In eary youth, Churchill found whisky repugnant. Then, in Sudan in 1899, “there was nothing to drink, apart from tea, except either tepid water or tepid water with lime juice or tepid water with whisky. Faced with these alternatives I ‘grasped the larger hope’.… Wishing to fit myself for active service conditions I overcame the ordinary weaknesses of the flesh. By the end of those five days I had completely overcome my repugnance to the taste of whisky.”| Richard M. Langworth
“Rab said he thought that the good clean tradition of English politics, that of Pitt as opposed to Fox, had been sold to the greatest adventurer of modern political history.... He believed this sudden coup of Winston and his rabble was a serious disaster and an unnecessary one: the “pass had been sold” by Mr. C[hamberlain], Lord Halifax and Oliver Stanley. They had weakly surrendered to a half-breed American whose main support was that of inefficient but talkative people of a simi...| Richard M. Langworth
“The conversation turned to the French Fleet, and Clementine said she hoped that its ships and crews would carry on the fight with us. De Gaulle curtly replied that what would really give the French Fleet satisfaction would be to turn their guns ‘On you!’ (meaning the British). Winston tried to mediate but Clementine interrupted him, and said in French: ‘No, Winston, it is because there are certain things that a woman can say to a man which a man cannot say, and I am saying them to yo...| Richard M. Langworth
Setting: A grand hall in Westminster. Tapestries hang from the walls, and the faint clink of goblets echoes through the air. Enter: Sir Winstonus Churchillius, goblet in hand. Lady Bessica Braddockia approaches, fanning herself dramatically. Lady Bessica: “Hail, Sir Winstonus, thou art returned, From feasting, drinking, or some sport absurd? Thy face is flushed, and eyes like moons do glow; Dost thou drown England’s cares in wine's deep flow?”| Richard M. Langworth
They may have slipped on a banana, but ChatGPT has only been at this for a few years. "Give them another half decade and they'll probably have picked up every word Churchill wrote." So, before we lazily laugh at the tech boffins' failure accurately to pinpoint the Great Man's every word, we might stop to consider: They are just getting started. As Churchill was wont to say on occasion: "Let not the slothful chortle."| Richard M. Langworth
Honor(u)red to be invited to join Lord Roberts, at Secrets of Statecraft. It was fun to chat with the author of the foremost one-volume life of Churchill, about where Sir Winston stands on his 150th birthday. We mutually concluded that he stands as tall as ever. Beyond that, we need to remember him because he spoke everlasting truths about the relations between peoples, about governance, about the value of liberty. Those are as relevant as ever today.| Richard M. Langworth
There’s a way to derive a mostly correct picture of the man from this show: ignore Part 1. The other three parts also suffer from occasional forays into fiction. But they are more accurate, with honest dialogue, well-chosen quotations and spectacular footage, much of it freshly colorized. Kudos to Andrew Roberts, Jon Meacham, Allen Packwood and Catherine Katz for keeping it on track, and to Lord Roberts for his eloquent finale.| Richard M. Langworth
As the last minutes of 1941 ticked away, Churchill’s special train was steaming south on New York Central's broad tracks along the Hudson. Appropriately close to Roosevelt’s home at Hyde Park, the Prime Minister called staff and reporters to the dining car. He entered the carriage amid cheers and applause, raising his glass to the company. “It was with no illusions,” he wrote, “that I wished them all a glorious New Year.... 'Here’s to 1942, here’s to a year of toil—a year of s...| Richard M. Langworth
At Christmas 1932, Churchill received as a present “a huge bottle of brandy, and decided to paint it, accompanied by lesser bottles," Johnnie Churchill remembered. "He sent us children scurrying around Chartwell to find them: 'Fetch me associate and fraternal bottles to form a bodyguard to this majestic container.'"| Richard M. Langworth
Commentator Bill O’Reilly proposes a new Cancel Culture for a collection of jargon that Churchill would define as “grimaces.” A cliché, he says, is “a phrase or opinion that is overused and lacks original thought.” Here are his nominations for grimaces we never need to hear again. He forgot “issues” but it’s not a bad list! Celebrate O’Reilly’s modest proposal: Avoid fashionable filters and fad-words in language. “Short words are best,” Churchill said, “and the old ...| Richard M. Langworth
Charles Krauthammer, sage as ever, cautioned against comparing modern situations like Syria (we might now add Ukraine or Gaza) to the Second World War: “There is a difference of scale…. The Second World War was an existential struggle where the future of civilization was in the balance. It could be that Syria, or these other trouble spots, will develop into a World War-like conflict. But that is fairly unlikely right now. It is not a conflict in which the existence of ways of life is at s...| Richard M. Langworth
“I pondered what had made this dynamic but gentle character so beloved and respected. First of all that there was courage. He had no fear of anything, moral or physical. There was sincerity, truth and integrity, for he couldn't knowingly deceive a cabinet minister or a bricklayer or a secretary. There was forgiveness, warmth, affection, loyalty and, perhaps most important of all in the demanding life we all lived, there was humour, which he had in abundance.” -Grace Hamblin| Richard M. Langworth
The German plan, Churchill wrote, “worked with amazing accuracy. No sooner did Lenin arrive than he began beckoning a finger here and a finger there to obscure persons in sheltered retreats in New York, in Glasgow, in Bern, and other countries, and he gathered together the leading spirits of a formidable sect, the most formidable sect in the world, of which he was the high priest and chief. With these spirits around him he set to work with demoniacal ability to tear to pieces every institut...| Richard M. Langworth
Since 1965 has been an Epstein Churchill bust at the White House, uninterrupted now for six decades. Current media confusion surrounds the SECOND Epstein, which makes regular visits on loan from the British Embassy, where it is in the Embassy’s art collection. Epstein #1 is part of the permanent White House collection. Epstein #2 is an “optional extra” at the White House, depending on the whim of the occupant. Every President is entitled to the totems of their choice.| Richard M. Langworth
Steeped in knowledge and experience, Tim Benson offers a broad assortment of cartoons that bring Churchill’s life and times to vivid life.| Richard M. Langworth
A recent article declares: “Winston Churchill once described American diplomacy as ‘a bull who carries his own china shop around with him.’” Is this an accurate quote, and if so, in relation too what? —L.K., Texas The post Bull in a China Shop: John Foster Dulles? Not Churchill’s Line appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Trivia question. For whom was Winston Churchill named? If I ever knew, I no longer do. Are you you able to help? —S. F-L, Chicago The post Why was Churchill Named Winston? appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Your question reminds me of a dinner for Nobel Prize Winners at the White House, 29 April 1962. President John F. Kennedy declared them welcome:I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a ...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
WSC: "Prof! Pray calculate the total quantity of champagne, wine and spirits I have consumed thus far in my life and tell us how much of this room it would fill." Professor Lindemann (pretending a slide rule calculation): "I'm sorry, Winston, it would only reach our ankles." WSC: "How much to do—how little time remains."| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
“During the evening, news kept coming in of the heavy air raid on London of the night before,” Churchill wrote. “There was nothing I could do about it, so I watched the Marx Brothers in a comic film which my hosts had arranged.” He was then informed that Rudolf Hess had parachuted into Scotland. “Tell that to the Marx Brothers!” he growled. When assured it was true he said: “Hess or no Hess, I’m going to watch the Marx Brothers.” The post Did Hitler Authorize the Fligh...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
I am asked if Churchill ever said “the most important thing about education is appetite.” He did, but it isn’t easy to find. I checked his Complete Speeches under “education.” Here is the extract, from a 1929 speech at the University of Bristol, where he was Chancellor. The post “The Most Important Thing about Education” —Churchill at Bristol appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
It is argued, strongly in John Charmley’s Churchill: The End of Glory, that Churchill’s singleminded obsession with Hitler blinded him to the longterm implications for Britain. He had the opportunity to back away from the Hitler war, goes the argument. But alliance with the Soviets after Hitler’s attack on Russia in June 1941 led to the end of Empire and Britain’s decline. What do you think? The post Winston Churchill on Peace with Hitler appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hill...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Michael Shelden, author of Young Titan, set London media buzzing with speculation that young Violet Asquith attempted suicide after Churchill decided to marry Clementine Hozier. The post Girlfriends: Was Winston Churchill a Young Bacchanal? appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
"In this century of storm and tragedy, I contemplate with high satisfaction the constant factor of the interwoven and upward progress of our peoples.... Our comradeship and our brotherhood in war were unexampled. We stood together, and because of that fact the free world now stands. Nor has our partnership any exclusive nature." —WSC| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
A correspondent asks if there were any words by Churchill about Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), the Italian democratic patriot who contributed to the founding of Italy. The post Winston Churchill on Giuseppi Garibaldi appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” Did Churchill say this? Can’t find it in your Churchill by Himself (aka Churchill in His Own Words.) The post “A Nation Cannot Tax Itself into Prosperity”: Churchill’s Quote? appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Manfred Weidhorn: "The law of averages dictates that some of these dreamers succeed. Churchill was one of them. Hence he is the hero of our hypothetical non-realistic novel. As a young man, Churchill put the world on notice with his memorably declared resolve to be an achiever by either notability or notoriety."| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
On 5 July 1953, Churchill showed Field Marshal Montgomery and his doctor Lord Moran what he thought was his best telegram. It was sent to U.S. President Harry Truman on 12 May 1945. It may be read in full in The Churchill Documents, vol. 21 (Hillsdale College Press, 2021), 1389-90. This was also the first time Churchill used the phrase “Iron Curtain”—an expression that dates at least as far back as Martin Luther in 1521. The post Churchill Quotations: The Best Telegram He Ever Sent a...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Beaverbrook died on 9 June 1964, some 220 days before Churchill. Sir Winston’s letter of sympathy to Lady Beaverbrook will be displayed by the Saint Andrews, New Brunswick Civic Trust. It is part of a Churchilliana collection donated by Douglas Young, a former Liberal politician who once served as federal fisheries minister. The post One Last Shining Moment: Churchill’s Paean to Beaverbrook appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Remarkably, Churchill read all the newspapers he could lay his hands on—from The Times to the Daily Worker, the British version of which was later renamed the Morning Star. He would do this in bed of a morning after breakfasting off a tray. He often liked to discard sheets of read newspapers on the floor. This infuriated his valet Frank Sawyers, who made a show of disapproval as he picked up the sheets. The post Winston Churchill’s Favorite Newspapers appeared first on The Church...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
"Today, looking back over a long life, I can honestly say that almost the only things in which I take any conscious pride or esteem in one way or another is my association with Winston Churchill. After the war I was lucky enough to be a member of his Government and also, with my wife, to be asked every now and then to Chequers or Chartwell to join him and his family in their noisy, affectionate, hilarious, often uproarious family life. That, as a friend said to me the other day, was something...| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Was there any pushback to the Pat Buchanan book, Churchill, Hitler and the “Unnecessary War” (2009)? It questioned Churchill’s judgment over his whole life, but particularly his decision to fight on in 1940. I’m sure there has been, but could you give me a citation? —W.M. The post Pat Buchanan and the Art of the Selective Quote appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
I am trying to verify three quotations attributed to Mr. Churchill. All three apply to politics or politicians, and all are very relevant today. Can you assist? I saw them on Facebook. 1. “Youth is for freedom and reform, maturity for judicious compromise and old age is for stability and repose.” 2. “What is the use of Parliament if it is not the place where true statements can be brought before the people? …of sending Members to Parliament to say what they are told to say by Minister...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
In the late 1930s everybody was reading Gone With the Wind, from my mother (I have her copy) to Neville Chamberlain. (His biographer, Keith Feiling, wrote that Chamberlain was “taking delight in it” during the Czech crisis in 1938.) Winston Churchill was reading it as he wrote the American Civil War chapters of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples (not published until after the war). Thanks to Martin Gilbert’s biography we know quite a lot… The post Churchill, Leslie Howard,...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
No, Sir Winston will not interrupt his first million years to comment on the national debt. And I’m not going to suggest what he would think about it. Heaven forbid. I just sifted through Churchill by Himself for applicable quotations to answer your question. Chronological order. Draw your own conclusions. The post Squandermania: Churchill on Debt Limits appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
"The nature of man has remained hitherto practically unchanged. Under sufficient stress—starvation, terror, warlike passion, or even cold intellectual frenzy—the modern man we know so well will do the most terrible deeds, and his modern woman will back him up.... We have the spectacle of the powers and weapons of man far outstripping the march of his intelligence; we have the march of his intelligence proceeding far more rapidly than the development of his nobility." —Winston S. Churchi...| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Abraham Lincoln in 1860 confronted as existential a threat as Churchill as Prime Minister in 1940. A podcast from the Hillsdale Dialogues offers thoughtful comparisons. The post Churchill and Lincoln: Scholars Consider the Cooper Union Speech appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
My old friend and colleague, John Plumpton in Ontario, writes: “Have you written about Churchill’s confusion over the Berlins when Irving Berlin was invited for dinner? I am looking for an authentic version of the event. Trust you are well and thanks if you can help.” The post Irving Berlin, Isaiah Berlin: Churchill’s Mistaken Identity appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Leaving quietly was what you did in those bygone days. Lord Halifax in 1940 proposed negotiations with Hitler; rejected by the War Cabinet, he did not offer interviews to air his grievances. Nor would such an act of public disloyalty have occurred to him. George Marshall, a great man, had many disagreements with his civilian chiefs. Offered a million dollars for his memoirs, he declined, saying, “I have already been adequately compensated for my services.”| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Conant supported Truman’s use of the bomb, which he believed, with Churchill, would save more lives than it cost. Truman gave him the Medal of Merit, President Johnson the Medal of Freedom, President Nixon the Atomic Pioneers Award. He was a great man, devoted to duty, honor, country and his university. The post Conant, Churchill, and the Harvard of 1943 appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
A famous speech offering seven tests of freedom reminds us of Churchill’s eternal relevance. He spent most of August 1944 on the continent, observing the fighting in France and Italy. In the House of Commons on the 28th, a Member asked how to judge the new Italian government, succeeding that of Mussolini. Was it a true democracy? Churchill replied: “What is freedom?” The answers to a few questions determine if a nation is free. The post Winston Churchill’s Tests of Freedom: Then a...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Another question was why Churchill wrote so little about the Holocaust in his war memoirs. There were sound reasons for this. Intelligence restrictions were still in place on many aspects of the war, and war crimes trials were occurring. Also, Churchill had an understandable reluctance to criticize American officials such as John McCloy, who blocked his order to bomb the railway lines to Auschwitz. The war had ended. but a new cold war was on. Churchill was never wont to open a quarrel with...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
"A law which is above the King" occurs in Churchill's "The Birth of Britain" (London: Cassell, 1956). He was explaining Magna Carta, the Great Charter of Freedoms, one of the towering benchmarks of Western Civilization. “All will be well” was a very frequent expression. In South Africa in 1899-1900, the young Winston had picked up the Afrikaans phrase "Alles sal regkom" or “All will come right.” He used both phrases interchangeably because they expressed his sentiment.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Winston Churchill, the convenient villain in many recent historical accounts, has a new role. He’s now the steadfast opponent of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), founded by Nye Bevan in 1948. Churchill, goes the refrain, didn’t care about the health of Britons. (As WSC replied to a Bevan rant in 1944: “I should think it was hardly possible to state the opposite of the truth with more precision.”) The post Gotcher in the Nye: Winston Churchill on the National Health appear...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
"Winston was enormously witty. He spoke of 'this great country nosing from door to door like a cow that has lost its calf, mooing dolefully, now in Berlin and now in Rome—when all the time the tiger and the alligator wait for its undoing.' Don't be worried, my darling. I am not going to become one of the Winston brigade." —Harold Nicolson, March 1938. "But really he has got guts, that man. Imagine the effect of his speech in the Empire and the USA. I felt a great army of men and women of ...| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
This historical niche site is exercised over misquotes and tall tales about Winston Churchill that bedizen the Internet—by everybody from sports figures to authors and politicians (see “Churchillian Drift”). They cover everything and everybody from his ancestor Marlborough on up. But here’s an amusing example of Churchill himself destroying a Churchill myth—about that early forebear, John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough. The post Marlborough Drift: The Dallying Duke appeared fi...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
"Of course, if you have a Black Dog, it lurks somewhere in your nature and you never quite banish it. But I never saw him disarmed by depression. I’m not talking about the depression of his much later years, because surely that is a sad feature of old age which afflicts a great many people who have led a very active life." —Lady Soames The post Q&A: “Black Dog” — Churchill and Depression appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Churchill owned quite an assortment of cars from Morrises and Land Rovers to a big Daimler given him by his friends in 1932. But most of the time he was driven—virtually always after 1930. The post Winston Churchill as Motorist: Always in a Hurry appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
With style and panache, Winston Churchill lived a life of adventure through the worst storms that ever rocked civilization.| Richard M. Langworth
September 17th: “We had a picnic lunch on the way by a stream, sparkling in hot sunshine. I felt oddly oppressed with my memories.... No one had ever been over the same terrible course twice with such an interval between.... Fisher, Wilson, Battenberg, Jellicoe, Beatty, Pakenham, Sturdee, all gone! ‘I feel like one, Who treads alone, Some banquet-hall deserted, Whose lights are fled, Whose garlands dead, And all but he departed!’” The post The Churchill Day Book, 1939: “What Price C...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Approaching eighty, Churchill warned the House that he was about to speak in Latin, needling the opposition by hoping it would not baffle them. He duly pronounced, “Arma virumque cano” (Arms and the men sing). A Winchester-educated Labour Member asked: “Should it not be ‘man,’ the singular instead of the plural?” Churchill replied: “Little did I expect that I should receive assistance on a classical matter from such a quarter.” The post Teaching Young Winston (2): Latin, Math,...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“Churchill was a pretty tough proposition for an organized system of education.” Yet he was not nearly the dunce of popular mythology. If only subconsciously, he stressed his school failures to suggest how far he had come. Biographers have accepted his assertions too innocently. In reality he was very good at what he wanted to learn. And he learned what mattered. The post Teaching Young Winston (1): The “Menace” of Education appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“The Eastern Front” was written in the quiet of Churchill’s country home, pondered deeply in every stage of its creation, and at all times a pleasure to him. He had no axes to grind (as in the earlier volumes), no vindications to make. For the first time in his World Crisis volumes, he was in the same position as his readers: viewing the scene from afar, trying to visualize the appalling battles and hardships, forever seeking in his mind an explanation of the whole. The post “The Worl...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Churchill’s historical accounts revivify politics by freeing it from the bonds of historical necessity. For him, politics is the realm of responsibility, of genuine choice, of praise and blame. Human beings are not simply subject to whatever fate the historical process has in store. They can make the choices that will direct their course. The post Churchill and de Tocqueville: History in a Democratic Age appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Lord Hugh Cecil lived to see his protégé reach the heights of glorious epitomes and stunning vindications. Of the four men mentioned in this series—Mowatt, Lloyd George, Hamilton and Cecil—Cecil played the largest role. He helped young Winston in a wide variety of ways, both strategically and tactically. With Hamilton and Cockran, he was critical in enabling him to become the great man he was. The post Churchill’s Mentors (Part 3): Hugh Cecil appeared first on The Churchill Project - ...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“Looking back upon the unceasing tumult of the war,” Churchill wrote, “I cannot recall any period when its stresses and the onset of so many problems all at once or in rapid succession bore directly on me and my colleagues than the first half of 1941.” By the end of the year Pearl Harbor had brought the United States into the war and he thankfully concluded: “We had won after all!” The post The Churchill Day Book for 1941: The Grand Alliance appeared first on The Churchill Project...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Churchill’s account of Romania in the Great War expresses his lifetime view that in the face of aggression, there is no room for neutrality. In 1940 he remarked of the neutrals: “Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last.” He had no better use for Romania’s “ambiguous watchfulness” in the previous war. It was, he insisted, utterly ineffective. The post “The World Crisis” (12): “The Eastern Front” and Romania’s Error appeared fi...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Above all, to stand resolutely, under severe pressure, against armed and all-conquering barbarism, the British people and their leader required courage. This, too, Churchill displayed throughout his life, yet never more vividly than during the Second World War. That quality is regularly crucial, and perpetually in short supply. Far into the future, whenever courage is needed, people have looked and will continue to look for inspiration to Winston Churchill. The post Churchill Endures: How Chu...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Ian Hamilton looked after Churchill in the Army, nominating him for medals and furthering his work as a war correspondent. He was also there for him as Churchill entered Parliament, offering advice and counsel that Churchill demonstrably followed. Hamilton belongs in the first rank among young Winston’s mentors. The post Churchill’s True Mentors (Part 2): The Wisdom of Ian Hamilton appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
The word most often heard from those who knew Zareer is “brave.” His courage in confronting biased and unbalanced history was legendary. We were honored to publish his articles and lectures, written or filmed, and many more times to consult him on the fine points of Indian and British history. Never did he let us down, offering his knowledge, his acumen, and his fair and balanced judgment. The post Zareer Masani 1948-2024: Courageous Historian, Pursuer of Truth appeared first on The Churc...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“So they said: ‘It is no use setting up a League of Nations without Russia. If we are to accomplish this it can only be with the aid of Germany. Germany knows more about Russia than anyone else. Germany let Lenin loose on Russia. Ought she not to play her part in clearing up this whole eastern battlefield like the others?’” The post “The World Crisis” (11): Churchill’s “Armistice Dream” appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
In December 1918, Wilson set off to secure peace. “His opportunity was nevertheless as great as has ever been given to a statesman.”| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College