The Myth of Churchill and Alcohol: A Distortion of the Record
Once and for all, by every definition from linguistic to clinical, Churchill was not an alcoholic, nor even an excessive alcohol consumer.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Once and for all, by every definition from linguistic to clinical, Churchill was not an alcoholic, nor even an excessive alcohol consumer.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
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
The Official Biography of | 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
Churchill's method of command was to select good commanders, ask harassing and inconvenient questions, and goad his commanders to action.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Churchill on Fisher: “I am glad we were friends in the end.” Was his love for the admiral an error of judgment? Barry Gough has the answers.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Reputation, in the careers of Churchill and Hitler, resides in the events of 1942. What if things had happened otherwise?| 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
After meeting Churchill on the Onassis yacht Christina in the mid-Fifties, where he appeared in a white dinner jacket, John F. Kennedy allegedly asked his wife, “Well, how did I do?” Jacqueline Kennedy replied, “I think he thought you were a waiter, Jack.” When and where was this? Did Churchill snub Kennedy out of his dislike for his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, the defeatist former U.S. Ambassador to Britain?” The post Churchill Meets JFK, 1958: “He thought you were a waiter, ...| 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
Churchill was probably a Zionist by 1905. Reader Gene Kopelson (Comments, below) notes Michael Makovsky’s evidence of young Winston’s early respect for Jews and many Jewish friends. This didn’t make him a Zionist per se, but he certainly had become one by the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917. But I can find no public statement calling for an independent Israel until 1948. Until then he called for a “Jewish National Home.” The post When Did Churchill Become a Zionist? appea...| 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
"If our dreams for Zionism are to end in the smoke of assassins’ pistols, and our labours for its future to produce only a new set of gangsters worthy of Nazi Germany, many like myself will have to reconsider the position we have maintained so consistently and so long in the past. If there is to be any hope of a peaceful and successful future for Zionism, these wicked activities must cease." The post Churchill, Terrorism of Any Stripe, and Bombing Auschwitz appeared first on The Churchill...| 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
It is virtually certain that Churchill was unconscious of the meaning of the palm-in V-sign. Former secretary Elizabeth Layton Nel told me he was "astonished" when (with some embarrassment) she told him what it meant.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Churchill had an impressive capacity for alcohol, but nobody saw him put much away in one evening. None of his family or friends ever saw Churchill the worse for drink. Churchill’s alcoholic intake was exaggerated, not least by himself. Whatever the amount, it was not enough to affect him. The post Was Churchill an Alcoholic? Spirits, Pipes, Cigarettes appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
This is a quality we seem to be losing: “To err on the side of history’s defaulters,” in the words of the great Allen Guelzo. Heroes are what they are because the good they did far outweighs their faults. All those statues on Parliament Square are of people with human faults. Gandhi fought for Indian rights in South Africa but thought blacks “live like animals” and wanted whites to stay in charge. And yet, he was Gandhi—and on balance, a hero. The post Interview: Some Thoughts o...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
There is no better revelation of Churchill’s character, including his sense of humour, than his effervescent autobiography, “My Early Life.”| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
“My own personal view had always been that I would never coerce Ulster to make her come under a Dublin Parliament, but I would do all that was necessary to prevent her stopping the rest of Ireland having the Parliament they desired. I believe this was sound and right, and in support of it I was certainly prepared to maintain the authority of Crown and Parliament under the Constitution by whatever means were necessary.” —WSC, 1914 The post A Tale of Two Speeches: Churchill and Irish Home...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
The worst thing Churchill said about indigenous peoples is often singled out to prove his racism. It is very misleading to base one’s beliefs on a single statement during a contentious discussion in 1937. It is at variance with many examples of Churchill’s concern for human rights, which caused some contemporaries to look consider him a dangerous radical. Honest history demands we weigh every aspect of the man. Does the evidence add up to blatant racism? The post Churchill and the Race Qu...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
The only thing true about this claim is that Churchill did not use the word “Holocaust” in his frequent references to wartime genocide.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
A good start to Swift’s new series on British Prime Ministers, this book reviews the Churchill saga with useful commentary on such issues as political control of the military and the virtues and pitfalls of consistency in politics. Churchill’s mantra of “One Nation Conservatism,” Caddick-Adams argues, was akin to his father’s “Tory Democracy.” The post “Britain’s Greatest Knight”: A Brief Life by Peter Caddick-Adams appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Pondering life, Churchill asked, “Why are we here?” He then proceeded to explain, in words of lasting inspiration.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Churchill’s attitude on Russian affairs oscillated throughout his career, but his position towards that volatile nation remained consistent.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
The Churchill Project is deeply saddened to announce the passing of senior fellow and contributor, Richard Langworth on February 20th, 2025.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
His first pair of monogrammed slippers were a gift from Lady Diana Cooper; he proudly wore numerous pairs for the rest of his life.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Freyberg was “Churchill’s kind of general, confident, aggressive, and physically brave,” dedicated to victory in the greatest of all wars.| The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College
Here are four people, interesting in their own right and as mother-and-son pairs: Franklin and Sara Roosevelt, Winston and Jennie Churchill. That presents a problem for a reviewer who does not pretend to be a psychologist. Rather than resort to amateur analysis, this review considers the historical nature and effect of each mother-son relationship. I leave Oedipus for others. The post Charlotte Gray Contrasts Churchill/Roosevelt Mothers and Sons appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hills...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“My Early Life” serves a key political purpose for modern democracies, recovering a vision of nobility and political greatness for young readers. At the same time, this rich text can serve as a point of departure on an even narrower path of human excellence discovered by Socrates, whose students included statesmen and poets in the ancient agora—and a young British cavalry officer in the unlikely setting of Bangalore. The post “My Early Life”: Churchill’s Recovery of Aristocratic V...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
His father’s early death cleared young Winston for a life of achievement Lord Randolph Churchill simply could not have imagined. His son constantly reminded himself of that. It was almost certainly his greatest disappointment—after failing to secure permanent world peace—that his father never knew what the boy he disparaged would become. The post How Young Winston Joined the Cavalry, and the 4th Hussars appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
There is much new materiel here, especially about the interwar period. Certain facts become much clearer. Mr. Phillips portrays these famous cronies as gangsters without a gang. They had separate relationships with Churchill and few with each other. However, they also had one trait in common. All provided WSC with valuable services—very different in type, time and place. The post Three Churchill “Familiars.” Or: “Gangsters Without a Gang” appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hi...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Russia was born in Kiev in the first millennium, became a world power under Peter the Great in 1721. As a Soviet quasi-state, Ukraine became a member of the United Nations in 1945, separate from but always voting with the USSR. Churchill despised Soviet ideology, but departing from his earlier views he did not consider the USSR illegitimate. Its rule extended over a vast territory, and with Europe shattered, the best option was diplomacy combined with deterrence. The post Student Essays: Chur...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
After several clangers in Part 1, Netflix gets down to the war: the quandary over bombing Auschwitz; the wartime summit conferences; concerns over D-Day (if nothing about how Churchill made D-Day possible). Thanks to input by Andrew Roberts, Allen Packwood, Catherine Gale Katz and Jon Meacham, the wartime coverage is accurate, the footage admirable, the commentary balanced. The post Netflix on “Churchill at War”: Not For the Unwary appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
That Unity Mitford was a devoted Hitler groupie is not even close to a revelation, but it is difficult to regard her as a serious political acolyte. She never reveals what Hitler said, never contemplates his thoughts. Reading her diary in isolation, one is tempted to compare it to the besotted outpourings of a teenage Taylor Swift fan, bedewing the snowy, virgin pages with tears of love and longing. The post Unity Mitford: Her Diary, Her Fetish and Her Family appeared first on The Churchill P...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
It is fair to credit Churchill’s relationship with Philip Snowden as a key influence over his appreciation for Labour colleagues in the greatest of all wars. Churchill’s affection for Snowden stemmed in part from knowing Philip was never a doctrinaire socialist. “The Marxian aberration never obsessed his keen intelligence,” WSC wrote. “One who knew him well said to me, ‘No one will ever know what a Labour Government will be like till they see one without Snowden at the Exchequer....| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
One wonders where people come up with these stories. Of course, a long-running conspiracy theory holds that Churchill wrote plaintive letters urging Mussolini not to wage war alongside Hitler. (If the dictators ever received such letters, they certainly would have taken every opportunity to publicize them.) But this is the first we’ve heard that Churchill was upset over Mussolini’s demise. Quite the opposite, it appears from eye-witness accounts of his reactions and a letter to his wife. ...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Churchill’s role in D-Day is a matter of some controversy. This book looks at the great invasion in its context, the culmination of years of planning and preparation, as the decision-makers saw it amidst the challenges of their time. The first chapter is titled “Hindsight is a Wonderful Thing.” Happily, hindsight is avoided here. This approach mirrors that of Churchill himself, as explained in his memoirs of the Second World War. Churchill’s method reminds us that human beings must ma...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
At 3am one morning in 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt spotted the Prime Minister, “cigar in hand,” searching for the President. Politely but firmly, she convinced him to postpone his mission until breakfast. Churchill’s nocturnal White House prowling influenced acquisition of Blair House as White House guest quarters, but he never spent the night there. There is no evidence, however, that Churchill was ever accommodated at Blair House; his alternate residence in Washington was the British Embas...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Churchill’s hatred of Communism is well-known, but he never saw Soviet Russia, and later Communist China, in the same light as Nazi Germany, which he considered beyond negotiations. But Tucker-Jones veers into historical swampland by asserting that Churchill's 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri, was "paradoxical," if not “hypercritical,” since Churchill claims “sold out” Eastern Europe well before Yalta. The post Anthony Tucker-Jones on the Selling Out of Eastern Eur...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“The position of Great Britain in Palestine is one of trust, but it is also one of right. For the discharge of that trust and for the high purposes we have in view, supreme sacrifices were made by all these soldiers of the British Empire, who gave up their lives and their blood. Therefore I beg you to realize that we shall strive to be loyal to the promises we have made both to the Arab and to the Jewish people, and that we shall fail neither in the one nor in the other.” —WSC The post ...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
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
Churchill’s views about borders and “captive nationalities” differed between the World Wars. In 1918 he opposed shifting populations against their will, condemning Germany’s 1870 annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. In 1945 he was agreeable, even anxious, to shift the Polish state at the expense of Poles in the east and Germans in the west. But by then there were graver worries, and no one was speaking of a “war to end wars.” The post “Much To Be Thankful For”: Reparations and Magna...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Being out of office was not altogether debilitating. Churchill had more time to write and to earn money, which he always needed. He wrote extensively for four newspapers, and began research for what would be his greatest biography, “Marlborough: His Life and Times.” He published two other books and countless articles, while entertaining guests as varied as film star Charlie Chaplin and suffragette Christabel Pankhurst. The post The Churchill Day Book for 1931 appeared first on The Churchi...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
In both the WW1 and WW2 memoirs, we must be grateful the author was a professional writer. Churchill set out the story from his and Britain's standpoint. “In his speeches during the war and his memoirs afterwards, he often ignored unpleasant facts, or put his own spin on them. Yet few writers were so magnanimous, refusing for example to criticize his predecessors for the sake of unity and the national effort.” The post Questions and Answers on Churchill’s WW2 Memoirs appeared first on T...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Herbert Sneyd-Kynnersley (like Harry Potter’s Severus Snape, the Dickensian name makes you wince) was the infamous headmaster of St. George’s School, Ascot, who regularly beat his small charges with birch rods, and according to some, with sadistic sexual pleasure. Like Dinsdale Piranha in a famous Monty Python skit, “he was a cruel man—but fair.” Edward Dutton sets out to vindicate him. Indeed, one might say he comes to praise Sneyd-Kynnersley and to bury Churchill. The post Churchi...| 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
What do you consider the most profound passage Winston Churchill wrote or said? We asked twelve authorities for no more than 250 words; one offered just six. No two selections were alike, although two came from the same speech. Three were from 1955, when some say his life’s great impulses had faded. Each rings in the mind. Given all the words expended about Sir Winston on this anniversary, it is good to be reminded of his own. The post Churchill Quotations: His Greatest Words appeared first...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“Churchill was convinced that mankind could destroy all the evils, from poverty to mutual destruction. In every sphere of human endeavour, he foresaw the dangers and potential for evil. Many of those dangers are our dangers today. He also pointed the way forward to our solutions for tomorrow. That is why his life is worthy of our attention, for he was a man of quality: a good guide for our troubled decade and for the generations now reaching adulthood.” —Sir Martin Gilbert The post Refl...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Britain’s famous humor magazine “Punch” gleefully described the Churchill-Snowden collisions in its column, “The Essence of Parliament.” The magazine accompanied this with no fewer than twenty cartoons depicting their “Chancellor Battles,” taking artistic advantage of their distinctive countenances: the cherubic Churchill, the chisel-chinned Snowden. The post Philip Snowden and Winston Churchill: “The Best Show in London” appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale C...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Above: Paris, 11 November 1944. From Diana in Algiers, 12 August 1944: “Duckling’s telegram announcing his arrival added a message to Wormwood to the effect that he would be happy to shake his hand.... No good; Worm would rather not. So Duckling arrived and walked across the beautiful morning-lit court in khaki with harlequin chest, heavy and weary, a little infirm and unsmiling, but in ten minutes the talk began to flow and, with the flow, the grins and fun, the youth and strength.” Th...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
De Gaulle said Churchill was leading Britain “towards the heights of one of the greatest glories in the history of the world.” Speaking in English with tears in his eyes, Churchill recalled his broadcast to France in October 1940: “I did not fear to address the French people in French to tell them that a day would come when France would take her place at the head of the great nations and play her part as the champion of liberty and independence.” The post Eighty Years On: Churchill in...| 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
“Winston Churchill was Britain--he was the embodiment of British defiance to threat, her courage in adversity, her calmness in danger, her moderation in success. Among the Allies, his name was spoken with respect, admiration and affection. Although they loved to chuckle at his foibles, they knew he was a staunch friend....” —Dwight Eisenhower The post Mi Casa, Su Casa: Robert Schmuhl on a White House Presence appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| 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
“If I want to understand Sir Winston Churchill's philosophy of life and living, what books would you recommend?” Your question first seemed impossibly broad. But on further thought, there very definitely is a body of work that helps provide the answers. Please use our online annotated bibliography for details and notes on books mentioned or to search for others in the same field. The post What was Winston Churchill’s Philosophy of Life and Living? appeared first on The Churchill Project...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Churchill was depicted on objects fanciful and utilitarian, from the ridiculous to the sublime: coins, stamps, textiles, paintings, garden gnomes, teapots, posters, and piggy banks. Krapf’s book is not a “Churchilliana” catalogue, but serves to illustrate Churchill’s life through his very fine personal collection of memorabilia. The post “Folk Art”: The Magnificent Churchilliana of Brian Krapf appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Listed in chronological order by date of first publication are works generally considered to be books (rather than pamphlets or leaflets), together with numbers assigned by the Cohen Bibliography. Included are collections of speeches and derivative works from previously published books. We have also provided links to discussions of certain titles by The Churchill Project. The post Books Written Entirely by Winston S. Churchill 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
“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.” ...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“What do we owe to History? The first thing is to remain objective: Put the historical facts before any preconceptions—especially political and ideological preconceptions. The second seems obvious, yet it is often ignored. That is to remember that the past is another country. Those in the past did not see the world in exactly the same way as we do. To assume anything else is obviously illogical.” The post History Reclaimed: “You Can’t Cancel Winston Churchill” appeared first on Th...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
From the start, Kiszely reports, Ismay was with Churchill hourly, and accompanied him to France. Motoring to Chequers after their last visit before the French collapse, Churchill said: “It seems we fight alone.” Ismay said he was “glad of it” and added, “we’ll win the Battle of Britain.” Churchill gave him a long look: “You and I will be dead in three month’s time.” Ismay replied: “Quite possibly, but we’ll have a hell of a good time those last seven days.” The post ...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
Winston Churchill, of course, like any human, had flaws and made blunders, be it Gallipoli, the Gold Standard, the Abdication crisis, or the India Act. However, his actions in the Second World War trumped his mistakes by saving civilization from Nazi and fascist tyranny. Regardless of Mr. Cooper, this truth will always shine through in the history of mankind. The post Debunking Tucker Carlson’s Darryl Cooper Interview appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
“Clementine from the first had liked and respected this dour man, but she found this remark too much to bear and, rounding on him, she rebuked him soundly, in her perfect, rather formal French.... The General was much upset, and apologised profusely.... Later on in the war he was to give her a beautiful Lalique cock—the emblem of France—which she greatly treasured.” —Mary Soames The post Chartwell’s Lalique Cockerel: A Rare Gift of Gaullist Penance appeared first on The Churchill ...| 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
It’s not new: There has always been an American polemic that the United States’ involvement in the Second World War was unnecessary and unwinnable. What makes this latest version interesting, and worrisome, is the way it sees Winston Churchill as a primary aggressor, instead of the nakedly genocidal, tyrannical, and racist Führer of Germany, Adolf Hitler. The post Truth About Nazi Germany and the Second World War appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
In sum, Germany and its fascist allies started World War II, initiated the mass warring on civilians, and institutionalized genocide. They felt empowered to do so not because of Allied aggression or terrorism, but because of initial appeasement, American isolationism, and Russian collaboration. That is what enticed Hitler and the Axis into starting a war they soon had no chance of winning, once their formidable enemies embraced the prior Axis notion of total war. The post Reply to Darryl Coop...| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
No, Churchill did not send fleets of firebombers to kill innocent women and children in the Schwarzwald. “The reason why this kind of nonsense passes for history is that standards for evidence have virtually disappeared. The standard is not exactly rocket science. Remnant evidence is better than tradition-creating evidence. Corroborated testimony is better than uncorroborated testimony. Forensic evidence is better than hearsay.” The post “Opium for the People”: The Myth of Firebombing...| 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
Overall, this book adds little to corpus of Churchillian historiography. Factual errors and unsubstantiated or exaggerated references are particular problems. This book is neither another Churchill polemic nor a woke propaganda piece, but there are better accounts of the Battle of Britain (linked herein). All of them provide more accurate reading. The post Martin Dugard Focuses on the London Blitz (Again) appeared first on The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College.| The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College
