions to Chartwell Editions doorto door. The young salesmen usuallycarried a "sample" bound in blackleatherette, blocked SPECIMEN in gilton the top board. The boards fold backto reveal the two bindings, the colourfrontispiece and title page of Volume I,excerpted textual pages including 12maps from Volume II, and 24 pages ofphotos plus colour plates.

This beautiful editionis the most elaborate andluxurious rendering ofChurchill's war memoirs,and would be the secondset I would add after aFirst English Edition—which it complementsnicely, being not only pro-fusely illustrated but con-taining all of Churchill'srevisions since the originalvolumes. The standardbinding has lately becomescarce in truly fine condi-tion; the deluxe binding

(of which I encounter about one toevery 20 standards) commands excep-tional prices. Gutterbreaks are commonon these large, thick volumes, and theleather spine labels of standard bindingsare often chipped; such sets sell formodest prices, but are worth it; this is atruly desirable edition.

Time-Life Illustrated Edition: ICSA123f. New York 1959, 2 vols.

Taking its text from the FirstAbridged Edition, this elaborate quartoset is illustrated by photographs andpaintings from the files of Life maga-zine, many published for the first time,and unique maps specially drawn forthis edition. Bound in half blue (vol. I)or half green (vol. II) and blackleatherette, blocked gilt on spine andtop boards, it was published in two for-mats: in dust jackets (blue and greenrespectively), at $25; or slipcased withan LP record containing excerpts fromChurchill's wartime speeches, at$39.95. (The record came in a glassineenvelope; the volumes were not jack-eted in this format.) The Time-Life

FINEST HOUR in /44

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Edition is unique and attractive, butdealers tend to think it's worth morethan it is. It had a huge sale, and copiesare not difficult to come by. My owncopy is inscribed over his photo by oneof the embattled American soldiers pic-tured in these dramatic pages, whocame to visit me one day and tookhome two sets of these with my com-pliments. He'd earned them.

The Gathering Storm First PenguinEdition: ICS A123g. Penguin Paper-backs, London I960

This single title from the series wasthe only volume published of an in-tended six-volume series which wasforestalled by copyright negotiations.Reprinted 1962.

Golden Press Edition: ICS A123h.Golden Press, New York I960

A one-volume adaptation of theTime-Life edition, abridged for youngreaders by Fred Cook. "Certain pas-sages have been paraphrased by him forthe purpose of condensation" (butTime-Life carefully sets the paraphras-ing off in small type and daggers).Quarto, 384 pages, profusely illus-trated, this work is easily recognised bypictorial boards, the top board illustrat-ing the national flags of Britain, USSR,USA, Germany, France, China and theJapanese naval ensign. This design isrepeated in the dust jacket. Endpapersare multicoloured maps of the Euro-pean and Asia-Pacific theatres. Notoften seen but never expensive, this isstill the ideal introduction toChurchill's war memoirs for youngpeople under the age of 12.

School Edition: ICS A123i.Cassell & Co. Ltd., London: 1960

Black, red and white boards withabstract art of ships, planes, the globeand the London Blitz. No dust jacket.An abridged juvenile compiled by Dr.Andrew Scotland, without illustrations.A set of student questions and assign-ments, entitled "For SecondThoughts," appears on pages 327-33.Quite rare, this edition apparently hadonly one impression, published 21 Jan-uary 1960.

Blenheim Edition: ICS A123J.Cassell & Co. Ltd., London: I960

Red boards blocked gilt on spine,334 pages. A rework of the School Edi-tion adding eight pages of coated stockwith photos. In place of "For SecondThoughts" is an index, pages 327-34.Published at 12s 6d ($1.75). Dustjacket printed black, yellow and redwith Karsh 1941 photo of Churchill.

Bantam Edition: ICSA123k. Bantam BooksInc., New York 1962

The first Americanpaperback edition, soldinitially as a boxed set,has had numerous im-pressions to date. Origi-

nally published at $2.50 each. Boxedsets were offered for $25.

Second Illustrated(paperback) Edi-tion: ICS A1231.Cassell & Co.,London: 1964,12vols.

The secondcomplete illus-trated edition,this paperback broke the original 12"books" of the work (two per volume)into 12 individual volumes. The vol-ume titles are those of Churchill's"books," e.g. Volume 5 is "GermanyDrives East." The text was reset for thisedition, and each volume contains aneight-page signature of photographs oncoated paper. Wrappers are printedred-orange and black on white, each il-lustrated with a photograph. Easilyfound in Britain, this set is chiefly val-ued for its photographs; the page stockwas pulpy and is almost always yellowand brittle. There were several impres-sions.

Heron (Third Illustrated) Edition:ICS A123m. Heron Books Ltd., Lon-don: 1974, 12 vols.

This novel edition issued to markthe Churchill Centenary was describedby the publisher as "quarter brown mo-rocco and olive Kivar" (imitation kid-skin) with a gilt Churchill medallion

the luxury of real leatherthe grandeur of 23 carat gold

to honour SlrWinston Churchill inthis CentennleTfear of his birth

Advert describing the 12-volume HeronEdition, sold by mail order by Heron Books,

London, c. 1974. These volumes werepromoted at a subscriber's price of £2.75

each, and subscribers who signed upearly were given a copy of Jack House's"Wit & Wisdom of Winston Churchill."

on the cover; much rarer is the variantbinding in full blue leatherette,blocked silver. Profusely illustrated(vol. I contains eight groups of four-page photo sections), head and footbands, yellow cloth page markers, dec-orative endpapers. The text was resetfor this edition; maps and charts wereredrawn and printed in halftone ratherthan two- or three-colour. The settingis shared with the Diner's Club "MajorWorks" edition of The Second WorldWar. (see the Connoisseur's Guide). Soldvia mail order at £2.75 ($7.70) eachplus post.

The textual history is interesting.As with previous 12-volume works,Heron broke the original six volumesinto Churchill's 12 "books." VolumesI-IV were offprinted from the consid-erably revised Second Editions of Gath-ering Storm and Finest Hour (1949,1950). Volumes V-VII appear to beoffprinted from First English Editions,but Volume VIII ("Book Two" of TheHinge of Fate) comes from a 1968 im-pression. Volumes IX-X are from the1966 Fourth Edition of Closing theRingx while Volumes XI-XII are fromthe 1954 Second Edition of Triumphand Tragedy. Evidently all these werethe current trade editions in 1974.Heron Editions have been selling formodest prices. As the Chartwell Edi-tions get scarcer, more people turn tothis alternative for gift giving and pre-sentations, so the value is rising. >>


Their Finest Hour Franklin LibraryEdition: ICS A123n. Franklin MintCorp., Franklin Center, Pa.: 1978

A completely reset edition (butwith maps offprinted from the Ameri-can trade edition), this handsome vol-ume is printed in dark blue and blackand contains reportorial sketches byCapt. Bryan de Grineau MC. 8vo,bound in full navy morocco, decora-tively blocked gilt on boards and spine,with two raised spine bands, all edgesgilt, grey silk pagemarker, grey moireendpapers; issued with a 24-page illus-trated booklet entitled NOTES FROMTHE EDITOR, in the Limited EditionCollection, "The Greatest Books of theTwentieth Century." The FranklinMint produced a magnificent volumehere, and it is only a shame the otherfive were not included. The most dis-tinctive feature is de Grineau's 16-pagecollection of sketches of the Battles ofFrance and Britain, which convincinglyinvoke the feeling of those terrible, glo-rious times. Copies are scarce.

American Chartwell Issue: ICS A123o.Houghton Mifflin, Boston: 1983, 6 vols.

Nicely bound in half navy leatherand tan linen cloth, with a Churchillpainting of Chartwell tipped onto thefront boards, this work was undertakenas a premium for the Book-of-the-

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Month Club, which offered the set foronly $35 to newly joining BOMC mem-bers. To justify the book club edition,Houghton Mifflin produced 200 sets ofa "trade edition" priced at a staggering$295. Thus there are two distinct bind-ings. The more common BOMC bind-ing has rust stained top page edges andprominent debossed "dot" on the lowerright corner of rear boards. The limitedbinding has yellow stained top pageedges and no debossed "dot." Endpa-pers of both variants contain excellentthree-colour maps relevant to each vol-ume. Some BOMC members who or-dered this work received the trade bind-ing, probably to cover a shortage inBOMC stock. Houghton Mifflin hadtrade bindings to spare, their sales peo-ple told this writer, because at $295they didn't sell many. The trade bindingis far scarcer than the BOMC version,and has thus far commanded a healthypremium on the secondhand market.

Penguin Edition: ICS A123p.Penguin Books, London: 1985, 6 vols.

Volume I carries a new introduc-tion by military historian John Keegan.Issued in paperback as boxed sets, inboth trade and book club varieties.Book club variants do not display priceson the book wrappers.

Easton Press Issue: ICS A123q. EastonPress, Norwalk, CT: 1989, 6 vols.

Another offprint taken fromHoughton Mifflin first edition sheetswith no textual alterations save its resettitle pages. Bound in black pigskin, dec-orated gilt on boards; five raised spinebands with titles gilt on two red leatherlabels. Gold moire endpages, yellowcloth pagemarker, all edges gilt. Offeredby mail order at $260/£156. Like allreadymade collector's items this is noth-ing more than a fancy reprint, and be-

cause so many cheaper sets are around,it is no bargain. Textually it retains thedrawbacks of the First American Edi-tion from which it is taken; EastonPress, which is capable of highly profes-sional work, should have printed fromthe English Edition. The pigskin bind-ing is heavily dyed, carries no aromaand cracks audibly when the stiff boardsare opened. Although it has appeal tocollectors of leather-lined libraries, thereis really nothing to recommend it overthe many other fine editions describedabove.

Taiwan IssuesBoth the six-volume original and

the 1959 abridgement were publishedin Taiwan on cheap page stock, repro-duced from the Cassell English edi-tions. Whether or not these are "pi-rated" I leave to the bibliographers, butthat is the general impression in thebook trade, where they command verylow prices. Six-volumes Unabridged:Offprinted from the English Edition,possibly a later edition, since the titlepages are not from the English First.On rear free endpapers of each volumeis a Chinese inscription rubber stampedin purple ink. The vol. VI dust jacketstates "Overseas Edition" in red onfront inside flap; none of the others do.One-volume Abridged: Offprinted fromthe English Edition, with a Chinese in-scription printed on page (iv). Boundin beige cloth, spines blocked silver.

Foreign TranslationsFor descriptions, publishers and dates referto the Connoisseur's Guide.

Arabic: [titles in Arabic], 6 vols.Danish: Den Anden Verdens-Krig, 6 vols.Dutch: Memoirs, 10 vols.French: Memoires sur la Deuxieme GuerreMondiale, 12 vols.French (Belgian): Memoires sur la Deux-

ieme Guerre Mondiale, 3 vols.; (a variantbound in 4 vols. also exists). This is themost luxurious and desirable foreign lan-guage edition, printed two-colour and re-plete with specially drawn maps. Manyphotographs are unique, including a rarephoto of Churchill orating in the well of theHouse of Commons and a beautiful photo

FINEST HOUR in / 4 6

WOODS CORNER

Some interesting foreign language editions. L-R: Dutch, French, Hebrew, Norwegian, Serbo-Croat volumes from multi-volume editions; and a modern German single-volume abridgement.

of Roosevelt inscribed in 1942 to Churchill.Scores of other photos repeatedly depict thePrime Minister and virtually every signifi-cant military and political figure of the Sec-ond World War. The colour frontispiece(Vol. I only) reproduces the Salisbury por-trait of WSC which hangs at Chartwell.

French (Swiss): Memoires sur la DeuxiemeGuerre Mondiale, 12 vols.

German: Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 12 vols.German (Swiss): Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 6 vols.Greek: [titles in Greek], 12 vols.Hebrew: [titles in Hebrew], 6 vols.Italian: La Seconda Guerra Mondiale, 12 vols.Japanese: [titles in Japanese], 24 vols.Korean: [titles in Korean], complete and

abridged, various vols.

Norwegian: DenAnnen Verdenskrig, 12 vols.Polish: Druga Svetovna Vojna., 6 vols.Portuguese (Brazilian): A Segunda Guerra

Mondiale, 6 vols.Russian: [titles in Cyrillic], 6 vols.Serbo-Croat: Drugi Svetski Rat, 6 vols.Spanish: La Segunda Guerra Mondial, 6 vols.Swedish: Andra Vardlskriget, 12 & 6 vols.Turkish: Corcil Anlkyatiyos, 4 vols.

Combined Work:Sekye Inmool Toe Hoi Korok (Korean)

Literally "The Great Memoirs of OurWorld." Taken from the abridged texts ofThe World Crisis and The Second World War.Published by Korean Publishing Corp.,Seoul: 1989, 325 pp. $

7 7 *'All tke News Tkat's Fit to Print7

Ckurckill on Hitler in Great Contemporaries

In an article entitled, "RethinkingNegotiation with Hitler" written in

The New York Times of 25 November2000, Benjamin Schwarz recapped thechanging views among historians ofChurchill on this subject. (Schwarzlumped Andrew Roberts, Sheila Lawlorand John Charmley into the categoryof "revisionist historians" with ClivePonting, a great disservice to Lawlor,Roberts and Charmley.)

The revisionists argue, Schwarzwrote, "...that the idea of an armedtruce with Germany didn't carry thesame moral odium it does today. (EvenChurchill speculated in 1935 that

*motto of The New York Times

Hitler 'will go down in history as theman who restored honor and peace ofmind to the great Germanic nation.')."

As in most attempts to startle, Mr.Schwarz took the quote out of context.It originates with Churchill's "TheTruth About Hitler," published in TheStrand magazine, November 1935 andreprinted as a chapter, "Hitler and HisChoice," in Churchill's Great Contem-poraries (London: Butterworth, NewYork: Putnams 1937). The full applica-ble quote (in 1935, remember) reads:

"It is not possible to form a justjudgment of a public figure who has at-tained the enormous dimensions ofAdolf Hitler until his life work as awhole is before us. Although no subse-

FINEST HOUR m / 4 7

quent political action can condonewrong deeds, history is replete with ex-amples of men who have risen to powerby employing stern, grim and evenfrightful methods, but who, neverthe-less, when their life is revealed as awhole, have been regarded as great fig-ures whose lives have enriched the storyof mankind. So may it be with Hitler.

"Such final view is not vouchsafedus today. We cannot tell whether Hitlerwill be the man who will once again letloose upon the world another war inwhich civilization will irretrievably suc-cumb, or whether he will go down inhistory as the man who restored hon-our and peace of mind to the greatGermanic nation and brought it backserene, helpful and strong, to the fore-front of the European family circle. Itis on this mystery of the future thathistory will pronounce. It is enough tosay that both possibilities are open atthe present moment."

Schwarz's piece reminds us of theunfortunate smear of Churchill's recordin their "Person of the Century" far-rago a year ago by Time magazine, inwhich the editors used selective, trun-cated quotes to brand Churchill a racistand an enemy of "women's rights." (See"Time's Long March to 'Person of theCentury,'" FH 105.)

Duvall Hecht, President of Books-on-Tape Inc., replied to the Schwarzarticle as follows: "One of the great andsignal acts, one of the watershed deci-sions, one of the finest examples ofmoral courage in history is the standChurchill took against negotiationswith Hitler. With unshakable resolvehe spoke for freedom from tyranny, nomatter the cost, and his call rallied peo-ple around the world. On this point,historians who would rewrite therecord or cavil at a footnote in theChurchill saga have a firm hold on thewrong end of the stick, and havethrown perspective out the windowalong with their common sense."

WOODS CORNERis a bibliophile's department named afterthe late Fred Woods, the first bibliogra-pher of Winston Churchill. Contribu-tions are most welcome. M>

Recipes irom No. 10:Biscuits (Cookies)by Georgina Landemare, Churchill family cook, 1940s-1950s

updated and annotatedfor the modern kitchenby Barbara Langworth([email protected])

near a river in the Atlas foothills against

a background of prickly pear... [Beaverbrook] was

greatly impressed by the antagonism of the Moorish and Jewish

children who refused to play with one another.... We fed them

with biscuits, cakes and oranges.... JOHN COLVILLE, FRINGES

OF POWER: DOWNING STREET DIARIES 1940-1955 (1985)

T h e American word "cookie" comes from the Du tchkoekje meaning "little cake." T h e closest thing in Britainwould be a "sweet biscuit." T h e word "biscuit" is from theFrench bis cuit, (twice cooked) which may have originallyreferred to sea biscuits, cooked twice to keep them crisp.

M A C A R O O N S3/4 lb. finely ground almonds1/2 lb [2 cups] icing [powdered] sugar, sifted2 whipped egg whites2 unwhipped egg whitesBaking [parchment/rice] paperBlanched almonds for top

Mix together the ground almonds and sugar, add thetwo unwhipped whites. Work this well together. Graduallyfold in the whipped whites. Place a spoonful of mixture onthe paper on a baking sheet, allowing room around eachmacaroon for spreading. Put half a blanched a lmond on thecentre of each macaroon. Bake at 300°F for 20 minutes.Don't allow to brown. Remove while still warm.

C H O C O L A T E CRESCENTS6 oz butter [softened]6 oz [3/4 cup] granulated sugar6 oz finely chopped nuts6 oz [1 1/4 cup] flour6 oz [1/2 cup] chocolate powder [cocoa]1 egg yolk

Glace icing1/2 lb [2 cups] icing [powdered] sugar, sifted2 TB warm water.Add water gradually unti l icing is of a coating consistency

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix cocoa,nuts and flour together and slowly add to mixture, beatinggently. Add egg yolk. If it is still crumbly, add water by thetablespoon [1-3] until dough forms a ball. Roll out and cutinto crescent shapes about 1/4 inch thick. If cut too thinthe cookies will burn . Bake at 350°F for about 15 min.W h e n cold, glaze with icing. $!

Something's Cooking Aboard DDG81

From Cdr. Mike Franken, Commanding Officer,USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG81),June 16th—

Here is a picture of our first underwater ex-plosive test. This is the splash made by a 7-ton explo-sive charge placed at 200 feet depth. The third andfinal shot was one-half this separation distance,putting us on the edge of the plume. We are now fix-ing the ship.... Mi

FINEST HOUR in /48

QUESTION TIME

PM's Q U E S T I O N S : ORDERS, DECORATIONS & MEDALS

Edited and annotated by Paul H. Courtenay

Question Time is that period in the Parliamentary week whereMembers are allowed to ask the Prime Minister any questionthey wish, governed only by decorum and the judgment of theSpeaker as to whether they are genuinely asking questions or(commonly) giving a speech. Churchill was a master ofQuestion Time, and Mr. Courtenay provides examples of hiswit and command.

Merchant Navy AwardsOn 8Sep42 the Prime Minister

was asked about awards for gallantryin the Merchant Navy. This wasclearly a planted question, as a mech-anism for giving information...

WSC: "Officers of theMerchant Navy, serving as such,who receive the Order of the BritishEmpire, are appointed to the CivilDivision, which is, of course, of equal status to theMilitary Division of the Order. It is not proposed tovary this arrangement, or to make any recommenda-tion for the creation of further decorations. The per-sonnel of the Merchant Navy serving under specialagreement as part of the Royal Navy have hithertobeen eligible for the naval gallantry awards otherthan the [Distinguished Service Order]. That posi-tion has now been rectified, and the DSO is avail-able for Merchant Navy officers serving in these cir-cumstances. The special services of the MerchantNavy generally were recognised several years ago byHis Majesty's approval of officers and men in thatservice being eligible, under certain circumstances,for the award of the Victoria Cross and the Distin-guished Service Cross. I am glad to be able toinform the House that His Majesty has been pleasedto approve the addition of the DSO to the list ofdecorations open for award in the Merchant Navy."

War MedalsOn 22Sep43 the Prime Minister was asked sever-

al questions concerning the issue of the 1939-43 Starand the Africa Star. (Advance notice would have beengiven of these questions, allowing an answer to be pre-pared; but supplementary questions without notice

could follow.) The 1939-43 Star was later modified tobecome 1939-45 and the bar to one person's receivingboth it and the Africa Star was revoked.

WSC: "Service in Cyprus will not qualify forthe Africa Star. Malta alone of the Mediterranean

islands is included in the award ofthis Star, by reason of its heavyaction and long ordeal in combina-tion with the operations in Africa.In the Navy the 1939-43 Star takespriority of award over the AfricaStar, and no one eligible for the for-mer will receive the latter. The rea-son for this is that, from the navalpoint of view, service in the Africancampaigns cannot be accepted as

ranking before world-wide services performed bythe Navy in other areas of operations....

"When the Africa and 1939-43 Stars are man-ufactured after the war, they will be given asmementos to the next-of-kin of those who have suf-fered death as a result of service in a theater of oper-ations during the periods laid down. We are goingto get on with the giving-out of the medals. We arenot going to delay the issue of the ribbons, but thequestion is whether some others should come in.There are officers and men, some of whom havebeen fighting for three years continuously, and who,perhaps, have only a decoration for personal gal-lantry on their breasts. They will value it verymuch. We must be careful not to destroy the valueof the award by making it practically universal. Onthe other hand, it may well be that some expansionmay be permitted from the present conception.Everyone will recognise the difficulty of the prob-lem, and how easily opinions may differ upon it. Icertainly hope the House will be able to find timeto discuss this, because we obviously want to makethese awards correspond with the general wish andfeeling of the country and of the House, which rep-resents the country, and also to make them in aform which will be acceptable to the far more criti-cal opinion of the Fighting Services." M>

FINEST HOUR n i /49

CHURCHILLTRIVIABy Curt Zoller ([email protected])

rESTyour knowledge! Most questionscan be answered in back issues of

Churchill Center publications but it's notreally cricket to check. Twenty-four ques-tions appear each issue, answers in the fol-lowing issue. Categories are Contemporaries(C), Literary (L), Miscellaneous (M), Per-sonal (P), Statesmanship (S) and War (W).

1153. Which relative wrote to Churchillin 1898 about his novel Savrola: "It isclear you have not yet attained a knowl-edge of women—and it is evident youhave...no experience of love"? (C)

1154. Churchill wrote a foreword to TheChartered Surveyor. When was the Char-tered Surveyor Institution founded? (L)

1155. At the 1951 General Election, forwhom did the British public cast morevotes, Conservatives or Labour? (M)

1156. At Harrow, whom did Churchillpush into the pool who later served asFirst Lord of the Admiralty? (P)

1157. According to a 1954 Commonsspeech, what "must never be grudgedwhen peace of the world is at stake"? (S)

1158. Churchill first discussed an attackon the Dardanelles in November 1914.What rationale did he offer for it? (W)

1159. Who was the actor who claimed(falsely) to have broadcast the "blood,toil, tears and sweat" speech? (C)

1160. Which British historian was de-nied use of the Marlborough papers atBlenheim, while Churchill was writingMarlborough's biography? (L)

1161. Within plus or minus five years,when did Churchill become a customerof Pol Roger Champagne? (M)

1162. In 1912 Churchill declared in aspeech, "They are now the most seriousobstacles to Anglo-American friendship."To whom did he refer? (P)

1163. On 29 February 1936, Churchillwarned that Germany's air strength in1937 would "be nearly double of ourown." Mr. Baldwin said his figures wereexaggerated. Who was right? (S)

1164. When Churchill wrote, "Is this al-

ways to be our method of war andconquest—blunders, follies, bloodshed,an ill-timed or ill-concernedexpedition, useless heroism and with-drawal, and then afterwards a greatarmy striking an overwhelming blow?" towhat battle was he referring? (W)

1165. Whom did WSC call a "seditiousMiddle Temple lawyer and a fakir..."? (C)

1166. Which Churchill book describesthe Mahdist revolt in the Sudan? (L)

1167. What did Sir Winston call the"world's most drinkable address"? (M)

1168. Did Lord Randolph and WinstonChurchill agree or disagree on HomeRule for Ireland? (S)

1169. In Parliament in March 1935, SirHerbert Samuel described Churchill as "aMalay run amok." What was the cause ofthe criticism? (W)

1170. What did WSC consider the "prin-cipal milestones in secular history"? (W)

1171. To which statesman did Churchillrefer when he wrote, "It is difficult for aman to do great things if he tries to com-bine a lambent charity embracing thewhole world with the sharper forms ofpopulist party strife"? (C)

1172. Name the title of the last Churchillbook published during his lifetime. (L)

1173. Who was Minister of Defence inChurchill's wartime government? (M)

1174. Who said, "When Winston wasborn lots of fairies swooped down on hiscradle with gifts—imagination, elo-quence, industry, ability; and thencame a fairy who said, 'No one personhas the right to so many gifts,' pickedhim up and gave him such a shake andtwist that with all the gifts he was deniedjudgment and wisdom"? (P)

1175. In 1919, who recommended toAir Minister Churchill that Mesopotamiashould be held by air power, thereby re-leasing a number of army divisions? (S)

1176. After World War I, Churchill andLloyd George differed on what to dowith the German Kaiser. What were theirrespective recommendations? (W)

ANSWERS TO LAST TRIVIA

(1129) Detective Inspector W. H. Thomp-son served as Churchill's bodyguard foreleven years, retired in 1936 and opened agrocery business; Churchill called him backto duty in 1939. (1130) The book publishedon behalf of the Seamen's Hospital Societywas All Clear Aft: Episodes at Sea. (1131) Thepublisher who will put the Churchill paperson microfilm is the Gale Group. (1132) Theartist who produced the Churchill statue atWestminster College was Franta Belsky.(1133) Stalin wrote, "It would be easier stillto open a front in the North [Norway]."(1134) USS Winston S. Churchill was builtby Bath [Maine] Iron Works.

(1135) The actress who turned down WSC'sproposal was Ethel Barrymore. (1136) Thecountry Churchill thought might send "hercricketers to Lord's" was Cuba; see the DailyGraphic of 13 January 1896. (1137)Churchill made Attlee, his Deputy PrimeMinister, Secretary of State for the Domin-ions in February 1941. (1138) WSC re-ceived £1600 for his 1900-01 speaking tour.(1139) The studies Churchill hoped wouldbe entrusted "to those on whose hands timehangs heavy" concerned postwar Europe.(1140) He considered shipping losses up to50% as acceptable.

(1141) "The difference between Balfourand Asquith is that Arthur [Balfour] iswicked and moral, while Asquith is goodand immoral." (1142) Churchill's letters inthe Daily Telegraph were bylined "by aYoung Officer"; he was furious that hisname did not appear. (1143) When hit bya car in New York in 1931, Churchill wasgoing to visit Bernard Baruch. (1144) MPswere salaried in 1911. (1145) Lt. Col.Fitzroy Maclean, of the Foreign Office, wasgiven the rank of Brigadier and assigned toTito's headquarters.

(1146) The code name for the Norway op-eration was "Jupiter." (1147) EdwardMarsh was a clerk in the West African De-partment before becoming Churchill's per-sonal secretary. (1148) Churchill wroteabout Roosevelt in 1934; the campaign hementioned was FDR's New Deal. (1149) F.E. Smith joined Churchill in forming "TheOther Club." (1150) WSC's favored Mar-rakesh hostelry was Hotel La Mamounia.(1151) Operation Culverin was planned asan attack on Sumatra and Malaya. (1152)Churchill sent Dominion PMs personalcommunications, a "Weekly Resume" anddaily progress reports on war operationsprepared by the Chiefs of Staff; and sum-maries of Cabinet papers. M>

FINEST HOUR in /50

AMPERSANDA compendium of facts eventually to appear as a reader's guide.

COMMISSIONS HELD BY WINSTON S. CHURCHILLCompiled by Douglas Russell & Paul Courtenay

2nd Lieutenant, 4th Queen's Own Hussars, 20 Feb 1895.Lieutenant, 4th Queens Own Hussars, 20 May 1896.Lieutenant, South African Light Horse, Jan 1900.Captain, Imperial Yeomanry, Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, 4 Jan 1902.Major, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, 25 May 1905.Lieutenant-Colonel (temporary), QOOH, posted to 6th Battalion, Royal

Scots Fusiliers, 5 January 1916.

MILITARY UNITS WITH WHICH CHURCHILL SERVED1. 4th Queen's Own Hussars (cavalry regiment): England and India, 1895-99.2. 31st Punjab Regiment, Bengal Infantry, Indian Army, part of the 1st

brigade, Malakand Field Force: NW Frontier of India, September 1897.3. 35th Sikh Regiment, Bengal Infantry, Indian Army, part of the 2nd

brigade, Malakand Field Force: NW Frontier of India, September 1897.4. 21st Lancers (cavalry regiment): Egypt and the Sudan, August-October

1898. The regiment became the 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers after the Battle ofOmdurman, 2 September 1898.

5. South African Light Horse (Imperial Yeomanry cavalry regiment): com-missioned January 1900, served as officer and correspondent until July 1900.

6. Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (Yeomanry cavalry regiment): January1902. A reserve unit, the QOOH became part of the Territorial Force in 1908 (re-titled Territorial Army in 1920). In 1923 the regiment was superseded by 100th(Worcestershire & Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Royal Field Artillery Brigade, whichcontained two batteries formed from QOOH volunteers.

Note: Churchill was posted to the Western Front, first to the 2nd battalion,Grenadier Guards (infantry regiment) for one month's training (December 1915-January 1916); then to command the 6th battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (infantry),part of the Ninth (Scottish) Division, 5 January to 16 May 1916. Despite thesepostings his commission remained in the QOOH.

BRITISH MILITARY ORGANIZATIONArmy Group: two or more armies. • Army: two or more corps. • Corps: two ormore divisions. • Division: field formation of about 10,000, containing two or morebrigades or an administrative grouping of regiments. • Brigade: field formation ofabout 3000, containing two or more units of combat arms with support units.

InfantryRegiment: The basic parent grouping of infantry, and not a tactical unit, sub-

divided into a variable number of battalions (often two regular, two militia, miscel-laneous volunteer battalions and a depot unit).

Battalion: The standard tactical unit of infantry, approximately 800-1000officers and men, similar in size to a cavalry regiment.

Company: Sub-unit of a battalion (120 men)Platoon: Sub-unit of a battalion (35 men)Section: Sub-unit of a platoon ("Squad" in U.S. Army)

CavalryRegiment: basic organizational unit of cavalry, 500-700 officers and men

depending on wartime or peacetime and place of service: home, India, othercolonies. Usually subdivided into four squadrons.

Squadron: sub-unit of a regiment; four make up a regiment.Troop: sub-unit of a squadron, similar to an infantry platoon.

"Send for Churchill":The 1951 Campaign PinThe WashingtonSociety forChurchill offersthis finely enam-eled replica of thepin Churchill's sup-porters wore in theelection which made himPrime Minister again in1951- The craftsmanship is a significantimprovement on the original—crisp, clearand bright. US $ 10 or the equivalent post-paid. Cheques to WSC, c/o Dan Borinsky,2080 Old Bridge Road #203, Lake RidgeVA 22192.

Commemorative Covers1) Two different philatelic covers

(150 of each) were published by theUniversal Ship Cancellation Society tomark the commissioning of USS Win-ston S. Churchill in Norfolk, March10th. Price $1.25 each, plus a largestamped self-addressed envelope. Sendpayment in US$ or mint US stamps toRich Hoffner, USCS, 18 Ryers Avenue,Cheltenham PA 19102.

2) CC covers director Dave Mar-cus has produced 50 Churchill Centercovers marking this event, all frankedby the ship's post office, bearing a 30cstamp picturing a Cardinal, State Birdof Virginia. Send US$3, £2 or C$4 tothe editor; funds will go to the respec-tive organization.

3) Dave is a preparing anotherlimited edition marking the visit ofUSS WSC to Portsmouth, England, inAugust. Same price as above.

4) An official Churchill Centercommemorative cover will be postedfrom London October 16th, markingthe 50th anniversary of Churchill's re-turn to power in 1951. Covers are freebut you must be on the list. Send yourcurrent mailing label as proof of mem-bership to Dave Marcus, 3048 VanBuskirk Circle, Las Vegas NV 89121-5107, USA. $


IMMORTAL WORDS

1 here is no part of the powers conferred on His Majesty's Government,in this time of trial

that I view with greater repugnance than these powersof exceptional process against the liberty of the subject

without the ordinary safeguards which are inherent in British life.These high-sounding familiar phrases like "Habeas Corpus," "petitioner's right,"

"charges made which are known to the law," and "trial by jury"—all these are what we are fighting to preserve.

We all care about them and understand them,and we are determined that they shall not be trespassed upon by anything

except the need of self-preservation which arises in time of war....For my part, I hope that the day may come as speedily as possible,

even before the end of the war,when we may be able to relieve ourselves of these exceptional powers....

In the meantime, I feel that we are entitled to ask from the Housea general measure of support for the Minister charged with exercising them.

There can be no question of going behind the powers of the House.The powers of the House are overriding and inalienable

and everything that is done is done on the responsibility of the House,be it right or wrong....

I particularly resent the suggestionthat we are adopting the methods of Fascist states. We are not.

We are the servants of the House.It may be that the House will support its servants,

but if it does not the powers in their hands are without effect,and so long as that fact is established it is absolutely improper,

as well as unhelpful,to place us upon the level of totalitarian Governments

which have no corrective legislature,no law but their own wills,

no check on the enforcementof their own particular doctrines

in any way they choose.WSC ON DEFENCE REGULATION 18B, HOUSE OF COMMONS, 21 OCTOBER 1941

Documents

KBIttI › wp-c… · Star, the Africa Star, Italy France and Germany Star, and the Defence Medal. (The sixth World War II campaign medal, the War Medal 1939-45, came in December