
Churchill followers around the globe commemorate the birthday today of Winston Churchill, one of the towering figures of the twentieth century and among the first-rank of important statesmen of modern times. The eloquent and pugnacious leader was born on November 30, 1874, and he was engaged in virtually all the key world events that unfolded during his 90 years.
The wartime prime minister is endlessly fascinating; he was a
multi-talented figure whose career reflected great achievements, widespread
challenges and even notable failures.
Few public figures, certainly none today, can parallel his spectrum of
interests. Winston Churchill was a
statesman, politician, writer, painter, and even a bricklayer. Indeed, had he not achieved fame during World War II, his
prolific writing would have earned him renown and even his artwork might have
made him a celebrity.
Churchill’s life was riveted with symbolism. He entered Parliament at the end of the
Victorian era and embodied many of the characteristics of the Edwardian
era. His death in 1965, following a slow
and steady decline, replicated the demise of the once-mighty British Empire. He also was half American—his mother, Jennie
Jerome, was a New York socialite before marrying an ascending British
politician, Lord Randolph Churchill—and he seemed to embody some of the notable
traits of both countries.
I am not a Churchill scholar—there are many of them, both in Great Britain and the United States. However, I was introduced to the life of Churchill
and his legacy decades ago, and I continue to read and learn about him while
mostly being charmed but also sometimes puzzled.
Winston Churchill’s life is the stuff of movies. He fought and wrote from India’s wild
Northwest Frontier; he was a brash hero in the Boer War at the age of 25; he participated in the last significant cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman
in Egypt; he bolstered a middling education by self-absorption in the classics; and he overcame a speech impediment to become perhaps the greatest orator of his
century.
But there was more. Churchill served in a variety of high-level government positions, knowing great
highs and also great lows, including the responsibility for a disastrous sea expedition
in the Dardanelles during World War I.
Going against the grain of his political party, where he was always
suspect, he was left without office during a crucial period in the 1930's, unable
to make his grave concerns about Hitler addressed during the heyday of
appeasement.
When the situation was most dire, of course, Britain did
turn to Churchill, and many believe that his leadership and oratory as prime
minister in 1940 saved not only his country, but the West. And then when he helped steer Britain and its allies to what once seemed improbable victory, an appreciative but discerning
electorate voted him out of office.
During his later years, he continued to add luster to the
growing legend, warning at a famous speech in Fulton, Missouri, about the “Iron
Curtain” of the Soviet Union; arguing for a united Europe; and earning a Nobel Prize for Literature for his amazing writing career. Each of these were staggering
achievements; collectively, they round out the corpus of why he was identified
in a BBC poll as "the Greatest Briton”, topping Shakespeare, Newton, Elizabeth I
and other notables.
All of this does not mean that Churchill was all-knowing or
always successful. In addition to the
Dardanelles episode, which temporarily sank his career, his increasingly anachronistic
views on empire were incongruent with basic American views and eventually
put him at loggerheads with Franklin Roosevelt.
He had a very dim view of Gandhi; he mistakenly championed Edward VIII
in the abdication crisis; and he failed to see a changed England at end of
World War II, foolishly suggesting that the opposing Labour party had Gestapo potential.
While Churchill could be charming, witty and a delightful
raconteur, he also could be insufferable and simply difficult to deal
with. His wife, Clementine, who
staunchly supported him through a marriage of 56 years, must have been
unbelievably patient. Churchill was a
great man; he knew it and he expected others to appreciate that.
I tell my students that most historical figures are a blend
of the good, bad and ugly, and it is up to us to sort out where the balance
goes. In this era of fast-moving events,
with so many governmental decisions made on opportunistic grounds, it is
valuable to study the lives of successful leaders and true patriots. On this 139th anniversary of
Winston Churchill’s birthday, it is proper to reflect on his many singular contributions.
For more information, see:
The Churchill Centre:
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/
The Churchill Archives Centre (Cambridge, England): http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/
Churchill War Rooms (London): http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms
National Churchill Museum (Fulton, Missouri): http://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/
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