“The cousin of the Duke of Marlborough, Churchill had a better claim to being aristocratic than many of those who affected to look down on him,” wrote Graham Stewart. Labeling him a “half-breed American” went round for a few weeks after Churchill took over. If the fair-minded among the Respectable Tendency quickly changed their minds, others never did. The former saw in Churchill a quality he himself cited when asked for the most important characteristic of a statesman: “Mettle.” ...
