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THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIETIES
UNITED STATES • UNITED KINGDOM • CANADA • AUSTRALIA
PATRON: THE LADY SOAMES, D. B. E.
Founded 1968, the International Churchill Societies strive to preserve interest in and knowledge of the life, philosophy and literary
heritage of the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston S. Churchill, KG, OM, CH, MP (1874-1965), and the great themes to which he was devoted—
the quest for liberty and fraternity among the Great Democracies. The Societies are independent non-profit organizations which,
with the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston S. Churchill Societies of Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, Canada, sponsor Finest Hour, special
publications, conferences, books, symposia, tours, youth educational programmes, and the Churchill Center in Washington, DC.
HONORARY MEMBERS
Winston S. Churchill, MP
Sir Martin Gilbert, CBE
Grace Hamblin, OBE
Robert Hardy, CBE
Ambassador Pamela C. Harriman
James Calhoun Humes
Mary Coyne Jackman, BA, D.Litt.S.
YousufKarsh,OC
William Manchester
The Duke of Marlborough, DL, JP
Anthony Montague Browne, CBE, DFC
Colin L. Powell, KCB
Wendy Russell Reves
Ambassador Paul H. Robinson, Jr.
The Lady Soames, DBE
The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, FRS
The Hon. Caspar W. Weinberger, GBE
COUNCIL OF CHURCHILL SOCIETIES
Jonathan Aitken, MP, Chairman
45 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 3LT, England
Tel. (071) 233-3103
ICS AUSTRALIA
Subscription office: Robin Linke
181 Jersey Street, Wembley, W.A. 6014
ACT Representative: David Widdowson
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Giralang, ACT 2617
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Kenneth W. Taylor, Hon. Chairman
Garnet (Randy) Barber, President
4 Snowshoe Cres., Thornhill, Ont. L3T 4M6
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John G. Plumpton, Secretary
130 Collingsbrook Blvd, Agincourt ON M1W1M7
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E-mail: JGDP@io.org
Bill Milligan, Treasurer
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Tel. (905) 294-0952
Committee Members
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The Other Club of Ontario
Bernard Webber, President
3256 Rymal Road, Mississauga, Ont. L4Y 3C1
Tel. (905) 279-5169
Sir Winston Churchill Society of Calgary
Elaine McCoy, President
#830 407 2nd St SW, Calgary AB T2P 2Y3
Sir Winston Churchill Society of Vancouver
Ian Whitelaw, President
1110 Palmerston Ave., W. Vancouver BC V7S 2J6
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Joan Harris, Membership Secretary
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Tel. and Fax. (01892) 518171
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The Hon. Nicholas Soames MP (Chairman)
The Duke of Marlborough, DL, JP; Richard G. G.
Haslam-Hopwood; The Hon. Celia Sandys;
David J. Porter; Geoffrey Wheeler
COMMITTEE
David Boler (Chairman); Wylma Wayne (Vice-
Chairman); Tim Hicks (Treasurer);
Dennis Jackson OBE, DL, RAF(ret); David Jones;
Jill Kay; Mark Weber
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A non-profit corporation, IRS No. 02-0365444
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E-mail: Malakand@aol.com
William C. Ives, Vice President
77 W. Wacker Dr.,49th fir., Chicago IL 60601
Tel. (312) 634-5034, Fax. (312) 634-5000
Dr. Cyril Mazansky, Vice President
50 Dolphin Road, Newton Centre MA 02159
Tel. (617) 527-0522, Fax. (617) 296-2872
Parker H. Lee Ht, Secretary
117 Hance Road, Fair Haven NJ 07704
Tel. (908) 758-1933, Fax. (908) 758-9350
E-mail: PHLeeIII@aol.com
George A. Lewis, Treasurer
268 Canterbury Road, Westfield NJ 07090
Tel. (908) 233-8415, Fax. (908) 518-9439
USA TRUSTEES
Ambassador Paul H. Robinson, Jr., Chmn.
Richard M. Langworth
George A. Lewis
Wendy Russell Reves
The Hon. Celia Sandys
The Lady Soames, DBE
The Hon. Caspar W. Weinberger, GBE
USA DIRECTORS
R. Alan Fitch, William C. Ives,
Richard M. Langworth, Parker H. Lee HI,
George A. Lewis, Dr. John Mather,
Dr. Cyril Mazansky, James W. Muller,
Douglas S. Russell, Jonah Triebwasser,
Jacqueline Dean Witter
ICS UNITED STATES , continued...
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LOCAL ACTIVITIES COORDINATOR
Dr. John H. Mather, 12144 Long Ridge Lane,
Bowie MD 20715 Tel., days (410) 966-1983
ACADEMIC ADVISORS (USA & CANADA)
Professor James W. Muller (Chairman)
University of Alaska Anchorage
1518 Airport Heights Dr., Anchorage AK 99508
Tel. (502) 228-8774 Fax. (502) 7864647
E-mail: AFJWM@acad2.alaska.edu
Prof. Keith Alldritt, University of British Columbia
Dr. Larry Arnn, President, Claremont Institute
Prof. Raymond Callahan, University of Delaware
Prof. Eliot A. Cohen, Johns Hopkins University
Prof. Kirk Emmert, Kenyon College
Prof. Barry Gough. Wilfred Laurier University
Prof. Warren F. Kimball, Rutgers University
Prof. Patrick Powers, Assumption College
Prof. Paul A. Rahe, University of Tulsa
Prof. Maxwell Schoenfeld,Univ. of Wis. Eau Claire
Dr. Jeffrey Wallin, President, National Academy
Prof. Manfred Weidhorn, Yeshiva University
EXECUTIVE COMMIITTEE
William C. Ives, Parker H. Lee m,
George A. Lewis, Dr. Cyril Mazansky,
Richard M. Langworth, Chmn.
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Tel. (603) 746-4433, Fax. (603) 746-4260
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Colin D. Clark, Max L. Kleinman, Alex M. Worth,
Richard M. Langworth, Richard A. Leahy,
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Parker H. Lee m, Secretary:
117 Hance Road, Fair Haven NJ 07704
Tel. (908) 758-1933, Fax. (908) 758-9350
ONLINE COMMITTEE
Raymond Lavine, David Eisenlohr,
Jonah Triebwasser, Moderator:
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E-mail: Jonah.Triebwasser@marist.edu
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Online Bulletin Editor: Malakand@aol.com
YOUTH COMMITTEE
Dorothy Hartland, Lee Rosenberg,
Aida Schoenfeld, Jacqueline Dean Witter,
Michael Altenburger, Secretary:
9521 liberty Tree La., Vienna VA 22181
Tel. (703) 821-8770

CONTENTS
Spring 1996
17 ICS United States Thanks the Many Generous
Supporters of its 1995 Heritage Fund Drive
To paraphrase: it is they who have the lion's heart;
we have the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
George A. Lewis & Barbara F. Langzvorth
18 New Threats For Old
A Lecture on the Fiftieth Anniversary
of Churchill's Speech, "The Sinews of Peace,
Delivered at Fulton, Missouri, March 1946
The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Thatcher, L.G., O.M., F.K.b.
24 Fiftieth Anniversary Sinews of Peace Conference
Limited Edition Program & Commemorative Booklet
25 Coming to Grips with Gallipoli
Exploring the Historic Turkish Peninsula
Eighty Years After Churchill's Darkest Hour:
the Allied Assault on the Dardanelles
David Druckman
28 Chartwell Revisited
A Fresh Look at the First Stop
on the 1996 International Conference
Douglas }. Hall
FINEST HOUR
Journal of the International Churchill Societies Number 90
BOOKS, ARTS & CURIOSITIES
31 The Editor is nonplussed over Martin Rintala's
Lloyd George and Churchill, and encouraged by John B.
Severance's Winston Churchill: Soldier, Statesman,
Artist...Douglas Hall welcomes a specialized study of
Churchill and The Prof by Thomas Wilson, but wonders
what part of his thinking Andrew Roberts's Churchill:
Embattled Hero requires him to revise Michael
Richards blue-pencils Stephen Mansfield's Never Give
In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill...
W. H. Painter is astonished at the sloppy captioning in
Great Battles and Leaders of the Second World War.
36 Churchill Online: WSC and Admiral Fisher
E-mail between Jeffrey Wallin and Chris Bell
40 Stamps: A Checklist of Recent Commemoratives
Celwyn and Patricia Ball
42 Bric-a-Brac: "Osprey" Offers & New Chinaware
Douglas ]. Hall
44 Savouring Churchill's Books: The Eastern Front
Henry Fearon
4 Amid These Storms
5 Despatch Box
6 International Datelines
7 Errata, FH 89
9 ICS Local & National
11 Friends of ICS
12 Riddles, Mysteries, Enigmas
13 Action This Day
15 Wit and Wisdom
16 Churchill Center Report
38 Churchill in Stamps
47 Churchilltrivia
48 Immortal Words
Cover: Chartwell in Summer, photographed
by David Sellman, reproduced by kind permission
of the National Trust. Churchill
acquired Chartwell in 1922, made it his home
for over forty years, and proclaimed, "A day
away from Chartwell is a day wasted." In
1966 it was opened to the public, decorated as
it was in the 1930s, its peak years as
Churchill's "factory," following enthusiastic
preparations by Lady Churchill, Lady Soames
and Grace Hamblin. ICS visits Chartwell on
October 4th. Douglas }. Hall provides its
story and illustrations on page 28.
FINEST HOUR 90 / 3

FINEST HOUR
ISSN 0882-3715
Richard M Langworth, Editor
Post Office Box 385
Hopkinton, New Hampshire
03229 USA Tel. (603) 746-4433
E-mail: Malakand@aol.com
Senior Editors
John G. Plumpton
130 Collingsbrook Blvd.
Agincourt, Ontario
M1W 1M7 Canada
H. Ashley Redburn, OBE
Rosemere, Hollands Mead
Overmoigne, Dorchester,
Dorset DT2 8HX England
News Editor
John Frost
8 Monks Ave, New Barnet,
Herts. EN5 1D8 England
Features Editor
Douglas J. Hall
183 A Somerby Hill, Grantham
Lines. NG31 7HA England
Editorial Assistant
Gail Greenly
Contributors
Sir Martin Gilbert, United Kingdom
George Richard, Australia
Stanley E. Smith, United States
Ron Cynewulf Robbins, Canada
James W. Muller, United States
David Boler, United Kingdom
Wm. John Shepherd, United States
FINEST HOUR is published quarterly
for Friends of the International
Churchill Societies, which offer several
levels of support in their respective
currencies. Membership applications
and changes of address should be sent
to the appropriate national offices on
page 2. Permission to mail at non-profit
rates in the USA granted by the US
Postal Service, Concord, NH, Permit
no. 1524. Copyright 1996. All rights
reserved. Designed and produced for
The Churchill Societies by Dragonwyck
Publishing Inc. Printed by
Reprographics Inc. Made in U.S.A.
AMID THESE STORMS
It is time for our periodic reminder that Finest Hour is bilingual. When a piece
originates in the Commonwealth, it is spelt/spelled (you see) in "British."
When it originates in America, where they haven't used English for years, it is
spelled/spelt in "American." Thus it is possible in the same issue for Messrs.
Hall, Redburn or Plumpton to use words like "organise, colour, centre, biscuit
[cookie] and pavement [sidewalk]" while Messrs. Smith, Muller and Shepherd
are using "organize, color, center, cookie [biscuit] and sidewalk [pavement]."
This delights our authors, wherever they live, drives our printer bonkers [nuts]
and our proofreaders mad [crazy].
# Finest Hour commences with this issue a new "back of the book" section
under the heading, "Books, Arts & Curiosities." Here we will pack book
and video reviews, Douglas Hall's popular bric-a-brac columns, Internet surfing,
"Churchill in Stamps" and bookish features, including a new, perceptive
review series on Churchill's books by Henry Fearon, starting with what he considered
the best World Crisis volume: The Eastern Front.
# John O'Sullivan writes: "When news reports suggest that horrific
events are taking place in Britain, I usually find that a telephone call to my
mother cuts them down to size. The reports of "mad cow" disease saw me telephoning...
Was she eating beef 'Unfortunately not,' she replied, 'The radio reported
that Salisbury's had cut their best beef prices by half. But by the time I
got there, they had sold out. I was really irritated.' No scientific link between
BSE (which maddens cows) and Creutzfelt-Jakob disease which attacks humans
has been established...the cattle that might have been infected have already
been removed from the food chain. Even if the experts' most hypothetical
fears turn out to be right, millions of people have already been
infected...they won't get sicker. Such scares serve to extend government
power—and so the power of experts. But that does not explain the hysteria
gripping the eminent. Our elites are increasingly shielded from reality. This
makes them unprepared for unpleasantness and vulnerable to myths, panics
and magical thinking when unpleasantness occurs." Churchill would say: "If
we lose faith in ourselves, then indeed our story is told...all that the croakers
predict will come true, and our ruin will be swift and final."
# In several places this issue one reads or senses feelings of despair
over the lack of "Churchills" today. I believe we will find our Churchills when
we need them. At present we are safer, as George Will reminds us, than at any
time this century since about 1910. A more salient datum is that we are intellectually
healthy enough to recognize the need for Churchills—not out of nostalgia
for the original, but because our nations have always produced them, at
least as far back as the time of Pitt and Washington.
It is St. George's Day 1996. On St. George's Day 1933 Churchill said,
"We ought to weather any storm that blows at least as well as any other existing
system of human government. We are at once more experienced and more
truly united than any people in the world." Here in Britain and America,
Canada and Australia, where most of us were born and choose to live, these
lands need us all as their devoted bodyguards. They need us however quarrelsome;
however disparate our views; however pronounced our separations.
And we should be grateful, whatever our differences, to be facing a new millennium
under systems of government Churchill exalted and saved. I do believe
the time is overdue to profess, as he did, our continuing faith in the Great
Democracies, and in their institutions.
RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
FINEST HOUR 90/4

Per your request for different commemoratives
of Winston Churchill, I
enclose photos of a banner which hung
during the ceremony of dedication of the
bronze statue of Winston and Clementine
at Country Club Plaza, Kansas City,
Missouri, during May 1984.
-RaymondMorgan, Leawood, Kan.,USA
p you most sincerely for includ-
X ing the piece on Cyril's death in
Finest Hour. I'm sure he would be proud
of the honour. I appreciate it very much.
-Jean Davis, Truro, Cornwall, UK
Knowing that our interest in
Churchill binds us together, I've
often wondered what attracted others to
Sir Winston. I myself was about fourteen
when I first saw and heard the news of
his death. I cried, for I knew history and
appreciated his contributions to my liberty,
my way of life. I cry again when I
read a well-written book about
Churchill—a sense of remorse, I suppose.
IVe not noticed anyone else of his
stature in this century. IVe seen a lot of
pretenders. God alone knows what the
outcome of World War II would have
been had some of our more modern leaders
been in charge; perhaps there would
then be an International Hitler Society,
celebrating the Fuehrer's virtues.
-Don Littleton, Colorado Spgs., Co.
Editor's Response: I don't know, Don;
perilous times tend to bring out the best
in leaders. I think that if the threat of
imminent extinction flickered, the Great
Democracies would find their Churchills.
One can only hope that it doesn't require
a world war every generation or so to
find them. (See also the page opposite.)
With this renewal I am upgraded
from sustaining to supporting
Friend of ICS, and I'm proud. Next year
hopefully 111 be even prouder. Well see.
That life has more meaning means, to
me, that Churchill lived.
Incidentally, I am deep into Senior
Olympics. In 1993 these championship
competitions were held in Baton Rouge
and I did pretty well in the Discus and
Shot Put. In three-man basketball I was
part of a great team and we won the Silver
Medal.
-Zelig Strauss, Secaucus, N.J., USA
Thank you for another wonderful
Conference, and for the photo that
you sent of me there. I enjoyed it and
hope that our visitors liked being in
Boston, my home town. I feel very lucky
to be part of a group concerned with preserving
the memory of Churchill and
history for my and future generations. It
is a remarkable experience.
-Caitlin Murphy, Boston, Mass., USA
At the risk of sounding ludicrously
pedantic, a small correction to Douglas
Hall's "Bric-a-brac" notes on the
replica Despatch Boxes from the House
of Commons. Mr. Hall says Churchill
had a "unique and unbeatable record" of
having thumped on one of the old (pre-
1941) and both of the new (post-1950)
Despatch Boxes. First, as a member of
the Shadow Cabinet in 1929-31,
Churchill would probably have spoken
from the opposition box, placing all four
boxes under the Churchillian thump.
Second, unlike Churchill, Clement Attlee
thumped (if he was prone to thumping)
the same four boxes as a party leader
before May 1941, when the old House
Chamber was destroyed, and as Prime
Minister and Opposition Leader from
1950, when the next boxes arrived,
through 1955. Anthony Eden certainly
thumped both new boxes as well as the
old Government box.
-David Freeman, Bryan, Tex., USA
I meant thumpers as party leaders;
Attlee would qualify, though. — DJH
rrihank you for your information that
X Heinemann has raised the price of
the "Churchill War Papers" from £75 to
£95 ($135). I am not only furious at this
act of piracy by Heinemann—I am disgusted.
As a retired person on a limited
income, I cannot afford Heinemann's
price—thus I am happy to take up your
FINEST HOUR 90 / 5
DESPATCH BOX
offer of the Norton American edition at
the $60 ICS price.
-John McCaffery, Niantic, Ct, USA
Editor's Response: Part of the vast difference
in price involves import duty.
(Norton prints and binds all copies) plus
reshipping. The American editions are
identical to the English in every way
except the publisher's imprints, and the
New Book Service is happy to provide
either Volume I or II at $60, which is a
$15 discount from the bookshop price.
Asa Society with British connections,
x\please advise your readers that the
Electoral Registry of the United Kingdom
wishes to make British citizens who
live overseas aware of their right to vote.
Any one wishing information and application
forms may contact me.
-Diane Sheard, British Consulate-Genl
600 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA 02110
When I requested assistance in
acquiring the missing four pages
for my copy of The Unknown War, I did
not anticipate the prompt receipt of photocopies
from an identical issue by Scribners
in 1931. The text of this ex-library
copy is now complete and satisfies me for
the time being. My sincere thanks.
-Frederick Koch, Jr., Georgetown, Me. USA
Iunderstand someone is working on a
multi-volume compilation of all fictional
and non-fictional persons in the writings
of Dickens. Wouldn't this be useful
for Churchill Before I start this project,
or dismiss it as impossible, is this something
already being undertaken, and
would it be useful
-Fr. G. C. Stoppel, Saugatuck, Mich.
Editor's Response: It would be a monumental
job, and you might feel unrewarded
when the works of Churchill
appear on CD-Rom, as they eventually
must. With that little disk whirring, you
can bung any name into a computer, and
have all the references in seconds.

INTERNATIONAL DATKL1NES
QUOTE OF THE SEASON
(How we feel after finishing an issue of Finest Hour)
Writing a book is an adventure., To begin with it is a toy, an amusein
ment; then it becomes a mistress, and then a master, and then a
*
tyrant; and then the last phase is that, just as one is about to be reconciled to
one's servitude, one kills the monster..."
WSC ACCEPTING THE TIMES LITERARY AWARD, LONDON, 2 NOVEMBER 1949
Coming Events
SAN FRANCISCO, AUGUST 30TH—
Friends of ICS in the Bay Area
will receive invitations to attend a
seminar on "Churchill as Writer"
at the Annual Meeting of the
American Political Science
Association, San Francisco Hilton
Hotel & Towers, from 10:30-12:15
today. Speakers: Professor James
Muller on History of the English-
Speaking Peoples, Patrick Powers
on Thoughts and Adventures, and
Paul Rahe on The River War.
Discussant: Paul Cantor, University
of Virginia. A banquet will be
held in the evening. If you live
outside the Bay Area and wish
information, contact the editor.
WOODSTOCK, OXON, 1998— The
Churchill Center's Third
Churchill Symposium shifts from
Washington DC to Blenheim
Palace, where English and North
American academics will discuss
Marlborough: His Life and Times
and this event will be included in
the 1998 Churchill Tour (April).
returned from cold, suffering
London, and wanted his listeners
back in Britain to know that
America too was still feeling the
pinch of wartime shortages.
If Mr. Cooke has his way
there will be many more letters to
come. He said he'd been asked if
the BBC wanted him to retire,
and whether he would do so:
"The answer was No and No.
I've noticed if you retire you keel
over. The day of retirement from
this assignment, which was given
to me fifty years ago by the BBC
official who bore the grand title of
Director of the Spoken Word, is up
to the Lord of us all, the great
timekeeper in the sky, the true
Director of the Spoken Word."
House's technical services department,
which has asked the California
legislature for details of the
laptop computers recently introduced
in Sacramento. \
But laptops require a desk for
each of the 651 MPs, who presently
have no desks and only 427
seats. Allen's solution: tear down
the side walls and trash the lobbies
where MPs walk to register
their votes. "We can get extra
seats and use electronic voting."
Will the shade of Churchill
haunt the Commons to oppose
Californianizing the Chamber
When it was destroyed in a 1941
air raid, Churchill urged it be
rebuilt to the same cramped specifications,
which it was, in 1950.
Churchill warned against giving
each member "a desk to sit at and
a lid to bang": this would mean an
empty House most of time (behold
the empty US Congress in C-Span
broadcasts); and no sense of
drama when MPs pack in at historic
moments. Others have considered
that MPs with computers
might not know how to vote on
MPs vote by push-button or electronic
smart card and results are flashed
electronically on
WILLIAMSBURG, VA, 1998— ICS
United States will host the International
Conference in October.
Parker Lee will chair.
Gold "Letter" Day
NEW YORK, MARCH 24TH—
Veteran journalist Alistair Cooke,
keynote speaker at the ICS 1988
Conference, celebrated the golden
anniversary of his popular 15-
minute BBC radio talks, "Letter
from America." Reading the first
of his 2,458 letters, he described
the privations of life in New York
in 1946, where nylon stockings
and butter were rare. He had just
Hi-Tech Commons
LONDON, JANUARY 29TH— A proposal
to computerise the House of
Commons by Labour technocrat
Graham Allen sent older honourable
members into apoplexy.
Allen is taken seriously by the
FINEST HOUR 90/6
every issue; today they can tell by
the lobby their colleagues walk
through. Laptops present tempting
opportunity to write letters or
play computer games during sessions.
No, this is something up
with which they should not put.

"The Churchills"
BOSTON, FEBRUARY 21ST— A
ninety-minute American adaptation
of the 1995 British television
documentary on the Churchill
family from Lord Randolph to
Winston aired tonight over PBS.
By editing out thirty minutes of
the worst original misrepresentations,
WGBH made a major improvement
on the British version's
turgid parade of half-truths, leaving
a film we don't have to watch
in fear of some unwarranted slur
on WSC's character inserted by
some extremist producer or "consultant."
ICS thanks Dr. John
Mather in particular for working
with the WGBH editors.
Lord Randolph is still not allowed
to die without mention of
syphilis, but only a single mention
survives, and Professor Foster (one
of his biographers) qualifies it by
saying no one can be sure. The
film also asserts that in 1919
"while Lloyd George was at the
Paris peace conference, Churchill
sent troops to Russia." Some
14,000 troops were already in Russia
when Churchill became Minister
of War, and he stayed in touch
with Lloyd George on this issue
whenever they were apart, never
countermanding his chief.
WGBH Channel 2 is to be congratulated.
World War II and the
Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin relationship
are described well and
honestly; family triumphs and
tragedies are handled with sensitivity;
the sad majesty of the funeral
is conveyed memorably in
just a few moments. The filming
and narration are marvelous, and
Robert Hardy as Churchill's voice
is superb as usual. RML
In reply to this review (on the
ICS Internet homepage) WGBH's
Elizabeth Cote' wrote: "While I regret
that the narration does not
make the point that there were already
14,000 troops in Russia, it is
true that Churchill sent an additional
3,500 volunteers. The overall
impression we aim to convey is that
INTERNATIONAL DATELINES
Tbp: Winston's parmts, Lord Randolph Cktmhitl and Au wifr,
Ijidy MruMph C&tmhiH tht/armer]m'
Bottom: Winston atlhtafptif
From the fine new book by John Severance
(see review on page 33): Lord Randolph
Churchill, Lady Randolph and Winston.
of a Churchill eager to intervene,
advocating a more activist anti-
Bolshevik policy than Lloyd
George. It was not our intention to
suggest that Churchill was acting
behind Lloyd George's back, but
simply to signal that WW1 was
over and we were moving on to another
stage in WSC's life. I regret it
is open to such interpretation."
In Peace, Goodwill
NEW YORK, DEC. 8TH— A new
study by ICS hon. member Sir
Martin Gilbert suggests a way to
resolve the problem of who rules
Jerusalem, a compromise with
Churchillian overtones.
Gilbert would keep an undivided
Jerusalem as Israel's capital
while allowing Arab residents institutional
ties with the emerging
Palestinian Authority on the West
Bank and Gaza. "If the pace and
direction of current autonomy
agreements are maintained," he
writes, "there ought to be a political
way forward that could satisfy
both Israeli and Palestinian aspirations,
while maintaining the current
growth and expansion."
Under a united Jerusalem,
Gilbert adds, Arabs of East Jerusalem
"could obtain status and
self-governing instruments." In his
ERRATA, FH #89
Page 8 (Ramsden note): "This
issue will not be out by the time you
read this..." What can we say
Page 10. We will get this right.
Jim Muller's father is Ragnwald. not
"Rangnald" nor "Ragnald." His name
is why Rags named his son "Jim."
Page 12. Churchill's birthday was
announced in the Great Hall at
Churchill College by Mr. Gaskell,
President of the Senior Combination
Room, and not the Master as stated.
Pages 40-41. In the review of Long
Sunset, for "Lord Lamston" read
"Lord Lambton" (p40 RH column); on
p41 RH column, Churchill's fall in
Monte Carlo was in 1962, not 1957
as stated.
Page 38: for Rafe Muir, read Mair.
study, published by the World
Jewish Congress, Gilbert says that
Israeli and Palestinian officials
have met on several occasions in
1995 to exchange views on the future
status of Jerusalem.
-From The Sentinel, Chicago
Arriving on the east bank of the Rhine,
25Jun45. Can anyone identify the young
lady at left Imperial War Museum photo.
Take That Spat
GERMANY, 1945— Our picture of
Churchill's first wartime landing
on German soil is enhanced by A.
B. Fever's "No Ferry Service
Worked So Fast," in the U.S.
Naval Institute's Naval History for
April 1995. When Churchill returned,
the coxswain of his naval
craft, 19-year-old Hyman Bloom of
Brooklyn, New York, was asked if
WSC had any comments. "Hell,
sir," replied Bloom, "he didn't say
anything in particular. He just
took that big, black cigar out of his
mouth and spit in the Rhine!"
continued overleaf >»
FINEST HOUR 90 / 7

WSC firing a Sten gun, 1941.
Sten Sale
LONDON, NOV. 17TH (Reuter) - A
Sten sub-machine gun that
Churchill once used for target
practice was sold at auction in
London £10,125 ($15,760) to the
chairman of the British-based
Churchill Insurance Company.
The deactivated Sten Mark III was
one of a large collection of weapons
which WSC kept at Chartwell in
his target practice arsenal. Martin
Long, chairman of Churchill Insurance,
which has no connection
with the family, plans to put the
gun on display in his office.
WSC Makes a Profit
LONDON, DECEMBER 5TH—The
British government today sold its
remaining 1.8% stake in British
Petroleum, the last of a majority
holding acquired in World War I
under the initiative of First Lord
of the Admiralty Winston
Churchill. The government sold its
last 101 million shares to investment
bank SBC Warburg, which
in turn placed the stock with institutional
investors. Dealers said
the shares were sold for 513p per
share, which would value the government's
stake at about £520 million.
The British government paid
£2 million in 1914 for a controlling
two-thirds stake in the company,
bought to secure Royal Navy oil
supplies. The government began
gradually to reduce its holding in
the late 1970s; the largest divestment,
of 31.5%, occurred in 1987.
Encarta Carries WSC
The Encarta Encyclopedia, a
CD-rom reference shipped with
the Windows 95 computer operating
system, has an excellent entry
1996 International Churchill Conference
Octoher 2nd-6th: Condensed Schedule
Registrations were due to be posted in May or June. If you have not
received one, telephone ICS/UK (Joan Harris), ICS/Canada (John
Plumpton) or ICS/USA (Gail Greenly) at the numbers shown alongside
their names on page 2. If you plan to attend the October 4th/5th events
at Chartwell and East Grinstead. is important to register promptly, as
the Ashdown Park hotel has a limit of 150 persons. (For convenience,
registration sheets provide for Ashdown Park hotel bookings as well as
conference events. All registrations go to ICS/UK.)
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
• BLENHEIM PALACE, Woodstock, Oxfon., Weds. October 2nd.
Gala banquet for The Duke of Marlborough, who will receive the ICS
Blenheim award. You have the option of luxury coach service to and
from London (Ritz Hotel) on the evening of October 2nd.
• CHARTWELL, Westerham, Kent, Fri. October 4th.
Our hostesses at Churchill's home are Lady Soames and Celia
Sandys. You are free to explore the house and grounds which are closed
to the public today. Parties of about 35 will be scheduled for periodic
tours of the Chartwell Gardens in the company of an expert.
• ASHDOWN PARK, E.Grinstead, Sussex, Fri./Sat. Oct. 4th/5th.
Two black tie dinners, with speakers including Jonathan Aitken, who
will receive the Emery Reves Award from Wendy Reves. Daytime panel
discussions and scholarly papers, dancing Saturday night. Chairman's
breakfast Sunday morning.
• LONDON, Sunday October 6th: Walking tour (two groups) of
"Churchill's London" with the official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert.
PLEASE NOTE: It is possible to book Blenheim separately or with
the Conference proper. Unless you are on the Churchill tour or booked
on the Blenheim coach, you are responsible for your own transport between
venues; however, rail service London-Sevenoaks (taxi to Chartwell)
and East Grinstead-London is direct and frequent.
on Churchill, with audio-visual excerpts
of his great speeches.
Thanks for the tip to Roberta
Heitkamp of Plymouth, Minn.
Candidate Advice
WASHINGTON, JANUARY 1ST—
With the American presidential
campaigns about to start, ICS's
James Humes offers "some pointers
on the art of public speaking
from the late, great master" in the
Jan-Feb. 1996 Civilization, magazine
of the Library of Congress.
The article concludes: "To all presidential
candidates the singular
lesson of Churchill is that hardwon
principles are unlikely to fall
victim to the vagaries of political
fashion. That is the stuff of a
statesman who, in Ed Murrow's
words, was 'the only man who ever
prophesied history, made history
and recorded history.'" Good reading
for Friends of ICS.
-Online memo by Ronabee@aol.com
Chartwell to Blenheim
A three-day, 100-mile bicycle
tour from Chartwell to Blenheim
along back country roads, skirting
London to the west, is planned for
October 7th-9th following the ICS
Conference. Accommodation is at
B&Bs with pub lunches and dinners.
About five people are already
committed. If you are interested,
contact Joan Harris in UK, tel.
(01892) 518171; or Richard Langworth
in USA, tel. (603) 746-4433.
FINEST HOUR 90 / 8

INTERNATIONAL
ICS LOCAL & NATIONAL
Cleveland
FEB. 6TH— ICS/Northern Ohio held
a dinner at Terminal Tower, with a
presentation by Dr. Kenneth Callahan
on the Gallipoli Campaign,
illustrated with maps and charts.
Churchill has received a bum rap
from many historians over this campaign,
the only imaginative plan of
World War I and the only viable
alternative to the slaughter of trench
warfare. Prior to the meeting,
Friends were supplied with a short
excerpt from Sir Martin Gilbert's
one-volume biography, Churchill: A
Life. For those who want a more
firsthand experience of what Gallipoli
was like, Dr. Callahan recommends
the Australian film "Gallipoli,"
available from local libraries
or video shops and starring a young
Mel Gibson.
-Michael McMenamin
For latest news of ICS activities in
the Cleveland area please contact
Mr. McMenamin at 1300 Terminal
Tower, Cleveland OH 44113, telephone
(216) 781-1212.
Chicago
FEBRUARY 6TH— A Chicago-area
planning meeting was held tonight
by nine key Friends of ICS. The
attendees decided that the consensus
favored a Spring outing to Col.
McCormick's estate in Elmhurst,
where a dinner room and Churchill
bar exists, along with a detailed history
of the McCormick era. Joe Just
assigned the project to co-chairman
Paul Carlson. As of mid-April, work
on arrangements was still pending.
Periodicals and other current articles
were also reviewed and discussed.
For Chicago-area activities contact
Judith Just, 16 W. 251 S.
Frontage Road #25, Burr Ridge IL
60521, tel. (708) 654-3500, fax 654-
3520.
Toronto
ICS Canada President Randy Barber,
Douglas Russell, Other Club of Ontario
President Bernie Webber, January 20th.
JAN. 20TH— The annual dinner
meeting of The Other Club of
Ontario was perfectly set in the
Royal Canadian Military Institute
Library, with OCO President Bernie
Webber in the Chair. Professional
archivist Brian Winter displayed his
collection of Churchill postcards
from WW1 to 1965. Randy Barber
gave an enthusiastic report on the
Boston Conference and announced
to a very receptive audience that the
1997 International Conference
would be held in Toronto.
The speaker was Douglas Russell,
a director of ICS/USA, lawyer,
raconteur and WSC militaria expert,
with his highly entertaining audiovisual
presentation entitled, "Lt.
Churchill, 4th Hussars": a treasure
not to be missed. Douglas covered
WSC's life up to 1906, concentrating
on his five years of active duty from
1895 to 1900. Doug also gave highlights
from his ICS book, The
Orders, Decorations and Medals of
Sir Winston Churchill (available
from ICS Stores for $8US postpaid).
SEPT. 27TH— The end of the war in
Europe held very special memories
for members of The Other Club of
Ontario, who travelled back to
Britain for the VE-Day 50th
Anniversary celebrations. Tonight
they shared their joys, sadness and
the euphoria of the celebrations.
John Plumpton, Glynne Jenkins and
Bernie Webber were particularly
entertaining with their videos and
50th anniversary newspapers. Also
much appreciated was the display of
Churchill memorabilia from that
time, much of which had been gathered
by fathers, mothers, aunts and
uncles, and the enthusiasm with
which they were presented was contagious.
For further information on The
Other Club of Ontario contact Bernie
Webber, 3256 Rymal Road, Mississauga
ONL4Y3C1, (905) 279-5169.
Madison, Wis.
NOV. 10TH— The Other Other Club
held its 23rd annual Celebratory
Dinner in memory of Sir Winston
Churchill. The speaker was Professor
Gaddis Smith, Director of the
Yale Center for International and
Area Studies, whose topic was,
'Young Churchill at the Admiralty
1911-1915."
• ICS welcomes a "fraternal association,"
The Other Other Club,
founded in 1973 to celebrate the
democratic institutions and traditions
of Western civilization so ably
articulated by Sir Winston
Churchill. The Club sponsors an
annual Celebratory Dinner around
the anniversary of Churchill's birth,
and undertakes acts of philanthropy,
such as donating the Collected
Works to the University of Wisconsin
library, sponsoring lectures at that
institution, and participating in the
annual World War II lectures of the
Wisconsin Veterans Museum, the
last of which occurred last year.
Members of the O.O.C. are offered a
special introductory rate to join ICS,
the difference being absorbed by
Club. Our thanks to the Club and to
James Wimmerfor their support.
If you live near Madison, please
consider joining The Other Other
Club. For details contact James W.
Wimmer, 731 Farwell Drive, Madison
WI 53704, business telephone
(608) 256-5223.
continued overleaf >»
FINEST HOUR 90 / 9

New England
BOSTON, MAY 11TH— A slide presentation,
"Churchill's Great Contemporaries:
A Cigarette Card
Panorama," was Dr. Cyril Mazansky's
topic at The Boston
Athenaeum, cosponsored by ICS
New England and the Athenaeum,
one of the oldest and most distinguished
libraries in America. Cocktails
and hors d'ceuvres preceded the
show, based on Mazansky's marvelous
collection of cigarette cards
dating back to the Victorian era.
ICS New England, after a period
of recuperation following the Boston
international conference last year,
declares itself back in operation.
Notices of events are sent automatically
to Friends of ICS in the New
England states and eastern New
York. Its director is Dr. Cyril Mazansky,
50 Dolphin Road, Newton Centre
MA 02159, tel. (617) 527-0522.
Washington
JAN. 18TH— ICS Washington
held a successful, fun-filled Winter
meeting this evening with Douglas
S. Russell, whose presentation, "Lt.
INTERNATIONAL DATELINES
L-R: Ron Helgemo, Douglas Russell, Aida
Schoenfeld and Walt Govenda, Jan. 18th.
Churchill, 4th Hussars," was
received with delight. The venue
was the spectacular University Club
on DuPont Circle, a regular site for
ICS meetings and a welcome shelter
on this bleak and misty night. The
twenty-five guests were impressed
with Russell's many slides which
illustrated his talk, some previously
unknown and seen for the first time.
ICS /Washington meets regularly.
For information on upcoming activities
contact the director, Ron Helgemo,
2037 Wethers field Ct., Reston
VA 22091, or telephone in the
evenings at (703) 476-4693.
Detroit
Friends of ICS in the Detroit area
are organizing with a view to periodic
congenial meetings, the first of
which may already have occurred by
the time this issue is in print.
If you are interested in agreeable
duties built around social occasions
replete with Churchillians and
Churchilliana, please contact Gary
Bonine, 9000 E. Jefferson, apt 28-6,
Detroit MI 48214, (313) 823-2951.
Dallas
FEB. 24TH— "Churchill's Challenge
for the Nineties" was the theme of a
talk by Dr. David Sampson of
Arlington, Texas, founder of ICS
North Texas and cochairman of the
1987 International Conference. The
venue was the home of David and
Barbara Willette, who welcomed
about two dozen Friends of ICS with
a wine and cheese party. After his
FINEST HOUR 89/10
remarks, Dr.
Sampson (left)
gave a historical
account of
the formation
of ICS North
Texas and the
1987 Dallas
Conference.
ICS North
Texas meets
regularly. Please contact Nathan
Hughes, 1117 Shady glen Cir.,
Richardson TX 75081 tel. (214) 235-
3208.
Seeing Above the Clouds
Churchill's Challenge for the »

or international scene is a leader
who sees above the clouds, who
refuses to accept defeat, who articulates
a vision of hope and victory
over the forces that would debase
human dignity and r ob us of opportunity
and prosperity
I believe Churchill's challenge for
the Nineties is to acquire the essential
qualities of leadership and ability
to look above the clouds: to see
into the distant future, unwilling to
accept the inevitability of defeat, be
it the defeat of a declining economy
or inadequate public schools, the collapse
of family structures, or the war
zones of inner city streets.
Churchill's challenge for the
Nineties is a challenge for leaders to
articulate a vision of hope and conquest
over the forces that would
debase human dignity.
Most think of Churchill as a
model statesman and war leader,
and certainly he was. But the ultimate
challenge he would give us
today is to produce Churchillian
leaders, in our schools, cities and
states, as well as our countries. $
ADVERTISEMENTS
Free to readers; send to the Editor;
adverts may be edited for space.
FINEST HOUR #1 to #55. The first
eight are photocopies but this is
how they were originally issued.
Also, the 1974 Churchill [Stamp]
Collectors Handbook and Mackay's
"Churchill on Stamps" (1966). $50
plus shipping. Bryan Ginns, 2109
Rt.21, Valatie NY 12184, tel. (518)
392-5805, fax. (518) 392-7925.
"THE WILDERNESS YEARS" VCR
tapes. At this writing we are close
to an arrangement whereby copies
of this famous eight-part series
starring Robert Hardy as WSC can
be made up for individuals on a
"friend to a friend" basis. Anyone in
need of a set who has not already
asked should send a postcard to the
editor, who will forward it to the
responsible party.
BRIC-A-BRAC for sale. Thinning
my collection. Contact the editor.
INTERNATIONAL
Friends oflCS: Parker H. Lee, III
THE smooth staff work at the 1995
Boston Conference, and the admirable
way the Churchill Center has acknowledged
its 570 Founding Members and
established its administrative and
financial methods, is owed to the
Secretary of ICS United States, a
Virginian living temporarily in New
Jersey. Parker, 47, has been a Friend
of ICS since 1989, and attended his
first Conference in 1993. A veteran
conference organizer, he noticed certain things that could be
improved upon and made a fateful offer to assist. He was
immediately saddled with coaching the staff for Boston.
Throughout last year he also spent hundreds of hours working
with the Churchill Memorial on the recent 50th Anniversary
Sinews of Peace Conference, and on secretarial duties for both
ICS United States and the Churchill Center.
Parker recently took an "early retirement" from a twenty-three-year
career in sales and marketing. Today, his primary
occupation is investment counselling. His most recent
assignment began in 1991 when he was appointed Corporate
Regional Director of Ansell International, headquartered in
Melbourne, Australia. He served as C.E.O. of Ansell's medical
products businesses in the USA and Latin America, responsible
for over 100 employees and a $10 million annual budget.
Prior to Ansell he served in marketing, sales and accounting
positions with Procter & Gamble, Searle/Will Ross, and Legg
Mason Wood Walker, Inc. He received his B.A. in Psychology
from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1971,
where he was a Dean's List student. He is married to Barbara
Widrig Lee, who is a vice president of a large New Jersey
health maintenance organization, and who has graciously
assisted Parker in his ICS work on many occasions.
To list the contributions of Parker Lee to the recent
work of ICS and the Churchill Center would require much
more space than we have. Suffice it to say that on countless
occasions, including times of confusion and difficulty, his fellow
directors have been constantly glad that he was there to
assure us that "all will come right," and to make good that
assurance with his ideas and enthusiasm.
RML
Root and Branches
Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough,
was accustomed to give an annual
festival, to which she invited all her
relatives, many of whom were
expected legatees at her demise. At
one such occasion, in allusion to her
numerous progeny, she exclaimed:
"What a glorious sight to see such a
number of branches flourishing from
the same root!"
"Alas!" sighed Jack Spencer to a
first cousin near him, "the branches
would flourish better if the root was
under ground." -Baltimore Sun, «*
1853, sent us by Bill Beatty. ®
FINEST HOUR 90/11

A
By
What
can you
tell me- about
Churchill's
decision to
adopt the
Gold Standard
in the
1920s I believe
he held
several meetings,
at least
one with J.M.
Keynes and
others, on the
relative merits.
-David S.
Ellis
the time Churchill became
Chancellor of the Exchequer in
November 1924, it was settled policy
of Montagu Norman's Bank of England
to return the Pound to the Gold
Standard at the prewar parity of
$4.86. There were dissenters from
the policy, including J.M. Keynes,
who warned that the return to Gold
would lead, via an overvalued pound,
to strikes and even higher levels of
unemployment than already existed.
WSC was impressed by Keynes's
arguments and wrote a memo to the
Treasury: "I would rather see
Finance less proud and Industry
more content."
However, Churchill was the first
to admit that he lacked the expertise
to decide the issue. He therefore
organised a dinner party on 17
March 1925, to which he invited two
supporters of the return to Gold
(Niemeyer and Bradbury of the Treasury)
and two opponents (Keynes,
and McKenna of the Midland Bank).
After the four had argued the technical
grounds, Churchill turned to
McKenna, a former politician, and
asked what decision he would take
from a political point of view. The
gist of McKenna's reply was: "There
Send your questions (and answers) to the Editorthis area. She reported that they
shared our opinion. A&E Network is
is no escape. You have got to go back;
but it will be hell."
Churchill did go back, announcing
the decision in the budget on 28
April. The General Strike of 1926
was a fairly direct consequence of the
decision. Many years later Churchill,
talking to his doctor Lord Moran,
described the return to Gold as the
biggest blunder of his life.
-Paul Addison, Univ.of Edinburgh
Q
We are interested in producing
an Investigative Report on
whether there was correspondence
and a secret relationship between
Mussolini and Churchill during the
war. There are various versions of
this "conspiracy" theory. One is that
Churchill was bargaining with Mussolini
for favorable terms if the Axis
won. Another states that Mussolini
was hoping to blackmail Churchill at
the end of his life but was shot (perhaps
even by the British Secret Service)
and handed over to the partisans.
The story of these supposed letters
is complicated; but we have spoken
with several experts who support
the claims of their existence.
Olympic Stone, Researcher,
Arts & Entertainment Network
A
Alleged Churchill-Mussolini
letters surfaced in Italy a few
years ago along these lines, but were
quickly proven fakes. No critical or
revisionist books on WSC mention
them. Churchill made an eloquent
appeal to Mussolini to stay out of the
war in May 1940 (see Their Finest
Hour); after that, all his remarks
about II Duce were uniformly
scathing. Since WSC was sure after
Pearl Harbor that the Axis could not
win, overtures to Mussolini could
only have occurred between May
1940 and December 1941. We gave
Ms. Stone the names of several ICS
academic advisors with expertise in
FINEST HOUR 90/12
t0 set the record strai g ht. Reader
comment is most welcome!
Q
What books do you recommend
containing Churchill jokes and
humorous anecdotes
A
The main one presently in
print is Humes: The Wit and
Wisdom of Winston Churchill, softbound
edn (New York: Morrow 1994,
$9.95), $8 from the ICS New Book
Service. (Reviewed in Finest Hour
84, page 19.) Out-of-print quote
books worth looking for:
Czarnomski, The Wisdom of
Winston Churchill (London: Allen &
Unwin 1956). The best quote book to
date, over 1,000 entries, excerpts
from speeches, books, etc., listed
alphabetically by subject and well
attributed. Scarce; it commands from
$25 to $95 depending on condition.
Coote, Maxims and Reflections
of the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston S. Churchill
(London: Eyre & Spottiswoode
1947, Boston HM Co. 1949), reissued
in 1954 as Sir Winston Churchill: A
Self-Portrait (London) and A
Churchill Reader (Boston). Just
reprinted by Barnes & Noble. Good.
Halle, Irrepressible Churchill
(New York: World 1966, reissued
1985). An excellent work broken
down by general subject and chronologically,
with a decent index by subject.
Original scarce, reprint easier.
Halle, Winston Churchill on
America and Britain (NY: Walker
1970). Same approach as above on a
tighter subject. Scarce and costlier.
Willans & Roetter, The Wit of
Winston Churchill (London: Parrish
1954). Much parliamentary repartee
with related cartoons. Common.
Sykes & Sproat, The Wit of Sir
Winston (London: Frewin 1965). A
general collection along the lines of
Coote's works. Commonly seen.
Eisenhower (intro.) Never Give
In! (Kansas City: Hallmark 1967).
Heavy on WW2, Anglo-US relations,
personal reflections. Common. j&

One hundred years ago:
Spring 1896* Age 21
Making Connections
Winston later called this period
"among the most agreeable six
months I have ever spent." He had
just come through a particularly trying
situation in which he successfully
sued and received an apology from
a father of a fellow cadet who resented
Churchill's role in an unseemly
attempt to exclude the cadet from
the 4th Hussars as "unsuitable."
Although on one occasion he
was scolded by the Prince of Wales
for arriving late at a social event, his
encounters with society were generally
quite favourable and augured
well for a later political career.
Among the famous and powerful he
met "the former Home Secretary
and future Prime Minister
(Asquith); the Leader of the House,
First Lord of the Treasury and
another future Prime Minister (Balfour);
the Colonial Secretary (Chamberlain);
the Commander-in-Chief of
the British Army (Wolseley); the
President of the Local Government
Board (Chaplin), the Chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster (James); the
President of the Probate Division
and Judge Advocate General
(Jeune); and the Lord President of
the Council (Devonshire)." He also
lobbied personally or through friends
and family, Sir Herbert Kitchener
regarding a Nile expedition, Sir
Frederick Carrington regarding an
expedition in Matabeleland and
newspapers for special assignments
And this was the period which
he later recalled as "the only idle
spell I have ever spent!"
'i/^^^^^a^§li:
Churchill in 1921. (Newfield Collection)
Trans-jordan, though he commented
that he hoped that the Emir would
"not have his throat cut by his own
followers."
Some English Zionists considered
the creation of Trans-jordan as
a betrayal of the Balfour Declaration
and believed that the Government
had no intention of establishing a
home for Jews in the Middle East.
Churchill tried to reassure them of
his continuing support while allaying
Arab fears of being swamped by
Jewish immigration.
Anti-Zionist sentiment, often
imbued with anti-Semitism, was
strong in the country. After the
Lords voted down the Balfour Declaration,
Churchill told the House of
Commons that the agreement was
integral to the whole postwar settlement
and the Treaty of Versailles.
The House voted to support him.
Challenged that the Jews were
not needed to develop Palestine,
Seventy-five years ago: Spring 1921 • Age 46
"As cross as a bear with a sore head..."
Back in London from his tour of
the Middle East after becoming
Colonial Secretary, he began to
implement his plan to support the
Emir (later King) Abdullah in
Churchill replied: "Left to themselves,
the Arabs of Palestine would
not in a thousand years have taken
effective steps towards the irrigation
and electrification of Palestine. They
FINEST HOUR 90/13
would have been quite content to
dwell—a handful of philosophic people—in
wasted sun-drenched plains,
letting the waters of the Jordan flow
unbridled and unharnessed into the
Dead Sea." Although he supported
Sir Herbert Samuel's efforts to limit
Jewish immigration by the "economic
capacity of Palestine to absorb
new immigrants," Sir Martin
Gilbert's volumes of his private
papers show that he expected the
eventual population of Palestine to
reach today's numbers.
Churchill's political situation
affected his relationship with his
close friend, Prime Minister David
Lloyd George. Churchill felt that he
was a loser in the Cabinet shuffle
because he had been in the Middle
East. Others noted the deteriorating
relationship. Austen Chamberlain
said that "Winston has come back
from the Middle East as cross as a
bear with a sore head and thinks
that all the world is out of joint since
he is not C/E [Chancellor of the
Exchequer]." Churchill followed the
advice of his friends and did not
resign in protest but, as Frances
Stevenson noted, he proved to be
troublesome.
Churchill also took the unusual
step of responding to a reference in a
book which claimed he'd asked John
Morley, Secretary of State for India
in 1908, to help him be appointed
Viceroy of India. Morley allegedly
leaned back in his chair with a gasp,
braced himself on the arms of it and
ejaculated: "Winston, rather than
recommend you for Viceroy of India,
I would commit suicide on this spot."
Churchill told the publisher that the
passage was "quite untrue and
unfounded. Although I hardly ever
take the trouble to refute such stories
I thought it right on this occasion
to draw Lord Morley's attention
to this one" and he enclosed Morley's
comments that the thing was pure
invention or hallucination—no Secretary
of State would have gasped at
the suggestion of Churchill as
Viceroy. continued »

Fifty Years Ago: Spring 1946 • Age 71
Honours and Reflections on a Long Life
Upon their return from America
Winston and Clementine were
greeted by their daughter, Mary,
who was being demobilized. That
spring mother and daughter decided
to catch up on their education by visiting
galleries, museums and exhibitions.
Each weekend they went to
Chartwell which was now being
refurbished after wartime neglect.
Churchill was the recipient of
many honours, and would often use
those occasions to speak out on
world and domestic affairs. On
receiving the Freedom of Westminster
he reflected on how "the human
story does not always unfold like an
arithmetical calculation on the principle
that two and two make four...
The element of the unexpected and
the unforeseeable is what gives some
of its relish to life and saves us from
falling into the mechanical thralldom
of the logicians."
On a visit to Holland he spoke
on a favourite subject, the unification
of Europe. "I see no reason why,
under the guardianship of the world
organization, there should not ultimately
arise the United States of
Europe, both those of the East and
those of the West, which will unify
this Continent in a manner never
known since the fall of the Roman
Empire." The cornerstone of the new
organization would be Anglo-French
friendship and he wrote Prime Minister
Attlee for approval to accept an
invitation from the Mayor of Metz.
Mrs. Churchill also received
honours in her own right including
this letter from Clement Attlee: "I
feel very sincerely that it would not
be fitting if the Victory Honours lists
. . . Did not include your name. I
hope, therefore, that you will allow
me to submit your name to His
Majesty for appointment as a Dame
Grand Cross of the Order of the
British Empire in recognition, not
only of your work for the Aid to Russia
Fund, and for the promotion of
Anglo-Russian understanding, but
also of those other many services
which made so marked and brave a
contribution during the years of the
war. I hope this will be agreeable to
you, for I am sure it would be an
Honour which would be widely
acclaimed."
Glasgow University conferred
upon her the degree of Doctor of
Laws (honoris causa) for, amongst
other contributions, her role as a
wife: "There are times when the fate
of the world seems to depend on the
life of one man. Such a time we have
known. And we can but remember
with gratitude what it meant to Mr.
Churchill that there stood beside
him in the evil days one who added
womanly grace and womanly wisdom,
a power to achieve, a faith to
persevere, and a full measure of the
courage which, as we like to think,
reflects the ancient valour of a Scottish
ancestry."
Churchill often made some
amusing remarks about how he
maintained that relationship with
his wife. When a visitor commented
that he and his wife ate breakfast
together, Churchill said: "My wife
and I tried two or three times in the
last forty years to have breakfast
together, but it didn't work. Breakfast
should be had in bed, alone. Not
downstairs, after one has dressed ...
I don't think our married life would
have been nearly so happy if we
both had dressed and come down for
breakfast all these years."
He used his mornings abed in
part for reading; in addition to all
the major dailies he was a steady
reader of the Manchester Guardian
("the best newspaper in the world"),
greatly respected the Christian Science
Monitor, and every week he
had a good look at The Economist.
His reading took him the better part
of an hour as he sat in bed, propped
up with pillows, eating a good solid
breakfast of fruit, eggs, meat or fish,
toast and coffee.
In the breakfast conversation,
observed by Walter Graebner, the
London representative for Time-Life,
Churchill related how he was able to
maintain such a rigorous schedule.
"You must sleep some time between
lunch and dinner, and no half-way
measures. Take off your clothes and
get into bed. That's what I always
do. Don't think you will be doing less
work because you sleep during the
day. Thaf s a foolish notion held by
people who have no imagination.
You will be able to accomplish more.
You get two days in one—well, at
least one and a half, I'm sure. When
the war started, I had to sleep during
the day because that was the
only way I could cope with my
responsibilities. Later, when I
became Prime Minister my burdens
were, of course, even greater. Often I
was obliged to work far into the
night. I had to see reports, take decisions
and issue instructions that
could not wait until the next day.
And at night I'd also dictate minutes
requesting information which my
staff could assemble for me in the
morning—and place before me when
I woke up."
Churchill continued: "But a man
should sleep during the day for
another reason. Sleep enables you to
be at your best in the evening when
you join your wife, family and
friends for dinner. That is the time
to be at your best—a good dinner,
with good wines...champagne is very
good...then some brandy—that is the
great moment of the day. Man is
ruler then—perhaps only for fifteen
minutes, but for that time at least
he is master—and the ladies must
not leave the table too soon."
During this period his book writing
focused on the preparation for
publication of his speeches, including
his secret wartime addresses to
Parliament and, most particularly,
his war memoirs. To that end he
met with historian Bill Deakin, his
tax adviser, his solicitor, representatives
of the publishing house of Cassell
and Lord Ismay, his military
adviser. The great project resulting
in the six volumes of The Second
World War had begun. $
FINEST HOUR 90/14

"THE END OF THE BEGINNING"
"I would be loath to cast away my speech." -Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
The following enduring, and oftquoted
words are from the
speech made by the Prime Minister
at the Lord Mayor's Day Luncheon
at Mansion House, London on 10
November 1942, six days after the
victory at El Alamein:
"I notice, my Lord Mayor,
by your speech that you had
reached the conclusion that the
news from the various fronts
has been somewhat better lately...I
have never promised anything
but blood, tears, toil and
sweat. Now, however, we have
a new experience. We have a
victory—a remarkable and
definite victory. The late M.
Venizelos [a former Greek
Prime Minister] observed that
in all her wars England—he
should have said Britain, of
course—always wins one battle:
the last. It would seem to
have begun rather earlier this
time.
"General Alexander, with
his brilliant comrade and lieutenant,
General Montgomery,
has gained a glorious and
decisive victory in what I think
should be called the Battle of
Egypt. Rommel's army has
been defeated. It has been routed.
It has been very largely
wiped out as a fighting force.
Now this is not the end. It is
not even the beginning of the
end. But it is, perhaps, the end
of the beginning."
speech given fifty-two years earlier,
complete with corrections and annotations
in WSC's own hand, was sold
at Sotheby's auction in London for
£36,700. Never in the history of
paper recycling has so much been
paid...James Humes's Wit and Wisdom
of Winston Churchill notes that
WSC's phrase may have been
inspired at Talleyrand, who said of
Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, "C'est
la commencement de la fin." But
Shakespeare again may be an earlier
inspiration, from King Lear: "Is
this the promis'd end" DJH
DIVINE
SUMMONS
fTlhe assistance of readers is
X requested in verifying the exact
wording of one of my favorite
Churchillisms. During the height of
WIT AND WISDOM
the Blitz the Archbishop of Canterbury
pressed Churchill as to the
aerial danger to Canterbury Cathedral.
WSC assured him that his
experts had advised the building
would be able to withstand anything
except a direct hit.
"But Prime Minister," exclaimed
the unmollified prelate, "What about
a direct hit"
"In that event, my dear Archbishop,"
WSC replied, "I am afraid
you will have to regard it as being in
the nature of a summons..." RML
THE
BOTTLESCAPE
It is said in one source that "Bottlescape"
was Churchill's generic
term for any still-life pictures. It pertained
only to the famous painting of
bottles, dominated by an enormous
brandy bottle presented to WSC at
Christmas. Churchill sent the children
scurrying to find "associate and
fraternal bottles" for the painting. %
Shakespeare said, "I would be
loath to cast away my speech," but
Churchill did cast away this one, or
at least his working draft of it: into a
Downing Street dustbin, from
whence it was salvaged by a secretary.
A simple souvenir A far-sighted
investment On 13 December
1994, the working draft of that
AVE BELISHA, MORITURI TE SALUTANT !
Postcard Propaganda: Two Points of View
Left: A card of unknown origin ("post card" in English on reverse) mocking
Chamberlain's War Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha (thumbs down),
WSC, Eden, Neville, Halifax, c.1940. Right: A Belgian card following,'or
in anticipation of, 1945 Liberation. Collection L. L. Thomas.
FINEST HOUR 90/15

THE CHURCHILL CENTER
Report for the Spring of 1996
The mission of the Churchill Center, in Washington, DC, is to encourage international study of the life and thought of Sir
Winston Churchill; to foster research about his speeches, writings and deeds; to advance knowledge of his example as a statesman;
and, by programmes of teaching and publishing, to impart that learning to men and women and young people around
the world. Programs include course development, symposia, standard and electronic libraries, CD-rom research initiatives, an
annual Churchill lecture, visiting professorships, publication subventions, fellowships, and a Journal of Churchill Studies.
THE CHURCHILL CENTER
IES, D.B.E., PATRON
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
HEREBY CERTIFIES THE ENTRY
IN THE REGISTER OF FOUNDING MEMBERS
H, PRESIDENT
FOUNDING MEMBER CERTIFICATES
(above) nave teen printed and are being processed
as you read this. Our apologies for the delay,
necessitated by our desire to do this right. Providing
"real" signatures requires shipping nearly 600 certificates
to England and back; Lady Soames is on signing
duty at the moment. We believe you will be pleased with
the finished certificate, which is printed with gold foil
on fine quality stock most suitable for framing.
"WILL EVERYTHING BE IN WASHINGTON"
No indeed! is the answer to this frequent question. The
Churchill Center will sponsor or cosponsor worthwhile academic
events at any location where they can be useful.
The physical location for the eventual offices, library
and reception rooms will be in Washington DC, the center
not only of the U.S. government but of a broad array of
Professional Schools of Foreign Affairs. In the Electronic
Age, however, Cambridge, Oxford, Toronto, California,
Australia, Tokyo, Jerusalem and Moscow are only seconds a
way. One key aim of the Churchill Center is electronically
to link and unite all the disparate worldwide archives pertaining
to Winston Churchill's life and times.
"POSTWAR YEARS" SYMPOSIUM
Did Churchill's Fulton speech fifty years ago spark an
unnecessary confrontation with the Soviets Was
Eisenhower right to rebuff Churchill's efforts for a
"summit" after Stalin's death Did Churchill favor
British entry into the European Community Was the
demise of the British Empire an unmitigated blessing
These and other hot topics engaged the attentions
of ten leading academics and their audience of
ICS Friends and students at the Second Nation's
Capital Churchill Symposium April 12th, cosponsored
by The Churchill Center and the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars. The new format lent
itself to debate, each presenter summarized his or her
paper in five minutes, then defended it for twenty minutes
in a freewheeling discussion. The papers were:
• Prof. Robert Eden, Hillsdale College: "History as
Postwar Statecraft in Churchill's War Memoirs"
• Prof. Gregory W. Sand, Concordia University:
"Western Policy at the Crossroads: Truman, the West, the
Onset of the Cold War Era"
• Prof. Elizabeth Spalding, George Mason University:
"Truman, Churchill and the Sinews of Peace"
• Prof. Daniel J. Mahoney, Assumption College:
'"Something That Will Astonish You': Churchill's Zurich
Speech and the European Project"
• Prof. John A. Ramsden, Westminster College:
Churchill as National and Party Leader"
• Prof. Kirk Emmert, Kenyon College: Churchill and
India"
• Prof. James W. Muller, University of Alaska,
Anchorage: "Did Churchill Deserve the Nobel Prize"
• Dr. John A. Mather: "Winston Churchill: A Study in
Pathography"
• Prof. Max Schoenfeld, University of Wisconsin, Eau
Claire: "Winston Churchill and the Bombs: The Evolution
of his Strategic Thinking in Light of his Understanding of
the Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs" (Read in his absence.)
• Prof. Peter G. Boyle, University of Nottingham:
"Churchill and Eisenhower"
"CHURCHILL AS PEACEMAKER"
We are pleased to announce that a book containing
papers from the First Nation's Capital Churchill
Symposium will be published by Cambridge University
Press in 1997. One down—many to go.
M
FINEST HOUR 90/16

ICS United States Tkanles Its
1995 Heritage Fund Supporters
Our very sincere thanks to the
following Friends of ICS USA,
who responded so generously
to our annual fund appeal, and more
than met the goal we had set. Subscriptions,
as you know, pay for only a portion
of the Society's work; to paraphrase
the great man, it is the Membership of
ICS dwelling round the nation that has
the lion's heart; we have the luck to be
called upon to give the roar.
$500 and above
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Amb. Paul H. Robinson, Jr., Chicago
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FINEST HOUR 90/17
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NEW THREATS FOR OLD
A Lecture on the Fiftieth Anniversary of "The Sinews of Peace"
By The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, L.G., O.M., F.R.S.
WHEN my distinguished predecessor
delivered his Fulton speech, exactly
fifty years ago, he journeyed hither
by train in the company or the President of
the United States. On the way, they played
poker to pass the time. And the President
won seventy-five dollars—quite a sum in
those non-inflationary times for an unemployed
former Prime Minister. But in view of
the historic impact of his speech on American
opinion and subsequently on U.S. foreign
policy, Sir Winston Churchill later
recorded that his loss was one of the best investments
he had ever made.
I did not travel here by train; nor in the company
of the President of the United States; nor did I play
poker. I don't have the right kind of face for it. But there
is some similarity in the circumstances of fifty years ago
and today.
Mr. Churchill spoke not long after the Second
World War. Towards the end of that great conflict, the
wartime allies had forged new international institutions
for postwar cooperation. There was in those days great
optimism, not least in the United States, about a world
without conflict presided over benevolently by bodies like
the United Nations, the IMF, the World Bank and the
GATT.
But the hopes reposed in them were increasingly
disappointed as Stalin lowered the Iron Curtain over
Eastern Europe, made no secret of his global ambitions,
and became antagonist rather dian ally. Churchill's speech
here was the first serious warning of what was afoot, and
it helped to wake up the entire West.
In due course, that speech bore rich fruit in the
new institutions forged to strengthen the West against
Stalin's assault:
The Marshall Plan laid the foundations for Europe's
postwar economic recovery.
The Truman Doctrine made plain that America
would resist communist subversion of democracy.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation mobilised
Americas allies for mutual defence against the Soviet
steamroller.
Lady Thatcher, an Honorary Member of ICS/USA and
ICS/UK, spoke at Westminster College, Fulton, Mo. 9 March.
FINEST HOUR 90/18
And the European Coal and Steel Community,
devised to help reconcile former European enemies,
evolved over time into the European Community.
Stalin had overplayed his hand. By attempting to
destroy international cooperation, he succeeded in stimulating
it along more realistic links—and not just through
Western "Cold War" institutions like NATO. As the
West recovered and united, growing in prosperity and
confidence, so it also breathed new life into some of the
first set of postwar institutions like the GATT and the
IME Without the Russians to obstruct them, these bodies
helped to usher in what the Marxist historian, Eric
Hobsbawm, has ruefully christened "Golden Age of Capitalism."
The standard of living of ordinary people rose to
levels that would have astonished our grandparents; there
were regional wars, but no direct clash between the superpowers;
and the economic, technological and military superiority
of the West eventually reached such a peak that
the Communist system was forced into, first reform, then
surrender, and finally liquidation.
None of this, however, was pre-ordained. It happened
in large part because of what Churchill said here
fifty years ago. He spoke at a watershed: one set of international
institutions had shown themselves to be wanting;
another had yet to be born. And it was his speech,
not the "force" celebrated by Marx, which turned out to
be the midwife of history.
Today we are at what could be a similar watershed.
The long twilight struggle of the Cold War ended
five years ago with complete victory for the West
and for the subject peoples of the communist empire—
and I very much include the Russian people in that description.
It ended amid high hopes of a New World
Order. But those hopes have been grievously disappointed.
Somalia, Bosnia, and the rise of Islamic militancy
all point to instability and conflict rather than cooperation
and harmony.
The international bodies, in which our hopes
were reposed anew after 1989 and 1991, have given us
neither prosperity nor security. There is a pervasive anxiety
about the drift of events. It remains to be seen
whether this generation will respond to these threats with
the imagination and courage of Sir Winston, President
Truman and the wise men of those years.

THE POST-COLD-WAR WORLD
But, first, how did we get to our present straits Like
the break-up of all empires, the break-up of the Soviet
empire wrought enormous changes way beyond
its borders. Many of these were indisputably for the
good:
• A more co-operative superpower relationship
between the United States and Russia;
• The spread of democracy and civil society in
Eastern Europe and the Baltics;
• Better prospects for resolving regional conflicts
like those in South Africa and the Middle East, once Soviet
mischief-making had been removed;
• The discrediting of socialist economic planning
by the exposure of disastrous consequences in Russia and
Eastern Europe.
• The removal of Soviet obstruction from the
United Nations and its agencies.
These were—and still are—real benefits for
which we should be grateful. But in
the euphoria which accompanied die
Cold War's end—just as in what
Churchill's private secretary called "the
fatal hiatus" of 1944 to 1946—we
failed to notice other, less appealing,
consequences of the peace. Like a
giant refrigerator that had finally broken
down after years of poor maintenance,
the Soviet empire in its collapse
released all the ills of ethnic, social and
political backwardness which it had
frozen in suspended animation for so
long.
Suddenly, border disputes between
the successor states erupted into
small wars in, for instance Armenia and Georgia. Within
these new countries the ethnic divisions aggravated by Soviet
policies of Russification and forced population transfer
produced violence, instability, and quarrels over citizenship.
The absence of the legal and customary foundations
of a free economy led to a distorted "robber capitalism,"
one dominated by the combined forces of the mafia
and the old communist nomenklatura, with little appeal
to ordinary people.
The moral vacuum created by communism in everyday
life was filled for some by a revived Orthodox
Church, but for others by the rise in crime, corruption,
gambling, and drug addiction—all contributing to a
spreading ethic of luck, a belief that economic life is a
zero-sum game, and an irrational nostalgia for a totalitarian
order without totalitarian methods. And in these
Hobbesian conditions, primitive political ideologies
which have been extinct in Western Europe and America
for two generations surfaced and flourished, all peddling
fantasies of imperial glory to compensate for domestic
squalor.
No one can forecast with confidence where this
will lead. I believe that it will take long years of civic experience
and patient institution-building for Russia to become
a normal society. Neo-communists may well return
to power in the immediate future, postponing normality;
but whoever wins the forthcoming Russian elections will
almost certainly institute a more assertive foreign policy,
one less friendly to the U.S.
NEW THREATS FOR OLD
Arevival of Russian power will create new problems—just
when die world is struggling to cope
with problems which die Soviet collapse has itself
created outside the old borders of the USSR..
When Soviet power broke down, so did die control
it exercised however fitfully and irresponsibly,
over rogue states like
Syria, Iraq and Gadaffi's Libya. They
have in effect been released to commit
whatever mischief they wish without
bothering to check with their arms
supplier and bank manager. Note that
Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait
took place after the USSR was gravely
weakened and had ceased to be Iraq's
protector.
The Soviet collapse has also aggravated
the single most awesome
direat of modern times: the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction.
These weapons—and the ability to develop
and deliver them—are today acquired by middleincome
countries with modest populations such as Iraq,
Iran, Libya, and Syria,—acquired sometimes from other
powers like China and North Korea, but most ominously
from former Soviet arsenals, or unemployed scientists, or
from organised criminal rings, all via a growing international
black market.
According to Stephen J. Hadley, formerly President
Bush's assistant secretary for international security
policy: "By the end of the decade, we could see over
twenty countries widi ballistic missiles, nine with nuclear
weapons, ten witii biological weapons, and up to thirty
with chemical weapons."
According to other official U.S. sources, all of
northeast Asia, southeast Asia, much of the Pacific and
most of Russia could soon be threatened by the latest
North Korean missiles. Once they are available in die
FINEST HOUR 90/19

Middle East and North Africa, all die capitals of Europe
will be within target range; and on present trends a direct
threat to American shores is likely to mature early in die
next century.
Add weapons of mass destruction to rogue
states, and you have a highly toxic compound. As the
CIA has pointed out: "Of die nations that have or are
acquiring weapons of mass destruction, many are led by
megalomaniacs and strongmen of proven inhumanity or
by weak, unstable or illegitimate governments." In some
instances, the potential capabilities at the command of
these unpredictable figures are eidier equal to—or even
more destructive than—the Soviet threat to the West in
the 1960s. It is that serious.
Indeed, it is even more serious than diat. We in
the West may have to deal with a number of possible
adversaries, each with different characteristics. In some
cases their mentalities differ from ours even more than
did those of our old Cold War enemy. So the potential
for misunderstanding is great and we must therefore be
clear in our minds about our strategic intentions, and
just as clear in signalling these to potential aggressors.
And that is only the gravest threat. There are others.
Within the Islamic world the Soviet collapse
undermined the legitimacy of radical secular regimes and
gave an impetus to the rise of radical Islam. Radical
Islamic movements now constitute a major revolutionary
threat not only to the Saddams and Assads but also to
conservative Arab regimes, who are allies of the West.
Indeed they challenge the very idea of a Western economic
presence. Hence, the random acts of violence
designed to drive American companies and tourists out
of the Islamic world.
In short, the world remains a very dangerous
place, indeed one menaced by more unstable and complex
threats than a decade ago. But because the risk of
total nuclear annihilation has been removed, we in the
West have lapsed into an alarming complacency about
the risks that remain. We have run down our defense and
relaxed our guard. And to comfort ourselves that we were
doing the right thing, we have increasingly placed our
trust in international institutions to safeguard our future.
But international bodies have not generally performed
well. Indeed, we have learned that they cannot perform
well unless we refrain from Utopian aims, give them
practical tasks, and provide them with the means and
backing to carry them out.
INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE
The United Nations
Perhaps the best example of Utopian aims is multilateralism;
this is the doctrine that international
actions are most justified when they are untainted
FINEST HOUR 90 / 20
by the national interests of the countries which are called
upon to carry them out. Multilateralism briefly became
the doctrine of several Western powers in the early
Nineties, when die United Nations Security Council was
no longer hamstrung by the Soviet veto. It seemed to
promise a new age in which the UN would act as world
policeman to settle regional conflicts.
Of course, there was always a fair amount of
hypocrisy embedded in multilateralist doctrine. The
Haiti intervention by U.S. forces acting under a United
Nations mandate, for instance, was defended as an exercise
in restoring a Haitian democracy that had never
existed; but it might be better described in the language
of Clausewitz as the continuation of American immigration
control by other means. But honest multilateralism
without the spur of national interest has led to intervention
without clear aims.
No-one could criticise the humane impulse to
step in and relieve the suffering created by the civil war
in Somalia. But it soon became clear that the humanitarian
effort could not enjoy long-term success without a
return to civil order. And no internal force was available
to supply this.
Hence, the intervention created a painful choice:
either the UN would make Somalia into a colony and
spend decades engaged in "nation-building," or the UN
forces would eventually withdraw and Somalia revert to
its prior anarchy. Since America and the UN were
unwilling to govern Somalia for thirty years, it followed
that the job of feeding the hungry and helping the sick
must be left to civilian aid agencies and private charities.
Conclusion: Military intervention without an attainable
purpose creates as many problems as it solves.
This was further demonstrated in the former
Yugoslavia, where early action to arm the victims of
aggression so that they could defend themselves would
have been far more effective than the UN's half-hearted,
multilateral intervention. A neutral peacekeeping operation,
lightly-armed, in an area where there was no peace
to keep, served mainly to consolidate the gains from
aggression. Eventually, the UN peacekeepers became
hostages, used by the aggressor to deter more effective
action against him. All in all, a sorry episode, ended by
the Croatian army, NATO air power and American
diplomacy.
The combined effect of interventions in Bosnia,
Somalia and, indeed, Rwanda has been to shake the selfconfidence
of key Western powers and to tarnish the reputation
of the UN. And now a dangerous trend is evident:
as the Haiti case shows, the Security Council seems
increasingly prepared to widen the legal basis for intervention.
We are seeing, in fact, that classically dangerous
combination—a growing disproportion between theorists'
claims and practical means.

Ballistic Missile Defence
Compare this hubris with the failure to act effectively
against the proliferation of nuclear, chemical
and biological weapons, and the means to deliver
them. As I have already argued, those are falling into
dangerous hands.
Given the intellectual climate in the "West today,
it is probably unrealistic to expect military intervention
to remove the source of the threat, as for example against
North Korea—except perhaps when the offender invites
us to do so by invading a small neighbouring country.
Even then, as we now know, our success in destroying
Saddam's nuclear and chemical weapons capability was
limited. And we cannot be sure that the efforts by
inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Authority
to prevent Saddam putting civil nuclear power to military
uses have been any more successful; indeed, we may
reasonably suspect that they have not.
What then can we do There is no mysterious
diplomatic means to disarm a state which is not willing
to be disarmed. As Frederick the Great mordantly
observed: "Diplomacy without arms is like music without
instruments." Arms control and nonproliferation
measures have a role in restraining rogue states, but only
when combined with other measures.
If America and its allies cannot deal with the
problem directly by pre-emptive military means, they
must at least diminish the incentive for the Saddams, the
Gaddafis and others to acquire new weapons in the first
place. That means the West must install effective ballistic
missile defence which would protect us and our armed
forces, reduce or even nullify the rogue state's arsenal,
and enable us to retaliate. So the potential contribution
of ballistic missile defence to peace and stability seems to
me to be very great.
• First and most obviously it promises the possibility
of protection if deterrence fails; or if there is a limited
and unauthorised use of nuclear missiles.
• Second, it would also preserve the capability of
the West to project its powers overseas.
• Third, it would diminish the dangers of one's
country overturning the regional balance of power by
acquiring those weapons.
• Fourth, it would strengthen our existing deterrent
against a hostile nuclear super-power by preserving
the West's powers of retaliation.
• And fifth, it would enhance diplomacy's power
to restrain proliferation by diminishing the utility of
offensive systems.
Acquiring an effective global defence against ballistic
missiles is therefore a manner of the greatest importance
and urgency. But the risk is that thousands of people
may be killed by an attack which forethought and
wise preparation might have prevented.
FINEST
It is, of course, often the case in foreign affairs that
statesmen are dealing with problems for which diere is
no ready solution. They must manage them as best they can.
The European Union and Central Europe
That might be true of nuclear proliferation, but no
such excuses can be made for the European
Union's activities at the end of the Cold War. It
faced a task so obvious and achievable as to count as an
almost explicit duty laid down by History: namely, the
speedy incorporation of the new Central European
democracies—Poland, Hungary and what was then
Czechoslovakia—within the EU's economic and political
structures.
Early entry into Europe was die wish of the new
democracies; it would help to stabilize them politically
and smooth their transition to market economies; and it
would ratify the post-Cold War settlement in Europe.
Given the stormy past of that region—the inhabitants
are said to produce more history than they can consume
locally—everyone should have wished to see it settled
economically and politically inside a stable European
structure.
Why was this not done Why was every obstacle
put in the way of the new market democracies Why
were their exports subject to the kind of absurd quotas
that have until now been reserved for Japan And why is
there still no room at the Inn
The answer is that the European Union was too
busy contemplating its own navel. Bodi the Commission
and a majority of member-governments were committed
to an early "deepening" of the EU, (that is, centralising
more power in the EU's supranational institutions), and
the "widening" of it, (that is, admitting new members)
would complicate, obstruct or even prevent this process.
So, while the "deepening" went ahead, they
arranged to keep the Central Europeans out by the
diplomats' favourite tactic: negotiations to admit them.
In making this decision, the European Union put extravagant
and abstract schemes ahead of practical necessities
in the manner of doctrinaire "projectors" from Jonathan
Swift down to the present. And with the usual disastrous
results.
The "visionary" schemes of "deepening" either
have failed or are failing. The "fixed" exchange rates of
the European Exchange Rate Mechanism have made the
yo-yo seem like a symbol of rigidity; they crashed in and
out of it in September 1992 and have shown no signs of
obeying the diktats of Brussels since then.
The next stage of monetary union agreed at
Maastricht—the single currency—is due in 1999 when
member-states will have to achieve strict budgetary criteria.
With three years to go, only Luxembourg fully meets
these tests; the attempts by other countries to meet
HOUR 90/21

them on time have pushed up unemployment, hiked interest
rates, depressed economic activity, and created civil
unrest.
And for what Across the continent businessmen
and bankers increasingly question the economic need for
a single currency at all. It is essentially a political symbol—the
currency of a European state and people which
don't actually exist, except perhaps in the mind of a
Brussels bureaucrat.
Yet these symbols were pursued at a real political
cost in Central Europe. The early enthusiasm for the
West and Western institutions began to wane. Facing tariff
bankers and quotas in Western Europe, the Central
Europeans began to erect their own. And those politicians
who had bravely pursued tough-minded policies of
economic reform, believing that they were following the
advice of European leaders, found themselves left in the
lurch when the going got rough. Only the Czech
Republic under the leadership of Vaclav Klaus has
remained on course to a normal society.
In the last few years, the democratic reformers
have fallen one by one in the former communist satellites,
to be replaced by neocommunist governments
promising the impossible: transition to a market economy
without tears. This is a tragedy in itself, and an
avoidable one. But with Russia lurching politically into a
more authoritarian nationalist course, and the question
of Central Europe's membership in NATO still unsettled,
it has more than merely economic implications.
NATO
Which brings me to my last example of institutional
failure, mercifully a partial one counterbalanced
by some successes, namely NATO.
NATO is a very fine military instrument: it won the Cold
War when it had a clear military doctrine. But an instrument
cannot define its own purposes, and since the dissolution
of the Warsaw Pact, Western statesmen have found
it difficult to give NATO a clear one. Indeed; they have
shilly-shallied on the four major questions facing the Alliance:
• Should Russia be regarded as a potential threat
or a partner (Russia may be about to answer that in a
clearer fashion than we would like).
• Should NATO turn its attention to "out of
area" where most of the post-Cold War threats, such as
nuclear proliferation, now lie
• Should NATO admit the new democracies of
Central Europe as full members with full responsibilities
as quickly as prudently possible
• Should Europe develop its own "defence identity"
in NATO, even though this is a concept driven
entirely by politics and has damaging military implications
FINEST
Such questions tend to be decided not in the
abstract, not at inter-governmental conferences convened
to look into the crystal ball, but on that anvil of necessity
in the heat of crisis. And that is exactly what happened
in the long-running crisis over Bosnia.
At first, the supporters of a European foreign
policy and a European defence identity declared the former
Yugoslavia "Europe's crisis" and asked the U.S. to
keep out. The U.S. was glad to do so. But the European
Union's farcical involvement only made matters worse
and, for a while, was effectively abandoned. Then the
United Nations became involved, and asked NATO to
be its military agent in its peacekeeping operations.
Finally, when UN/NATO personnel were taken hostage,
the U.S. intervened, employed NATO air-power with
real effect, forced the combatants to the conference table,
for better or worse imposed an agreement on them, and
now heads a large NATO contingent that is enforcing it.
In the course of stamping its authority on
events, the U.S. also stamped its authority on the
European members of NATO. And since the logistical
supply train goes through Hungary, it drew the Central
Europeans into NATO operations in a small way.
Whether NATO will apply the logic of this crisis in
future strategic planning remains to be seen; but for the
armchair theorists of a closed, passive and divided
NATO, Bosnia has been no end of a lesson.
These various institutional failures are worrying
enough in their own terms and in our own times. If we
look ahead still further to the end of the Twenty-first
century, however, an alarming and unstable future is in
the cards.
THE WEST AND THE REST
Consider the number of medium-to-large states in
the world that have now embarked on a free-market
revolution: India, China, Brazil, possibly Russia.
Add to these the present economic great powers: the
USA and Japan, and, if the federalists get their way, a European
superstate with its own independent foreign and
defence policy separate from, and perhaps inimical to, the
United States. What we see here in 2096 is an unstable
world in which diere are more than half a dozen "great
powers," all with their own clients, all vulnerable if they
stand alone, all capable of increasing their power and influence
if they form the right kind of alliance, and all engaged
willy-nilly in perpetual diplomatic manoeuvres to
ensure that their native positions improve rather than deteriorate.
In other words, 2096 might look like 1914
played on a somewhat larger stage.
That need not come to pass if the Atlantic
Alliance remains as it is today: in essence, America as the
dominant power surrounded by allies which generally
HOUR 90 / 22

follow its lead. Such are the realities of population, resources,
technology and capital that if America remains
the dominant partner in a united West, and militarily engaged
in Europe, then the West can continue to be the
dominant power in the world as a whole.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE
Ibelieve that what is now required is a new and imaginative
Atlantic initiative. Its purpose must be to redefine
Atlanticism in the light of the challenges I have
been describing. There are rare moments when history is
open and its course changed by means such as these. We
may be at just such a moment now.
Reviving the Alliance
First, security. As my discussion of the Bosnian
crisis demonstrated, the key lies in two reforms: opening
NATO membership to Poland, Hungary and the Czech
Republic, and extending NATO's role so that it is able to
operate out of area.
Both reforms will require a change in NATO's
existing procedures. An attack on the territory of one
member must, of course, continue to be regarded unambiguously
as an attack on that of all; but that principle of
universality need not apply to out-of-area activities. Indeed,
it needs to be recognised that a wider role for
NATO cannot be achieved if every member-state has to
participate in an out-of-area operation before it can go
ahead. What is required are flexible arrangements which,
to use a fashionable phrase, permit the creation of "coalitions
of the willing."
Would NATO expansion mark a new division of
Europe and give Russia the right to intervene in states
outside the fold Not in the least. Among other reasons,
we could hold out the possibility of admitting those
countries which subsequently demonstrate a commitment
to democratic values and which have trained military
forces up to an acceptable standard. That would be a
powerful incentive for such states to pursue the path of
democratic reform and defence preparedness.
NATO also provides the best available mechanism
for co-ordinating the contribution of America's allies
to a global system of ballistic missile defence: that is, one
providing protection against missile attack from whatever
source it comes.
If, however, the United States is to build this
global ballistic defence system with its allies, it needs the
assurance that the Alliance is a permanent one resting on
the solid foundations of American leadership. That raises,
in my view, very serious doubts about the currently fashionable
idea of a separate European "defence identity"
within the Alliance.
FINEST HOUR 90/23
Essentially, this is another piece of political symbolism,
associated among European federalists widi longterm
aspirations for a European state with its own foreign
and defence policy. It would create the armed forces of a
country which does not exist. But, like the single currency,
it would have damaging practical consequences in
the here and now. In the first place, it contains the germs
of a major future Trans-Atlantic rift. And in the second, it
has no military rationale or benefits. Indeed, it has potentially
severe military drawbacks. Even a French general admitted
that during that Gulf War the U.S. forces were
"the eyes and ears" of the French troops. Without America,
NATO is a political talking shop, not a military force.
Nor is that likely to be changed in any reasonably
foreseeable circumstances. Defence expenditure has been
falling sharply in almost all European states in recent
years. Even if this process were now halted and reversed, it
would take many years before Europe could hope to replace
what America presently makes available to the Alliance
by way of command and control facilities, airlift
capacity, surveillance and sheer fire-power. Defence policy
cannot be built upon political symbolism and Utopian
projects of nation-building which ignore or even defy military
logic and fiscal prudence.
Trans-Atlantic Free Trade
But even a vigorous and successful NATO would
not survive indefinitely in a West divided along these lines
of trade and economics. One of the great threats to Atlantic
unity in recent years has been the succession of
trade wars, ranging from steel to pasta, which have
strained relations across the Atlantic. So the second element
of a new Atlantic initiative must take the form of a
concerted programme to liberalise trade, thereby stimulating
growth and creating badly needed new jobs. More
specifically, we need to move towards a Trans-Atlantic
Free Trade Area, uniting the North American Free Trade
Area with a European Union enlarged to incorporate the
Central European countries.
I realise that this may not seem the most propitious
moment in American politics to advocate a new
trade agreement. But the arguments against free trade between
advanced industrial countries and poor Third
World ones—even if I accepted them, which I do not—
certainly do not apply to a Trans-Atlantic Free Trade deal.
Such a trade bloc would unite countries with similar incomes
and levels of regulation. It would therefore involve
much less disruption and temporary job loss—while still
bringing significant gains in efficiency and prosperity.
This has been recognised by American labour unions, notably
by Mr. Lane Kirkland in a series of important
speeches. And it would create a trade bloc of unparalleled
wealth (and therefore influence) in world trade negotiations.

Of course, economic gains are only half of the
argument for a TAFTA. It would also provide a solid economic
underpinning to America's continued military
commitment to Europe, while strengthening the still fragile
economies and political structures of Central Europe.
It would be, in effect, the economic equivalent of NATO
and, as such, the second pillar of Atlantic unity under
American leadership.
Political Foundations
Yet, let us never forget that there is a third pillar—
the political one. The West is not just some Cold
War construct, devoid of significance in today's
freer, more fluid world. It rests upon distinctive values
and virtues, ideas and ideals, and above all upon a common
experience of liberty.
True, the Asia-Pacific area may be fast becoming
the new centre of global economic power. Quite rightly,
both the United States and Britain take an ever closer interest
in developments there. But it is the West—above all
perhaps, the English-Speaking Peoples of the West—that
has formed that system of liberal democracy which is politically
dominant and which we all know offers the best
hope of global peace and prosperity. In order to uphold
these things, the Atlantic political relationship must be
constantly nurtured and renewed.
So we must breathe new life into the consultative
political institutions of the West such as the Atlantic
council and the North Atlantic Assembly. All too often,
they lack influence and presence in public debate. Above
all, however—loth as I am to suggest another gathering of
international leaders—I would propose annual summits
of the heads of government of all the North Atlantic
countries, under the chairmanship of the President of the
United States.
What all this adds up to is not another supra-national
unity. That would be unwieldy and unworkable. It
is something more subtle, but I hope more durable: a
form of Atlantic partnership which attempts to solve
common problems while respecting the sovereignty of the
member States. In the course of identifying those problems
and cooperating to solve them, governments would
gradually discover that they were shaping an Atlantic public
opinion and political consciousness.
FIFTY YEARS ON
FINEST HOUR 90/24
The reaction, fifty years ago, to that earlier Fulton
speech was swift, dramatic and, at first, highly
critical. Indeed, to judge from the critics, you
would have imagined that it was not Stalin but Winston
Churchill who had drawn down the Iron Curtain. But for
all the immediate disharmony, it soon became evident
that Fulton had struck a deeper chord. It resulted in a decisive
shift in opinion: by May, the opinion polls recorded
that 83 per cent of Americans now favoured the idea of a
permanent alliance between the United States and
Britain, which was subsequently broadened into NATO.
By speaking as and when he did, Churchill
guarded against a repetition of the withdrawal of America
from Europe which, after 1919, allowed the instability to
emerge that plunged the whole world—including America—into
a second war.
Like my uniquely distinguished predecessor, I
too may be accused of alarmism in pointing to new dangers
to which present institutions—and attitudes—are
proving unequal. But, also like him, I have every confidence
in the resources and the values of the Western civilisation
we are defending.
In particular, I believe (to use Churchill's words)
that: "If all British moral and material forces and convictions
are joined with your own in fraternal association,
the highroads of the future will be clear, not only for us
but for all, not only for our time, but for a century to
come."
That at least has not changed in fifty years.
50TH ANNIVERSARY
SINEWS OF PEACE CHURCHILL CONFERENCE
To mark fifty years since Winston Churchill's historic Green
Lecture at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, Lady
Thatcher was invited to deliver the anniversary lecture. ICS
and the Churchill Memorial and Library cosponsored an
"event within the event" involving a symposium with six academics
and Churchill's granddaughters Edwina and Celia
Sandys. Some 200 conferees, including ninety from ICS, registered
for these events, attending the symposium March 8th,
and Lady Thatcher's speech the 9th. Using beautiful vintage
railway carriages, the Union Pacific Railroad enabled us to
reenact the 1946 Truman-Churchill train ride from St. Louis
to Jefferson City, and the symposium papers will be published.
Unfortunately, as of 15 April we had received no photographs
from the Memorial. We do, however, offer the highlight
of the weekend, Lady Thatcher's speech: as profound as
Churchill's fifty years ago, as full of sound advice and, as a
result, likely to be just as provocative.
LIMITED EDITION CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS
Right: I6p conference programme
with articles, photos
and cartoons on the
Fulton speech and its
aftermath. Only 500 exist.
$12 or equivalent ppd.
Far Right: Churchill's
Speech, a commemorative
edition of 2000 copies,
with photographs, 24pp,
$3 or the equivalent ppd.
Order from: ICS STORES, Box 96,
Contoocook NH 03229 USA. Use
Visa or MC outside USA.

COMING TO GRIPS WITH GALLIPOLI
Exploring the Historic
Peninsula Eighty Years After
Churchill's Darkest Hour
By David Druckman
The Turkish Monument at Cape Helles
^~V\7"7here are you going on your holiday this year"
W asked coworkers, knowing that I travel widely.
"To Turkey," I answered nonchalantly.
"Why Turkey," they'd reply, not realizing that
250,000 Americans visit Turkey yearly.
"Primarily because of Winston Churchill," I would
say. On rare occasions I'd get a response about Churchill
visiting Turkey during World War II.
Then I would respond, "No. It's because of Gallipoli,"—and
would get silence. No one knew what I was
referring to, for they did not realize the significance of the
World War I Gallipoli/Dardanelles campaign to Winston
Churchill. But you, the reader, should.
My wife Lynn and I began planning for this trip
three years ago, but interruptions and priorities prevented
it from happening (conveniently) until the 80th Anniversary
of the Gallipoli landings. During the wait I read everything
I could get my hands on about the campaign:
Alan Moorehead's sympathetic and emotional Gallipoli,
Peter Liddle's books of personal photographs and diaries
Mr. Druckman's exploration of South Africa on the 85th
anniversary of Churchill's escape appeared in Finest Hour #47.
by witnesses, Sir Martin Gilbert's Atlas of the First World
War, and his own visit to Gallipoli (In Search of
Churchill). Of course I read Churchill's defense of his actions
in Volume II of The World Crisis (subtitled 1915).
Videos we watched were Istanbul, Troy, and Topkapi. Last
was the Australian movie Gallipoli staring Mel Gibson.
We booked a fifteen-day tour of Turkey from August
31st to September 15th through Cultural Folk Tours
of San Diego. I convinced the owner of the tour company,
Bora Ozkok, to include Gallipoli with his longer
tours, but not ours, so my visit came on a free day for
tourists to plan themselves. For $100 I arranged for a
guide and driver to take me between Istanbul and Gallipoli,
a round trip of 400 miles.
Turkey is a combination of cultures historically
starting with the Hittites (7000 BC), then Greek, Roman
Christian, Ottoman, and presentday Turkey. We began in
Istanbul where we saw the Hagia Sophi and Blue
Mosques, then left the next morning for Bursa, where
Lynn had her first Turkish Bath in a Roman bath We
drove three hours to ghanakkale (Chanak, where Britain
and Turkey almost went to war in 1922), half a mile from
Gallipoli at the narrows of the Dardanelles.
FINEST HOUR 90/25

Chanakkale is now a city of 50,000 with a wide
promenade along the Dardanelles flanked by hotels,
restaurants and shops. We went to Troy and Ephesus,
Izmir (formerly Smyrna), Pannukkale, Aphrodisias, the
Cappodocia area, Ankara (which WSC always called Angora)
and the last three days in Istanbul (or Constantinople,
as WSC preferred it).
One morning found me in a bazaar surrounded by
twenty bookshops, where I came across a four volume series
of WW2 memoirs entitled C^orcil Anlatiyor
(Churchill's Remembrances). It is incomplete, Wendy
Reves remembered, "because the Turks wouldn't pay, so
Emery cut them off!" I finally paid the original asking
price of 1,000,000 liras ($20/£13). During the trip I
often asked for a Turkish book in English about Gallipoli.
Unanimously the recommendation was Patrick Kinross's
Atatiirk: The Rebirth of a Nation. I bought it at the bazaar
and after reading half of it I understand why.
On our free day I finally scheduled a trip to Gallipoli.
My guide and driver, who arrived at 7AM in a
Turkish-built Fiat, spoke almost no English. We drove
west through eastern Thrace, often along the northern
shore of the Sea of Marmara. After three hours and a flat
tire, we turned south and entered Gallipoli, a fifty-by-sixmile
peninsula jutting almost southwest out of Europe.
Our plan was to drive straight to Cape Helles on the
soudiern tip then work ourselves north visiting sites on
the way. My mind wandered to the year (February 1915-
January 1916) when Britain and France tried to force the
straits by ships, then take the peninsula, in order to pass
through to Constantinople and knock Turkey out of the
war. It failed at a cost of 500,000 casualties on both sides.
The first town we passed was Bulair, on the northwest
coast of Gallipoli. As a diversionary action to the
main invasion further south, a young Lieutenant, Bernard
Freyberg of the New Zealand contingent, swam despite
stomach wounds towards Bulair and daringly set off explosive
charges to make the Turks believe the invasion was
taking place there. This hero would receive nine serious
wounds and the Victoria Cross, and would become a
General in charge of the New Zealand forces. His experiences
should be made into a movie.
The clean, two-lane paved road swung east towards
the Dardanelles and we passed through the village of Gallipoli
(Gallipolu). From there it was a short ride to the
narrows from which we could easily see Chanakkale a half
mile across the strait. The gun forts were still there. The
final naval attack on 18 March never reached this point.
Admiral De Robeck ended the action, which was never
resumed, after losing Irresistible, Ocean, and the French
battleship Bouvet, which still lays on the floor of Eren
Kuel Bay with 500 dead. At the narrows on the Gallipoli
and Chanakkale sides, the Hamidieh I and II forts, built
500 years ago to protect the passage, are visible and vis-
Ae
Principal Turkish forts, numbered > Turkish minefield batteries
•r Turkish mobile howitzer
Allied warships of line A
.».. Turkish minefields, with number ^ Supporting warships
of mines
Allied warships of line B
The naval attack on the Dardanelles, 18 March 1915, drawn by Sir
Martin Gilbert in the Official Biography Vol. 3, The Challenge of War
1914-1916(1970). Postwar records indicated the Turks had only a
few rounds of ammunition left when the British broke off the attack.
itable. The land from here to Cape Helles is a National
Park, and no further villages may be constructed. It is a
memorial to the Turkish, British, and allied soldiers who
died there. Continuing south past olive trees and cotton
farms we drove near Achi Baba and through Krithia. This
is a typical Turkish village, only three miles north of Cape
Helles but never captured by the British.
We reached Cape Helles where the Aegean Sea
meets the Dardanelles. Here is the beginning of the
thirty-one cemeteries throughout Gallipoli. The first was
the large Turkish monument, a tall table-like structure
about fifty meters high. We saw this from Troy, 15km
away. Below is a small museum containing uniforms, machine
guns, bottles and shovels from the war. Behind it
are statues of Turkish solders. It is located near W beach
(see map). Further east, near V beach on a high plateau, is
the French cemetery with a simple large stone and 2,000
headstones. North of the Turk monument is the British
monument: two long walls with a monument stone in
front; on the walls are the names of those killed in action.
From the British monument you can see the Aegean Sea
and a small Turkish cemetery where all members of a
Turkish troop who died in the first invasion wave are
buried; they held off a 2,000-man British attack. There
are 20,000 unknown soldiers buried on Gallipoli.
FINEST HOUR 90/26

GALLIPOLI
PENINSULA
Below: Turkish cemetery, Cape Helles; author at a permanent fort opposite Chanak.
j • Kilid Bahr '"''iJ'Hlit Ylliif
"= Plateau Kilid'BaHrJIg!
""•• ^^.JfefeiitfChanak
A
Landing beachesi
and 'Helles on April 25
Military objectives for
April 25
Ground held at 'Anzac'
and'Helles'by April 30
Above: The advances on Gallipoli, map by Sir Martin
Gilbert. Right: Lone Pine Cemetery (note trench
around gravesite and single pine tree). Seven VCs were
awarded here. Far right: Looking west, Suvla Bay and
Aegean in distance, Salt Lake (dry) in middle distance.
Seven miles north of Cape Helles is Anzac Cove (Z
on map), landing site of the Australian and New Zealand
Army Corps. The invasion took place a mile further
north than planned—because the Turks had changed the
signs (according to my guide) or because of drifting (according
to British historians). The cemetery near the cliffs
is filled with about 200 headstones, each with a personal
remembrance from the soldier's family. As I looked east
from that cemetery and saw the jagged and steep cliff, I
thought of the realistic scenes in the movie Gallipoli.
East about lkm is Lone Pine, where the Australians
earned seven Victoria Crosses. Some 1,700 Allies were
killed and 5,000 Turks killed or wounded. On the east
side is a large cross and behind it about 2,000 graves. On
my visit, six Turks were cleaning it. In the middle of the
cemetery is a solitary pine. Nearby was another Turkish
cemetery with six large tablets in a circle.
The last site visited was Chunuk Bair crest, from
which I could see the Aegean in the west and the Dardanelles
in the east. This was the pinnacle of the entire
campaign: he who holds this 300 meter hill holds the key
to Gallipoli. My readings led me to believe that die campaign
was lost due to procrastination in Whitehall and
mismanagement by the generals on the ships—but there
was another factor: Lt. Col. Mustafa Kemal.
Kemal (Atatiirk), the father of modern Turkey, led
the 57th Regiment yelling "I don't order you to attack; I
order you to die. In the time it takes us to die, other
troops and commanders can come and take our places."
Thus another variable was added to the defeat of the Anzacs
and the campaign: the fighting strength, heroism,
and leadership of the Turkish soldier. In die end Kemal
was given command of the entire Sari Bair front.
Some Turk trenches were rebuilt. Looking northwest
I could easily see Suvla Bay where another landing
took place on 6 August and failed in its goal to take the
high ground. Salt Lake is also easily seen from this height.
As primary advocate of the Gallipoli campaign,
Churchill is often blamed for the failure on Gallipoli. The
natives credit Mustafa Kemal more dian blame Churchill,
although I had to educate a few tourists. Churchill would
never again accept responsibility for an assignment without
the authority to carry it through.
This trip exceeded my expectations, both physical,
by visiting the battle sites, and emotional, by vicariously
experiencing the batdes there.
VWW
"Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives...
You are now living in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore,
rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies
and the Mehmets to us where there they lie side by side. Here
in this country of ours, you the mothers, who sent your sons
from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are
now living in our bosom, and are in peace. And having lost
their lives in this land, they have become our sons as
well. "-Atatiirk, 1934 $
FINEST HOUR 90/27

On your next visit, turn left at the rear of the car park and mount the hill to the line of trees, then turn around. You'll be rewarded with Sir
Winston's favourite view of the Weald of Kent. He once told Grace Hamblin, "You're a fool if you've not been up here before."
ASMALL stream rises from a spring on die side of a
short valley in the Kentish hills south of Westerham:
the Chart Well. In die middle of die l4di century,
local archives record diat die land containing die Chart Well
was in die ownership of one William-at-Well. Over almost
500 years die property passed dirough die hands of just four
families until, in 1848, it was purchased by John Campbell
Colquhoun. The building tlien on die site, a fairly modest
farmhouse, was gready enlarged by Mr. Colquhoun into a
solid Victorian country manor house. By 1922 die manor
house on its eighty acres of surrounding land had been unoccupied
for many years and was in a state of dereliction. It was
put up for auction by die descendants of John Colquhoun
but failed to reach die reserve price of £6,500.
Winston Churchill purchased Chartwell Manor
for £5,000 in September, 1922 a few days after the birth
of his youngest daughter, Mary, now Lady Soames.
Churchill was then 47 and Colonial Secretary but within
a month had undergone an operation for appendicitis
and lost his Parliamentary seat, and his ministerial post,
defeated at Dundee in the General Election. Clementine,
in late pregnancy when informed of Winston's intentions,
was not at first pleased with the impending purchase.
She felt that she had not been consulted, was
appalled by the near derelict state of the property and
Mr. Hall is Features Editor of Finest Hour.
concerned that Winston could neither afford the purchase
price nor the cost of the necessary and extensive
restoration.
Philip Tilden, the architect, was appointed to
carry out what amounted to a virtual rebuilding of
Chartwell. In his memoirs, True Remembrances (Country
Life: 1954) Tilden describes the despair he felt after his
first visit and his discovery of the extent to which damp
and decay had made "such an inroad into the very bones
of the building." He went on to find out that Winston's
and Clementine's enthusiastic, totally uncoordinated
interference in the restoration programme was both
exhilarating and exasperating. He recalled one frantic
Saturday afternoon, with the restoration work almost
complete, when Winston suddenly wondered whether
the overflow pipes from the baths were big enough to
take the water volume should both taps be left running.
"My dear Mr. Tilden," said WSC, "have you not
conceived that it is possible for a man, or woman for that
matter, to be so engrossed upon some matter of such
absorbing interest that he or she might leave the taps disgorging
at full flow and thereby imperil the structure by
the infiltration of water through the plaster ceilings"
There followed a divertissement of an hour or so whilst
everyone rushed from bathroom to bathroom, turning
all the taps full on, and checking for leaks through the
ceilings beneath!
FINEST HOUR 90/28

Rebuilding completed, the family moved into
Chartwell in 1924. The restoration had cost £18,000.
Winston was nearly fifty and Chartwell was to be his
principal home until his death over forty years later. One
of his objectives in buying Chartwell, according to
Tilden, had been to upstage Lloyd George, whose house
at Churt had a fish pond fed by a stream issuing from a
hillside. Winston must have a lake—no, two lakes! By
building a series of dams he would produce an expanse
of water greater, and far more impressive, than at Churt.
At the end of October 1924, Churchill returned
to the House of Commons as Member for Epping and,
early in the following month, was appointed Chancellor
of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin's government—an
office he was to hold until 1929. It was a turbulent period
to be in charge of the nation's finances but Churchill
seemed to revel in the succession of political predicaments
and still find time to lead a full family life at
Chartwell. Contemporary photographs show him, with
one or the other of his children, riding, swimming,
building a snowman, laying bricks.
The Labour Party won the General Election of
May 1929, and it was to be more than ten years before
Churchill held office again. In some respects those
"Wilderness Years" were to be his most creative decade at
Chartwell. Much of the time he spent writing books
among them My Early Life (1930), The Eastern Front
(1931), Thoughts and Adventures (1932), Marlborough
(1933-38) and Great Contemporaries (1937). Visitors
ranged from Charlie Chaplin to the former French Prime
Minister Leon Blum, from the clandestine visits of Ralph
Wigram to a team of journalists from Picture Post.
Churchill's Study, the evocative heart of Chartwell. Part of the original
farmhouse which preceded the Victorian manor, it remains as
Churchill left it for the last time in October 1964. This was his
workshop, where he wrote or dictated his books, speeches and letters.
From the rafters hang his standard as a Knight of the Garter. Above
the fireplace by the large oil painting is an 18th century view of
Blenheim Palace. The desk and table are strewn with drawings and
photographs of family, friends and heroes, and with bric-a-brac. The
carpet was presented by the Shah of Persia in Teheran in 1943.
Latest major addition to the glories of Chartwell, this sculpture by
Oscar Nemon was unveiled by HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen
Mother on 1 November 1990. It is located at the end of the lake but
out of sight of the house. (The National Trust were anxious that
nothing should intrude upon the view across the grounds.) Nemon's
favourite study of Churchill, this work commemorates the 50th
anniversary of WSC's first appointment as Prime Minister and the
25th anniversary of his death. The cost was raised by the Churchill
Statue Trust organised by my old friend Patrick Cormack, MP.
Bold Rockwork
and Falls
DESIGNED AND
CONSTRUCTED FOR
The Right Hon.
Winston S.
Churchill
O.M., C.H., M.P.
-. ^. (hiMwiM V
"; jfiTiT fMintolSirWitKKni <
| :'•.' "£ 5 (Innrliitlunf botiqlu
.". " f • ^' i'»'«f iita> to the tuition
_ 5 -;='- tnnuh t'admirers icsr
GAVIN IQNfcS NURSLR1LS LIMITED IIUIIWORTH • Herts
Left: Gavin Jones Nurseries Ltd., who made WSC's dream of rockworb and waterfalls a reality in the 1930s, were still proudly advertisin th
achievement in 1950. Right: A recent plaque on the terrace wall commemorates Churchill's friends, who secured Chartwell for the nation in 1947 C
FINEST HOUR 90/29

A journalist working for the Sevenoaks Chronicle,
Percy Reid, lived in Westerham from the mid-1950s.
Like most reporters working for small-town newspapers,
Reid also acted as a correspondent to most of the
London national newspapers and international news
agencies. With Churchill on his territory the opportunities
to augment his salary were promising. To avoid making
fruitless journeys up the steep hill from Westerham,
Reid devised his own method of finding out whether or
not Churchill was in residence.
The local newsagent, Mr. Bodger, had a contract
to deliver all the national newspapers to Chartwell every
day that Churchill was there. This included the official
communist organ, the Daily Worker. Mr. Bodger confessed
that this was the only copy of that particular journal
he ever sold locally. Reid deduced that whenever he
saw the Daily Worker displayed for sale on the rack outside
the newsagents shop it had to be a copy not delivered
to Chartwell that day: therefore Churchill was not
at home!
The main house at Chartwell was closed down
during World War II. It was considered too easily identifiable
from the air—although the very conspicuous lakes
were covered with brushwood—and too close for comfort
to the invasion-prone Kent coast. Churchill did
however make rare visits during the war years, staying in
the cottage he had built himself in 1928. After losing the
1945 election Churchill feared that his reduced income
would no longer allow him to maintain Chartwell. Lord
Camrose suggested that a consortium of Churchill's
friends should purchase the property for £50,000. The
Churchills could then continue to live there, for a nominal
rent of £350 per year for the rest of their lives, after
which Chartwell should pass to the National Trust as a
permanent memorial. Churchill was delighted, and
remained in residence until three months before his
death. Lady Churchill vacated Chartwell shortly after the
funeral, taking a lively interest in its conversion to a
National Trust property.
Chartwell was opened to the public in the summer
of 1966.With the help of Lady Churchill, Lady
Soames and Grace Hamblin, the interior was restored to
the arrangement of the 1930s, the height of production
as Winston's "factory." A temporary eight-page brochure
was issued to visitors pending the preparation of a permanent
guide-book by Robin Fedden: Churchill and
Chartwell (1968, Redburn 252, still in print). Bibliophile
note: a more elaborate, hardbound edition with
more photos and color plates, only briefly in print, is
entitled Churchill at Chartwell (1969, Redburn 262). $
The Goldfish Pond photographed by Douglas Russell at the height of
the flowering season. (Splendid 16x12" colour prints are obtainable
from ICS Stores for $5/£3.) The pond's name is something of a misnomer.
The inhabitants of the pool never were, nor now are, common
Goldfish (Carassius auratus). They have always been Golden
Orfe (Idus idus) — a very different fish. It is altogether bigger (reaching
18-20 inches long), has greater longevity (up to twenty years) and
is far hardier (often very necessary in Kentish winters). Common
Goldfish tend to root around at the bottom of a pond, disturbing the
mud and clouding the water. Golden Orfe are surface-feeders, a particular
delight as they swoop in on an alighting and unsuspecting
insect. The Goldfish is a languid creature, needing frantic tail-wagging
to produce a modest turn of speed. The shoaling Golden Orfe
has an impressive rate of acceleration from rest and whips and darts
through the water, showing iridescent flashes of gold at every turn.
Chartwell opening hours: see page 47
Above: Chartwell Floodlit (The
National Trust). Finest Hour has the
complete script of the breathtaking
Son et Lumiere performances at
Chartwell in the 1970s, which we
plan to publish; sadly, we are advised
that a revived performance series
would prove to be extremely cosdy.
Right: ICS salutes Jean Broome, so
many times our hostess, who retired
last year as Chartwell's second
Administrator, and whom we will
honour at the 1996 Conference. Her
capable successor is Carole Kenright.
FINEST HOUR 90/30

BOOKS, ARTS
& CURIOSITIES
Lords of the Earth Light
RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
THE unlikely friendship
between Britain's "Heavenly
Twins" surmounted political
antagonisms and the upheaval of two
World Wars. "We have the longest
friendship in politics in spite of a great
many differences of opinion," Lloyd
George said of Churchill in 1940. "I
was [Lloyd George's] friend before he
was famous," Churchill said in 1922.
"I was with him when all were at his
feet. And now today, when men who
fawned upon him, who praised even
his errors, who climbed into place in
Parliament upon his shoulders, have
cast him aside ... I am still his friend
and lieutenant."
Coming as it did at the nadir of
Lloyd George and
Churchill: How
Friendship Changed
Politics, by Marvin
Rintala. Lanham,
Md.:Madison
Books, 232 pages,
hardbound, $27.95.
ICS New Book Service price $25.
Lloyd George's career, his friend's
statement powerfully repels the
skewed image of a Churchill who
cared nothing for others. WSC's
friendship with Lloyd George refutes
this notion repeatedly, yet the author
of Lloyd George and Churchill still buys
it. "Most of the eight million words
[Churchill] wrote were about himself,"
Professor Rintala notes, thus
The silhouette is a scissor-cut by Suzanne
Hayward-Young, 1950s, reproduced by kind
permission of Classic (United Kingdom).
writing off four of WSC's six multivolume
works, half of The World Crisis
and major sections even of The Second
World War. "Obsessed by self," he
continues, Churchill could "not assess
a situation dispassionately." (Like
assessing when to invade Europe...or
what to say to the Americans at Fulton)
"That is why he left no completed
work. Even the Second World War
he helped win was never officially
ended."
The lack of a WW2 peace treaty is
something over which our author is
greatly exercised. Lloyd George
would have been too, he says: "that is
why he was one of the lords of the
earth." We are perhaps fortunate that
WW2 didn't end with the lords of the
earth writing another Versailles
Treaty. At any rate, the Germans and
Japanese surely knew when the end
of the war was official.
Interestingly, Professor Rintala
reminds us that Churchill and Lloyd
George were often together when history
was made: on 5 December 1916,
when Asquith resigned as Premier; on
Armistice Day, 11 November 1918; on
4 August 1939, when DLG advised
WSC not to join Chamberlain's government.
(He omits 4 August 1914,
when they dined together after Britain
had declared war.) "Without the
other," he adds, "neither likely would
have climbed so fast so far."
This certainly applies to
Churchill, but did Lloyd George need
WSC At least once, says Rintala — to
vote for war in 1914, over which he
says Churchill changed Lloyd George
from pacifist to belligerent: "[Churchill]
loved war more than he loved
Lloyd George. In surrendering his will
FINEST HOUR 90 / 31
to Churchill's for the first and last
time, Lloyd George also revealed himself.
He loved Churchill more than he
loved peace." This is fascinating, but
obfuscatory: Lloyd George's famous
Mansion House speech, during the
Agadir Crisis in 1911, made it plain
that Liberal reformer though he might
be, he would fight for the Empire.
And DLG supported WSC's Naval
Estimates in the years before the war.
Such interesting discussions are
outnumbered by the many instances
where the book is off-track, exaggerated,
wrong or simply dumb. Take sex
— please. Is it necessary to spend
pages proving that Churchill was not
a transvestite, despite his silk underwear,
occasional impersonations of
females, or remarks about homosexuals
"There is no evidence that Lloyd
George and Churchill had in any
respect a sexual relationship with each
other," says the author. Whew — glad
to be reassured about that!
This book alone seems like eight
million words, taking pages to
explain, for example, why Churchill
was a commoner, or how Lloyd
George intervened in the 1940 Chamberlain
vote of confidence (why not
simply quote DLG's own fine
speech). And what are we to make of
this paragraph (shortened for brevity):
"When Edward VII wrote that
Churchill's initials made him 'well
named,' the King, for once, knew
what he was doing. When Queen
Alexandra tried to prevent Churchill
being invited to a Court function, she
knew what she was doing. When
Edward VII refused to have Lloyd
George at Windsor, he knew what he
was doing. When their son, George V,
disliked DLG and WSC, he knew
what he was doing. When aristocrats
at the coronation of George V booed
Lloyd George, they knew what they
were doing. ..." Why not just write,
"Many royals disapproved of
Churchill and Lloyd George" This
reviewer, encountering such stuff
early in the book, began to wonder if
he knew what he was doing.
There are so many misstatements.
"In 1914 the gates of Hell had
been pushed open for Britain by the
Heavenly Twins, working together."

Heavenly Twins, working together."
And not by Kaiser Wilhelm and the
Austrians Churchill's frequent tears,
as shed when touring the blitzed East
End, are considered possibly "an
actor's tears" on page 138; but on the
next page "probably most of them
came honestly." Yet, says our author,
"actions, not tears, are the real test of a
politician's sincerity." What was the
man to do, rebuild the East End on
the spot
"Much of Churchill's career was
spent in search of...a safe seat."
Churchill held safe seats from 1908 to
1922 and 1924 to 1964. Only Clementine
and Violet Bonham Carter "loved
him as an adult." Not Mary Soames,
Pamela Littleton, Maxine Elliot, Ava
Wigram, Diana Cooper, Consuelo Balsan,
Wendy Reves, Lady Randolph
"When he was no longer leader of the
Conservative Party, Churchill paid no
attention to Anthony Eden or Harold
Macmillan." He was deferential to
both those Prime Ministers—even
over Suez, which was agonizing to
him. Churchill was a "courageous
opponent of Lord Kitchener's policies
in the Boer War." Professor Rintala
means the 1898 Sudan War, but WSC
wasn't that courageous; he pulled
most of his Kitchener criticisms from
77K River War in 1902. Neville Chamberlain
"clung to the leadership of the
Conservative Party." Churchill asked
Chamberlain to retain the leadership.
From the Queen in 1953, WSC accepted
the Garter, forgetting "the struggles
Churchill had had with or over
several of her predecessors." Dear oh
dear. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I cannot
accept the Garter after all the
arguments I had with your grandfather."
"Neither the time required nor
dangers involved in traveling to Roosevelt's
funeral are valid reasons for
Churchill's absence." Professor Rintala
has not read what was going on in
April 1945. Worse, adds the author,
WSC also missed Lloyd George's
funeral in Wales—he did attend the
memorial service in Westminster
Abbey, "but this service was
inevitably anticlimactic [because]
Lloyd George was not present."!
(Exclamation point is the reviewer's.)
There's an error per page on 145-
150: WSC did not "appear" in Lady
Randolph's memoirs—she dedicated
the book to him. WSC did not "plan
his own funeral." He was not
"pushed out" as Premier in 1955. He
was not "never happy" when out of
office—his sizzling performance in
opposition from 1945-51 has yet to be
fully documented. Churchill's second
prime ministership was not "essentially
a failure." Lord Randolph
Churchill (for the umpteenth time)
did not die of syphilis.
By the way, what has all this to
do with the Lloyd George-Churchill
The Eternal Prof
DOUGLAS J. HALL
THOMAS Wilson, who taught
Economics at Oxford and Glasgow
from 1946 to 1982, was
with the Prime Minister's Statistical
Branch in 1942-45. There, in his late
twenties, he worked under the austere
and demanding Lord Cherwell, Professor
Frederick A. Lindemann, the
formidable "Prof," Churchill's scientific
advisor and one of his closest
friends. After a lifetime in academe
Professor Wilson has, in retirement,
filled his time productively by giving
us an economist's view of these two
striking figures.
Wilson is at pains to point out
that he had no intention of writing a
biography. Indeed Lord Birkenhead's
The Prof in Two Worlds (American title
The Professor and the Prime Minister) is
as good a biography as comes, and
many believe that if Birkenhead's single-volume
life of his godfather
(Churchill 1874-1922) had been completed,
it, too, would have been high
on the list of definitives.
Professor Wilson was therefore
wise to confine his dissertation to a
varied selection of the wide-ranging
scope of the Churchill-Lindemann
association, in an "attempt to fill some
gaps in the history of the war." Having
previously published only books
on political economy, he now offers a
creditably readable account of such
subjects as defence preparations,
relationship Very little, clearly. This
book contains much about Churchill,
much about Lloyd George, but insufficient
connecting tissue: nothing, for
example, about their pre-WWl collaboration
on defense, little on their post-
1917 political ups and downs, next to
nothing on their relationship during
the "Gathering Storm." The discussion
of their interplay during the Norway
debacle in Spring 1940 is simplistic
and superficial. There's so much
Churchill toward the end that we are
left believing the author is a frustrated
WSC biographer. But this is not what
his title promises us. $
Churchill And The
Prof, by Thomas
Wilson. London:
Cassell, 247 pages,
hardbound, £25/
$40, ICS New Book
Service price $33.
radar (contrary to myth, Lindemann
strongly favoured it), the knickebeins
and the VI/V2 weapons. It was Lindemann,
for example, who assured
Churchill (correctly) that the Germans
could not make a rocket with a warhead
larger than a ton.
Two chapters on the bomber
offensive add some intriguing new
thinking to the ongoing "futility versus
brutality" debate. Lindemann
supported strategic bombing because
he thought it would damage German
industry and morale; he was wrong,
but not all wrong: the bomber offensive
did divert German resources
from the critical Russian front. There
is an interesting chapter on the Battle
of the Atlantic, with some digressions
to consider the hitherto comparatively
neglected subject of shipping to the
Middle East and Far East. Plans for
the postwar world are discussed—a
third of the Prof's memos were on
postwar recovery—together with his
thoughts on international relations
and the future of Germany. Despite
FINEST HOUR 90/32

his intense hostility to that country, it
was to Lindemann's credit that he
never bought the Morgenthau Plan of
a "pastoralised" Germany.
The Prof's views on the famous
Beveridge Report—that 1942 Government
publication which incongruously
became a best-seller and attracted
"expert" opinions from virtually the
entire population—make good reading
fifty years on. Professor Wilson
skates all over the relationship
between Lindemann and John Maynard
Keynes without once falling
through the ice! He concludes that
particular chapter: "...this period...has
become a question of controversy
which, however, lies beyond our
scope." One feels a bit cheated, but
Professor Wilson has ruled out politics
as beyond his area of expertise.
Not every author is so modest.
On the whole, this is an impeccably
researched and well written book,
benefiting from a first-class index:
well recommended.
M
Antidote for Hero Deficiency Syndrome
RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
LADY Soames describes this
book as "intelligently written,
beautifully printed, and for
young people." Indeed, it is the best
book for teenagers since Geoffrey
Bocca's Adventurous Life of Winston
Churchill (1958), and therefore an
important contribution to the literature.
If you are concerned about the
dearth of heroes for young people to
admire today, buy several copies and
present them to qualified youthful
readers; or read the book to them
yourself. Ages 12-18 are ideal.
Winston Churchill:
Soldier,
Statesman,
Artist by John B.
Severance. Boston:
Houghton
Mifflin Company
144 pages,
illustrated, hardbound, $17.95.
ICS New Book Service price
$15.00.
While the text is a straightforward
biography offering little that is
new, its purpose is to explain
Churchill's fast-receding times to
young people—for whom, as Robert
Hardy said, "the recent past is as hazy
as the blue distance of the Middle
Ages." Here then is an antidote, particularly
for young Americans who
have not heard in school about the
Mother of Parliaments. They learn in a
deft line or two the power structure
between the Lords and Commons,
how Members of Parliament may represent
constituencies where they don't
reside. They soon understand who
Lloyd George, Stalin, Roosevelt,
Ghandi and Hitler were. They are frequently
reminded how far Churchill's
time is removed: "Airplanes had not
yet been invented in 1896."
The author's prose is nicely complemented
by his wife's elegant book
design: fine type, artwork and photos
which for the most part are not "old
chestnuts." Admirably, there is an
index, a bibliography, and an appendix
sampling "Winston's Wit." (I do wish
people who didn't know him would
call him something else, though I was
thankful not to find a single instance of
"Winnie," which he despised.)
The format avoids emphasis on
any one aspect of Churchill's career,
which means that episodic excitements,
like Omdurman or his escape
from the Boers or Armistice Day or
May 10th 1940, are given short shrift. It
would have been fun to present these
as sidebars in WSC's own words. Several
opportunities are missed to make
Churchill's experience relevant—his
advanced views on race, for example.
So many recent historians seem fixed
on labeling Churchill a racist, that his
1899 arguments with Boers over the
rights of black Africans might usefully
be mentioned. Likewise in 1945,
instead of the imprecise suggestion
that he saw little difference between
Russian communism and British
socialism, why not consider
Churchill's own words: "There can be
no doubt that socialism is inseparably
interwoven with totalitarianism, and
the abject worship of the state. It is not
alone that property in all its forms is
struck at, but that liberty in all its
forms is challenged..."
There is a small rash of errors.
Churchill was not "mostly ignored"
by Jennie (read her diaries). He did not
really wish Lord Randolph "had run a
grocery store" (My Early Life cannot be
accepted wholesale). Family influence
did not get WSC into Sandhurst (Harrow,
maybe). Lord Kitchener's first
name was not Horatio. Omdurman
was not the last British cavalry charge.
The publishing of Lord Randolph
Churchill did not create a political
storm. WSC did not need "permission"
to return to Parliament from the
trenches in 1916. German empirebuilding
was not an issue when the
India debate arose. Communism
never became "popular throughout
Europe" (it won no free election). "The
importance of the United Nations"
was not the main theme of the Fulton
speech. Winston Churchill MP is not
"Winston II." The "poison in your tea"
encounter was not with Churchill
(most likely, says Lady Astor's biographer,
it was with F.E. Smith).
Mr. Severance deserves great
credit for precision-bombing the
numerous myths floated by far more
pretentious biographies. For example,
he notes that Churchill sent policemen,
not soldiers, to pacify the strikers
in Tonypandy; that he inspired but
did not invent the tank; that the Dardanelles
campaign was a brilliant concept
ruined by incompetent military
commanders; that WSC fought the
India Act but sent Ghandi magnanimous
encouragement when it passed;
that he clung to office in the Fifties
only to "give peace a chance." Over
the wartime "percentages" arrangement
with Stalin, on spheres of influence
in eastern Europe, Severance has
a point that is new and worth considering,
and not only by young people:
"Perhaps Churchill thought this was
the only sort of plan Stalin would
understand and accept." u
continued overleaf »
FINEST HOUR 90 / 33

In Quest of Churchill's Character
MICHAEL RICHARDS
AFTER announcing that there
is no need for another book
on Churchill except this one
(in fact there's a need for dozens more
on hitherto ignored aspects), this book
spends seventy-five pages on a potted
biography laced with errors, typos
and split infinitives. The biography
proves superfluous, as most of it is
repeated, often several times, in the
next 125 pages, which are devoted to
Churchill's character. There is certainly
room for a book on the philosophy
and traits that made Churchill defiant
in defeat, magnanimous in victory, an
optimist in a century of woe. Mansfield
lays out over thirty of these, from
generalities like "Destiny, Action,
Change, Home, Loyalty, Future" to
personal subjects like "Courage, Marriage,
Self-Improvement, Compassion,
Humor, Family." It is a good idea, but
it needs more work and editing.
Never Give In: The
Extraordinary
Character of Winston
Churchill, by
Stephen Mansfield,
Highland
Books, PO Box
•mill murlM
254, Elkton MD
21922. 200pp, hardbound. We
asked for but were quoted no
price; please query the publisher.
The author is on to his theme in
several areas. Under "Criticism," he
quotes Churchill's remark, "I have no
intention of passing my remaining
years in explaining or withdrawing
anything I have said in the past, still
less in apologizing for it." This, he
notes, is "the boldness of a principled
man"—though critics would suggest
(unfairly) that it evidences a closed
mind. He explains eloquently why the
country lacked Churchill's will during
the rise of Hitler; but so did Alistair
Cooke (ICS 1988 Proceedings) and
Mr. Richards is a book reviewer for Finest
Hour and other publications.
William Manchester (Last Lion 2). He
points to Churchill's "tenacious" clinging
to the King James Bible, but so did
Darrell Holley in Churchill's Literary
Allusions (1987), and in more detail.
He writes about how the world has
changed since Churchill's time, and of
WSC's fearlessness of the future. All
these areas could be expanded, while
other topics deserve rewriting, if only
to make them proof against attack as
hagiography. For example, while "facing
ugly truth is not easy" and
"requires uncommon courage,"
detractors will say Churchill often fell
short of these traits, as over India and
the Abdication crisis. There is too
much that is superficial. We are told,
for example, that "somehow" WSC
and Clementine "melded their differences
into [a] movingly intimate [marriage]."
The question is: how
The influence of religion is seriously
overdrawn. Although he admits
that WSC "never felt obligated [crassly
to] advertise himself as a believer"
(mostly because, one supposes, he
wasn't one), Mansfield overrates
WSC's faith ("a devoted son of the
Anglican church during the great Victorian
age"). In 1945, WSC moved that
the House adjourn to the Church of
St. Margaret, Westminster (not "St.
Margaret's Cathedral") "to give thanks
for deliverance from the threat of German
domination"—not so much to
thank God, but from historical
impulse: the identical motion was
offered in 1918. Facing ugly truth is
not easy...but the author should face
Churchill's essential agnosticism: "I
am not a pillar of the church but a flying
buttress," he said; "I support it
from the outside." And to say that
Churchill believed "Islam would be a
greater problem than communism" in
the late 20th century is to vest the
great man with clairvoyance even he
didn't have.
Factual errors are rife. WSC
spends "seven years" at Harrow,
where he is "the school dunce." Lord
Randolph ends his life "in syphilisinduced
insanity," Jennie is "a notorious
adulteress," son Randolph "a violent
drunk whose life was marred by
scandals, divorces and 'infirmity of
purpose.'" (The official biography I
guess doesn't count.) In 1900, WSC is
already "the highest paid English journalist
in history" while Clementine is
politically "to the left of the Liberal
establishment." Lloyd George's 1909
"People's Budget" is ascribed to
Churchill (how Lloyd George would
whinge about that). WSC's unconcern
with Eddie Marsh's homosexuality is
represented as refusal "to entertain the
slightest accusation." Simultaneously,
Churchill sleeps until mid-morning
and dictates letters after breakfast. He
writes "fifty" or "fifty-four" books,
depending on what page you consult.
Chartwell Farm is a disaster ("animals
died of lice, disease and starvation").
WSC receives the Order of Merit in
his last decade of life, and "plans his
own funeral," which proceeds up
"Ludengate Hill." Hoary canards are
trotted out—Lady Astor with her
"poison in your soup [tea]," Bernard
Shaw's tickets to "Pygmalion" (it was
"St. Joan"); familiar names become
unfamiliar—the Prof becomes "the
Professor," Macaulay writes something
called Lays of Rome, Gibbon
becomes "Gibbons," Local Defence
Volunteers (Home Guard) turn into
the "League of Defense."
One yearns for a fresh
manuscript and a mug of blue pencils.
Churchill was indeed, as Sir Martin
Gilbert wrote, "a noble spirit." His
nobility of character still deserves
exposition. $
WSC Deserves
Better Captions
W. H. PAINTER
Leafing through this distillation
from The Second World War,
which culls out descriptions of
its great personalities and battles, I
chanced upon page 274, where I
found Truman's birthdate incorrect. It
was an omen. FDR and Chiang Kaishek
are also misdated, and the edi-
FINESTHOUR90/34

Great Battles and
Leaders of the Second
World War, by
Winston S. Churchill,
Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co., 336
pages, 500+ illustrations, $40,
New Book Service Price $33
Old Men Forget
DOUGLAS J. HALL
Churchill: Embattled
Hero, by Andrew
Roberts, London:
Phoenix Division of
Iron Books, 62 pages,
paperback, 60 pence. $2 postpaid
from the editor.
This 5 1/2x4" paperback is not
new, but an abridgement of Chapter 3
from the author's Eminent Churchillians
(reviewed in FH 85) and a pretty
drastic abridgement at that, from
28,000 words to around 18,000. However,
readability probably benefits
from the pruning, and the elimination
of the original's 178 footnotes.
The publisher's blurb states that
Roberts's "controversial examination
of the Age of Churchill has necessitated
the revision of some of our most
familiar recent history." Really What
must we revise Churchill's running
difficulties with the die-hard Tories in
1940 have been dealt with matter-offactly
by Sir Martin Gilbert in the official
biography, and by WSC himself
in The Second World War. A score of
tors haven't fathomed where Roosevelt's
retreats were. "Shangri-la"
(now Camp David) is said to be in the
"Blue Mountains," Warm Springs in
Arkansas. Then I found WSC marrying
Clementine Ogilvy, and joining the
Chamberlain Cabinet on 5 November
1939. FDR is said to be already in his
third term in 1939; and the D-Day
landings occur on June 15th!
This book was edited in Italy,
which brings to mind Churchill's
probably apocryphal quip to Ribbontrop
that it was only fair the Germans
had the Italians on their side this time.
The photos are really dramatic: most
I've not seen before; there are stunning
battle photographs from Poland
in 1939 to Berlin in 1945, up to thirty
superb portraits of each WW2 leader—including
remarkable shots of the
young Hitler.
The captions can be fixed in a
later printing. But by these editors I
think not, because the gaffes aren't
only dates and places. On page 104
we read: "After trying to decide
between Sardinia, Salerno and Sicily,
The allies chose to land in the latter..."
The word "latter" is used only to compare
two things. Native speakers of
English need to re-edit this book. ^
Mr. Painter wrote us from Las Vegas.
other historians and biographers have
covered the period from many viewpoints.
Roberts's sources (listed in the
main volume) are by and large the
same people, though he cites a few
additional names of no consequence.
So what is new Has not every
British Prime Minister from Walpole
to Major experienced "a little local difficulty"
on occasion with members of
his or her party Given Churchill's
track record before 1940, and the circumstances
of the time, was it not to
be expected that he might have been
the subject of some antipathy, not just
in the corridors of power but in humble
homes throughout the land And
does it not say something for the character
of the man who won over the
dissidents in very short order
On page 1 of this new book Mr.
Roberts repeats the line, "Old men forget,
but old politicians forget selectively."
I must admit to being old, though
no politician, and I certainly had selectively
forgotten such anti-Churchill
luminaries as Nancy Dugdale, Lady
Curzon-Howe, Lady Alexandra Metcalf
and Charles Waterhouse. Or was
it that their roles were of such little
consequence that I did not select them
for commitment to memory in the
first place $
NEW BOOK SERVICE
The ICS New Book Service is operated by
the editor for the benefit of readers. Typically
we split the quantity discount, half to readers,
half for expenses. To order send cheques
in US$ or £ Sterling to: R. Langworth, PO
Box 385, Hopkinton NH 03229 USA. Shipping:
add $4 first book, $1 each additional.
Books are usually shipped UPS in USA and
surface bookpost elsewhere. Visa/Mastercard
accepted on orders over $100 or for any
amount on orders outside USA. For detailed
descriptions please write.
BOOKS BY CHURCHILL
All hardbound
1017. Amid These Storms (new!) $28
1018. While England Slept (new!) .. .$28
1001. India (1st US edn, reg.$35) .. .$25
1002. The River War ($80) $60
1013. Early Speeches ($80) $60
1014a. Mr. Brodrick's Army $20
1014b. " in half-buckram $25
1015a. For Free Trade $20
1015b. " in half-buckram $25
1016. Lord Randolph Churchill $60
1037. The Eastern Front ($80) $60
966. War Papers Vol 1 ($75) $60
968. War Papers Vol 2 ($75) $60
1063. Great Battles & Leaders of the Second
World War ($40) $33
BOOKS ABOUT CHURCHILL
Asterisk (*) = softbound
(Parenthesis: regular price, FH review)
1071. Wilson, Churchill and the Prof
($40, FH90) $33
1070. Rintala, Lloyd George and
Churchill ($27.95, FH90) $25
1069. Mieder, The Proverbial Winston
Churchill I ($79.50, FH89) $65
1067. Sainsbury, Churchill and Roosevelt
at War ($25.95, FH87) $21
1065. Gilbert, In Search of Churchill
($30,FH84) $23
1064. Sandys, 77K Young Churchill
($27.95,FH85) $23
1059. Jablonsky, Churchill and
Hitler ($45, FH88) $36
*1059a. " softbound ($25) $18
1058. Thomas, Churchill, Member
for Woodford (£25, FH86) $28
*1058a. " softbound (£20) $15
*1052a. Humes, Wit and Wisdom of
Winston Churchill ($10, FH84) $8
1051. Engstrom, Medallic Portraits
of Winston Churchill $15
*1050. Addison, Churchill on the
HomeFront ($25, FH78) $17
FINEST HOUR 90 / 35

CHURCHILL ONLINE
ICS on the Internet and World Wide Web
ICS ONLINE SERVICES
• INTERNET HOMEPAGE (above):
Aim your Web browser at:
http: / / www.onramp.net/ics
The above homepage should appear.
Press any of those red buttons to be
led to the latest ICS information. The
"Finest Hour" button produces the
earliest synposis of contents and some
articles from the issue after this one.
• USENET "WINSTON":
Our automatic carbon copy service.
Once subscribed, you may send and
receive e-mail on all manner of
Churchill subjects (one example at
right) to and from the ICS Online
community, as far flung as Australia
and occupied by many experts and
academics. To subscribe, send an e-
mail message to:
Listserv@VM.Marist.edu
In your message area, write, "Subscribe
Winston" followed by your
name. Some online services require a
"subject" box to be filled in—enter
"subscribe." You will receive confirmation
by email and can then send
carbon copy messages to:
WINSTON@VM.Marist.edu
Don't try sending any messages until
you are a subscriber, though!
Online Exchange:
Churchill & Fisher
Admiral "Jacky" Fisher,
Churchill's First Sea Lord in the
opening months of the Great War,
liked to send Churchill what modern
e-mailers call "flames" (angry
e-mail, often sent in all-caps). How
the two of them would have enjoyed
the following spirited online
interchange!
As First Lord of the Admiralty,
Churchill acceded to and strongly
supported a scheme first proposed
by First Sea Lord Fisher to force
the Dardanelles Straits (see also
pages 25-27) using ships not essential
to the Grand Fleet, which
was guarding the North Sea. If the
Royal Navy got through the straits
and appeared off Constantinople,
Fisher suggested, this alone would
force Turkey out of the war and
succour Britain's Russian allies.
But Fisher became increasingly
negative, especially when the
naval attack faltered in March,
and his abrupt resignation on 15
May 1915 was followed by
Churchill's dismissal from the Admiralty.
In the coalition government
which then formed,
Churchill was demoted to a minor
coalition office, Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster, which he left
in November 1915, and soon joined
his regiment in the trenches.)
SYNOPSIS FROM LAST ISSUE
The following, absorbing e-mail exchange,
which illustrates the spontaneous and
friendly nature of the electronic medium,
began on 20 July last year, when Jeffrey
Wallin, author of'By Ships Alone (a pro-
Churchill history of the Dardanelles campaign)
ventured that it was a shame Jacky
Fisher was First Sea Lord when the attack
began, and Chris Bell replied that Jeff was
being too hard on the imititable Admiral.
The conversation now concludes...
FINEST HOUR 90 / 36
continued from last issue, page 49
Date: 24Jul95
From: 72124.3656@compuserve.
com (Dr. J. Wallin, Washington DC)
To: cmbell@acs.ucalgary.ca
I'm happy to give Fisher all the
credit he deserves, which is much.
But he was, after all, an admiral:
if an admiral can't be judged by his
actions in time of war, what the
heck is he for
As far as strategy is concerned,
there was never any disagreement
about maintaining control of the
seas. The point was, what do you
do with ships not absolutely
needed for that purpose, especially
given the horrible slaughters taking
place on the western front
Certainly there were those who
made the extreme argument that
no ships ought ever, under any circumstances,
to be taken from the
Grand Fleet for auxiliary purposes,
an argument that was almost
as effective in denying the
British one of the traditional advantages
of seapower — maneuver
— as German superiority would
have been.
For this reason, even Fisher argued
for employing some of the
Fleet in other operations, such as
his plan for taking the islands of
Borkum and Sylt preparatory to
turning Germany's northern flank
from the Baltic or the North Sea.
In fact, it was Fisher who suggested
sending the Queen Elizabeth
to the Dardanelles, indicating
once again the force of arguments
for undertaking non-blockading
duties.
Fisher's querulous hesitancy
when boldness was wanted may
well have cost the British a victory
at the Dardanelles (before the Gallipoli
landing!), whose forts were
known to be dangerously short of
ammunition (if memory serves,
not even one round per ship remained).
A victory at the Dardanelles
may have made it possible
to turn Germany's southern flank;
at the least it stood a good chance
of opening a passage to hardpressed
Russia. And all this in
1915.
As far as Fisher's age is concerned,
I am sure you are right
that the war did not find him at
his best, a burden for which WSC,
his boss, bears some responsibility.

Date: 24Jul95
From: cmbell@acs.ucalgary.ca
To: 72124.3656@compuserve.com
Many thanks for your reply. I
think we're pretty much in agreement.
The essential problem as
you point out was what to do with
the ships that were not needed for
the great "Armageddon on the
North Sea" when the German
High Seas Fleet sailed out for a decisive
battle with the Grand Fleet.
Fisher was rightly cautious about
diverting too much strength away
from the Grand Fleet for peripheral
operations (and don't forget
that WSC was urging other
schemes in addition to the Dardanelles).
Having said that, Fisher's
conduct of the Dardanelles operations
was lamentable. He was hesitant
and erratic from the beginning,
and his conduct at this juncture
was disastrous.
The only point I was really trying
to make is that in general
terms Fisher's defensive strategy
was essentially correct, i.e., preserving
Britain's overall naval superiority
while employing anything
excess to these requirements
in peripheral operations. There
were extreme advocates of an offensive
strategy at the time (and
since) who argued that Fisher (and
Churchill) should have made a
greater effort to force the German
High Seas Fleet to come out and
fight — how they could have done
so is never explained. Unfortunately,
Fisher's real problem was
that he was not up to the task of
conducting the peripheral operations
in 1915.
But the one question that remains
is how successful these operations
would have been even if
de Robeck [on-scene commander
for the initial naval attempt to
force the Dardanelles] had pushed
through the straits and arrived at
Constantinople If the Turks
didn't just collapse at the sight of
the British Fleet then that fleet
would have been in a very difficult
position — surrounded by the
Turks and with long and exposed
lines of communications.
Thanks for taking the time to
reply. I am, by the way, a Ph.D.
candidate at the University of Calgary,
working on "British Ideas of
Sea Power, 1919-39." I suppose I
should have mentioned that last
message — it's hardly fair that I
know who you are and you don't
have any idea who I am!
Date: 25Jul95 09:11:14
From: 72124.3656@compuserve. com
To: cmbell@acs.ucalgary.ca
Thanks for the note. Your Ph.D.
thesis sounds interesting; I
haven't seen much worthwhile on
the subject since A. J. Marder died,
so I hope I can look forward to seeing
your work some day.
As far as giving battle to the
High Seas Fleet is concerned, you
are right about the critics. I expect
WSC and everyone else at the Admiralty
would have given just
about anything they possessed to
bring the Germans out of their
harbors. But the German fleet was
neither built nor commanded by
fools. The only thing that might
have worked would have been
something like WSC's and Fisher's
northern invasion scheme. But
750,000 men were not in the cards.
Date: Tue, 25Jul95
From: cmbell@acs.ucalgary.ca
To: 72124.3656@compuserve.com
Thanks for your reply. I, too,
hope you will be able to see my
work some day — hopefully in
published form when it is all finished.
In the meantime you might
watch for an article I have appearing
in the January 1996 Journal of
Military History —"Hong Kong
and British Far Eastern Strategy,
1921-41."
The only really worthwhile
work on Fisher lately has been by
Jon Sumida. I would recommend
his "In Defence of Naval Supremacy"
if you get a chance.
Marder is still pretty much the
standard work on the period, but
much of it stands in need of revision.
The same is true of Roskill
for the inter-war period. This
should hopefully keep me in business
for some time.
I'm afraid I have to disagree
about the northern invasion
schemes. Until the High Seas
Fleet was destroyed this was not a
realistic undertaking; and even
then the idea of landing ninety
miles from Berlin seems pretty dubious.
FINEST HOUR 90/37
Churchill and Fisher leaving a meeting of the
Committee of Imperial Defence, 1914.
Date: 26Jul95
From: 72124.3656@compuserve. com
To: cmbell@acs.ucalgary.ca
Thanks for the tips on the readings.
My mentioning the northern
schemes, however, was not to endorse
them, but to make the point
that Fisher was perfectly willing
to take ships from the Grand Fleet
for such projects.
Date: 26Jul95
From: cmbell@acs.ucalgary.ca
To: 72124.3656@compuserve.com
Thanks for your reply. I agree
entirely with your point about
putting surplus ships to good use.
Unfortunately Fisher was never
very clear about how these would
be used, and when he did use them
his support was only half-hearted
and more than a little erratic. And
as you pointed out in the beginning,
this was the whole problem.
The only point I'd quibble over
is whether Fisher's "plan" for a
Northern invasion was only intended
to employ surplus vessels.
As I recall, his proposal was actually
to send the Fleet itself
through to the Baltic to cover the
operation. Churchill at least realized
that it would first be necessary
either to destroy the HSF or
blockade them in (from Heligoland,
Borkum etc.) so they
would not be able to interfere. $

Churchill in Stamps:
Last Wartime Conferences
B\ RICHARD M LVNGWORTH
YALTA CONFERENCE
The three Allied leaders met in the Black Sea resort city of
Yalta from 3 to 10 February 1945, mainly filling in the program
agreed upon at Teheran. Churchill opposed giving Poland too much
former German territory, because he wished to insure Germany's
ability to manage its postwar affairs and feed its millions.
Pages 217-222: \ 4LTA TO POTSD V\1
Catulugue numben ure &nntt (t) and Stark \ tiibbnn\ (M,J \
flush mark (/) indnatt\ a \tt HI// a t-mvmor di \it,n horn nluth
am value is usable Curus und Winku ictafattut niwhin ute
sometimes used, and identified b\ namt
Then: is much updating to he done heic -refer in this issue ipagis
40-4U to ( elw>n and Pat Balls updated checklist nt Lhuichill
commemoratnes and all the anm\eisar\ issues loi the end ol
WW2, VF andVJ-Da>s These are old pages none done with a
computer, that will e\entualh be part ot a greatlv expanded col
lection nt ChurchJ 11 and Churchill-related i«_IO stamps intol\mg
the stupendous e\ents of 194 4
217. The famous Yalta photograph has now been used on man\
stamps but in 19&S, when I put this page- together the nl\ ob\i
uus choice was the sand dune ot Umin al Qw un sj. 60 and 1 Vi
Minkus 61 and 6la (The sccrind issue was a re\ ilued cncrpnnt )
The red blue and green C olumbia Bij> Thte-e o\erpnnts 4^21
2^ isg ftltf-20) arc the fust stamps e\n to hear Chun.hill s linage
218. An unele or mine who sencd in the Mai me s on I*o Jima
knew one ot the men who raised the flay m this woild-f munis
photo, which as a schoolbo} ot the Forties w is enough to ele\ ite
me considerably among m\ peers The seuie was lust portia\ed
h> VS\ #92y i«:g 930) in 1«15 and in l«no h\ the Ciren ula end
ot-W»rld WarII issue #17^^ Wi)
219. The sou\emr eaid at bottom with US \ f 1264 (SL 1246) ind
I-ulton postmark, was produced h\ the ie\i\ed ( hur^hill Stud\
Unit il980) whieh in I«'S1 melded into the reined Ks Tne
other Kaish portrait is another sand dune \|man Minkus 126^
C irus 101" the photo> raph is the Germ in surrendei ot GuunsCv
220. Tins splendid sou\cnir sheet Orenad i #^7^a is,; \IS404>
wa& elearl> produced tor collectors not postage But it docs the
job, despite portra>ing the Amenc in and Trench flags b tekwards 1
To it 1 attached WSC s speech on Ma\ 8th unkone^tlv hbe-led
Buckingham Palace balconj—it was tiom the Minisuv ot He ilth
in Whitehall) and resolution in the Finuse
221. Every stamp in Grenada s >\orld War II set is usetul to the
philatelic biographe-r Here ff!74 isg W«J| ponra\s CieiK.nl
Zhukov and the tall nt Berlin The rest ol th's \W*L IS uonipr-sed
entirel\ ot Churchill cominenioratives Mauritania *C 12fsg22oj
Barbuda Minkus 200 (sg 203; and \jm in f'anis 2h51 .ilso toiind
nnasou\cmrsheet
222. A wonderful victor} photograph (on the Channel Islands) is
accompanied bv Jersey' s> Karsh stamp # 106 (sg 114) and a proot
example of the same stamp on a Spanish 1*J 7 6 World Stamp L\-
hibiaon souvenir card The smiling WSC md Parliament arc on
Ajman Cams 2651
(To be continued)
217.
218.
WSC, an
enfeebled
Roosevelt,
and the
ever-stolid
Stalin at
Yalta.
"It would be
a great pity
to stuff the
Polish goose
so full of
food that it
died of
indigestion."
—WSC, Yalta
Following Yalta,
Colombia became
the first nation
to honor WSC on
a s tamp wlth a
set of three
overprints.
ASSAULT ON JAPAN
"On February 19 (1945) Spruance had attacked Iwo Jima, in the
Bonln Islands, whence American fighters would be able to escort
bombers from the Marianas in attacking Honshu. The struggle was
severe and lasted over a month, but victory was won."
--"Triumph and Tragedy 1 '
As the American
forces island
hopped, the
Royal Navy lent
support, sailing
from Leyte in
the Phillipines
in May and
bombarding
target islands.
The enemy
struck back
with suicide
attacks, damaging
the carriers
Formidable
and Victorious.
But they
carried on.
WSO received
a cable from
U.S. Admiral
Spruance: "Task
Ford 57 has
mirrored the
great traditions
of the Royal
Navy to the
American Task
Forces."
FINEST HOUR 90/38

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
General Jocil signed Germany's unconditional surrender 8 May 19
Churchill broadcast the news, adding, "and our dear Channel Islands
are also to be freed today. Actually it was 9 May when V
Admiral Huffmeier, German Channel Islands commander, surrender
the only British territory occupied by Germany.
THE PALL OF BERLIN
"From the British nation I send you heartfelt greetings on tl
splendid victories you have won...It is my firm belief that <
the friendship and understanding between the British and Rus.
peoples depends the future of mankind. Here in our island we
thinking very often about you all, and we send you from the ]
torn of our hearts our wishes for your happiness and well-beii
—Prime Minister to Marshall Stalin, 10 May
221.
"My personal
greetings to you,
the stout-hearted
British Armed
Forces and the
whole British
people, and I
congratulate you
with all my heart.
I express my
confidence in the
further successful
and happy development
in the postwar
period of the
friendly relations
which have grown
up between our
countries."
—Marshall Stalin
to the British
people, May 19^
Zhukov's Red Array
surges through
shattered Berlin.
'Let us liierefore brace ourselves to our duty, and
so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its
Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men
will still say "This was their finest hour." -
r 1
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL 1874 1965
TRIUMPH
"This is your victory. In all our long history, we have never
seen a greater day than this. Everyone, man or woman, has done
their bit...Neither the long drawn years nor the dangers, nor
the fierce attacks of the enemy, have in any way weakened the
unbending resolve of the British people. God bless you allI"
—From Buckingham Palace, 8 May 19^5
A REMINDER TO THE NATION
'I wish I could tell you tonight that all our toils and trouble
ire over. Then indeed I could end my five years' service happi^
xnd if you thought that you had had enough of me and that I
jught to be put out to grass I would take it with the best of
^race. (But) there is still a lot to do...
220
222.
"I therefore move that the House do now attend the church of
St. Margaret, Westminster, to give humble and reverent thanks
to almighty God for our deliverance from the threat of German
domination."
--House of Commons, 8 May 1945
{This was the identical motion which was moved at
the close of World War I in 1918, in keeping with
Churchill's desire for historical precedent.)
WORLD STAMP EXHIBITION
MADRID 4th - 13th APRIL 1878
N

An Updated Checklist of
Recent Winston Churchill
Commemorative Stamps
CELWYN AND PATRICIA BALL
104 silver stamp on white card "mm
105 gold stamp on black card "mm
106 silver stamp on black card
107 gold stamp on white card inscribed
'Tope John Paul H African Visit 1990"
108 silver stamp on white card with
inscription as on 107
• Varieties: 101 & 102 issued with perforated
SPECIMEN across stamp, s/s 103-08
issued with perforated SPECIMEN across. 101
&102 issued as proofs on white cards.
This list supersedes the list in Finest
Hour #77. (S#= Scott catalogue
number, SG=Stanley Gibbons catalogue
number, ICS=ICS number.
Many countries are still issuing
stamps and souvenir sheets commemorating
World War n, VE-Day and VJ-
Day. We welcome corrections, which
may be sent to 47 Biggs Drive, Unit 7,
Riverview, N.B. Canada E1B 412.
GREAT BRITAIN
20th Century Prime Ministers, 6Jun94
S.G.FH34
Third in a series shows Churchill on cover
of small stamp booklet of 4 x 25p stamps.
BARDSEY
Canadian Philatelic Exhibition, 21Jun87
ICS s/s 51 (Europa overprint)
Has been issued with the following
inscription in the border: "In Commemoration
of the Canadian Philatelic Exhibition
13th - 21st June, 1987"
Hong Kong Stamp Exhibition, 1994
I.GSJ47-50
Mr. Ball is a former director and secretary of
ICS, Canada and served as Chairman of the
International Council of Churchill Societies.
Red ovpt "Hong Kong '94" on each stamp
ICS s/s #51
Upper border ovpt. in red "Hong Kong
'94" with "Stamp Exhibition" ovptd. in
red on lower border.
CANADA
Canadian Rivers, 22Apr94
S# 1511-1155 (1514 is Churchill River)
CONGO
Celebrities & Organizations, 2Sep91
S# 930-938 (936 is De Gaulle & WSC)
CHINA (TAIWAN)
50th Anniv. End of WW2,24Oct95
S# 3031,3032 & s/s 3032a
Churchill at Cairo in s/s margin.
DOMINICA
U.N. 50th Anniversary, 16Aug95
S# 1790 a-c, 1791 s/s
s/s has Churchill portrait together with
original signatures on U.N. Charter, 1945
EASDALE ISLAND
Human Rights Leaders, 1990
ICS 101,102,
Gold and silver foil. Each shows Kennedy,
Churchill, Pope John Paul II.
ICS s/s 103-108
103 gold stamp on white card 120 x 120 mm
FINEST HOUR 90/40
THE GAMBIA
40th Anniv. of Coronation 2Jun93
S# 1389a-d. 1390 s/s
1389c: Churchill in the uniform of Lord
Warden of the Cinque Ports. 1389a.b,c,d,
issued setenant as part of a master sheet.
GHANA
50th Anniv. End of WW2,6Jul95
S# 1807 a-h, 1809 s/s
1807a: WSC as Prime Minister. 1807a-h
printed in strips of 4 separated by a label
showing the Paris crowds on HNov44.
GIBRALTAR
Anniversaries, 21Sepl993
S# 645-648
648 commemorates the 50th Anniv. of
Churchill's last visit, with his picture
against a background of searchlights.
GRENADA
50th Anniv. D-Day, 4Aug94
S# 2326-2328,2329 s/s
Churchill tanks being used on D-Day.
100th Anniv. of Nobel Prizes, 1995
Catalogue numbers not available.
s/s shows a single stamp of WSC against
a further picture of WSC broadcasting.
Printed in sheets of nine setenant plus s/s.
GRENADA GRENADINES
50th Anniv. D-Day, 4Aug94
S# 1656-1658,1659 s/s
S.G. 1777-1779,1780 s/s
Churchill tanks being used on D-Day.
100th Anniv. of Nobel Prizes, 1995
Catalogue numbers not available.
Single sheet of 9 stamps setenant.
s/s depicts WSC as P.M. with Houses of
Parliament silhouetted in background.
GUERNSEY
50th Anniv. of Liberation, 9May95
S# 553-557 558 s/s
S.G. 672-676 677 s/s
553 and 558: WSC broadcasting, plus a VE
crowd scene. Printed in strips of five
setenant. Also issued as a coin F.D.C.

GUYANA
Peace/Famous People, 26Jul93
S# 2679a-i, 2682 s/s
2679i: WSC against background of Parliament.
Issued in sheets of 9 setenant.
100th Anniv. de Gaulle Birth 19Dec91
Catalogue numbers not available.
Gold foil stamp set in a s/s showing de
Gaulle among which is one of Churchill
giving the "V" sign. Also issued imperf.
Orchids of Guyana
Catalogue numbers not available.
Refer to S# 2359-66.
Each value in sheets of ten. Each stamp
ovpt. with the name of a famous person.
ovpt. on eighth stamp reads "Sir Winston
Churchill 1874-1965." Also issued imperf.
• Varieties: ovpt. in black and red;
ovpt. inverted in black and red.
Souvenir Sheets
Orchids of Guyana & Expo 40
Refer to S# 2373-77.
Each sheet has a single stamp, ovpt.
on 2377 reads "In Memoriam Sir Winston
Churchill 1874-1965" and "50th Anniv.
World War II" in red and black. New
value on stamp is $600.
Thematic Exhibition Genova HOct93
Catalogue numbers not available.
Embossed on silver and gold foil. Heads
of King, Lincoln, Kennedy, Roosevelt and
Churchill all on the one stamp.
Souvenir Sheets, Silver embossed
Catalogue numbers not available.
1. Imperf stamp on white card, 120 x 120mm
2. Imperf stamp on background of Genoa
Harbour, 120 xl20 mm.
2a. As #2 but ovpt. "Specimen" Perf
3. Imperf stamp with background of Genoa
Harbour, silver inscription "30th
Anniv. of the death of J.F.Kennedy
1963-1993," 165x120 mm
3a. As #3 ovpt. "Specimen" in black.
4. Perf stamp on white card, 165 x 120 mm
4a. As #4 ovpt. "Specimen" in black.
Souvenir Sheets, Gold embossed
Catalogue numbers not available
All above sheets l-4a as described, issued
with gold embossed stamps.
Anniversaries
Catalogue numbers not available.
Embossed silver foil on white card
Embossed gold foil on white card
Each stamp shows embossed heads of
Roosevelt, Churchill, Lincoln and
Kennedy. Issued perf. and imperf.
GUYANA continued
Souvenir Sheets,Silver embossed
Catalogue numbers not available.
1. Imperf stamp with background of
scenes from WW2, American Civil War
and the landing on the moon, each with
embossed titles in silver.
2. As above, gold stamp and titles.
3. Both stamps on white card 75 x 125
mm, perforated ovpt. "Specimen."
3a. As #3 ovptd. "Specimen" in black.
ISLE OF MAN
Ship Definitives, 4 Jan 1993
S# 531-550
533: M.V. Sir Winston Churchill. 533 also
issued as P.O. Stamp Card #11.
JERSEY
50th Anniv. of liberation, 9May95
S# 710-715,716 s/s
SG 700-705,706 s/s
716 s/s: WSC with Royal Family on Buckingham
Palace balcony, VE-Day.
MALAGASY REPUBLIC
Anniversaries & Events, 25Dec90
S# 995-1000, s/s 1001,1001A, 1001B.
SG 844349, s/s 850,851,852.
(995-1000 exist as a s/s of one)
s/s 995: single stamp of de Gaulle with
WSC against background of de Gaulle
walking the Champs Elysees.
s/s 1001A: General de Gaulle with Roosevelt
and Churchill
MARSHALL ISLANDS
Teheran Conference, lDec93
S# 475 (WSC, Roosevelt and Stalin)
Casablanca Conference, 14Jan93
S# 329 (Churchill and Roosevelt)
Sinking of the Tirpitz, HDec94
S# 488,489 (WSC speech on tab)
Yalta Conference, Feb95
S# 504 (WSC, FDR, Stalin)
Churchill speech on tab.
VE-Day, 8May95
S# 516 (WSC, Royals, Buckghm. Pal.)
Potsdam Conference, 7Jul95
S# 518 (WSC, Attlee, Truman, Stalin)
Churchill Resigns, 26Jul95
S# 519 (WSC at 10 Downing Street)
MONGOLIA
People and Events, 22May92
S# 2067 s/s Imperf, gold border,
FINEST HOUR 90/41
Perf, silver border.
s/s shows a single stamp of Mother Teresa
with a group of children. The border
lists WSC among Nobel Prizewinners.
NIGER (REPUBLIQUE DE)
World Warn, 1994
Catalogue numbers not available.
WSC, Montgomery, Eisenhower. Also in a
pair with a stamp of de Gaulle and Adenauer
as a mini-sheet. Souvenir Sheet
shows above stamp against a background
of picture illustrating "Liberation of St-L6"
NIUA-FO'OU
Newspaper Headlines, 12May92
S# 148a-i
148i: newspaper column warning
Churchill not to meddle in the up-coming
American elections.
RUSSIA
50th Anniv. End of WW2,7Apr95
S# 6250-6255,6256 s/s
SG 6520-6525,6526 s/s
6250: WSC, FDR, Stalin at Yalta
ST. VINCENT
Famous Statesmen, 25Nov91
S# 1561 a-h, 1565 s/s
S.G. 1806-1813,1814 s/s
1561c: WSC with de Gaulle. 1565: WSC, de
Gaulle and Roosevelt against a background
of the Berlin Wall and the Liberation
of Paris.
ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
50th Anniv. VE-Day, 8May95
S# 2169,2169A s/s
WSC, Stalin at Yalta, 1945
Gold embossed, as above.
TOGO (REP. TOGOLAISE)
50th Anniv., End of WW2,20Jul95
S# 1645 a-h, 1646 s/s
1645a-h: in strips of four, each side of a
label shows Churchill tank entering Berlin.
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
50th Anniv. VE-Day, 14Aug95
S# 1169-75,1176 s/s
1169: WSC, FDR, Stalin at Yalta Conf.
ZIMBABWE
City of Bulawayo Centennial, 5Apr94
S# 702-707
703: Cresta Churchill Hotel.
CORRECTIONS to FH 77 page 18
GUYANA S# 807-13 should read
2291-97.
BARBUDA "200th Anniv."
should read "100th Anniv." $

Bric-a-Brac: "Osprey" Offers and
New Chinaware
By Douglas J. Hall
THIS SEAON'S OSPREY OFFER — SEE BELOW
inches in diameter, produced from
1941, sepia transfer printed portrait
of Churchill, embossed pattern of
laurel leaves around the rim. Backstamped
with the Royal Doulton
logo and the quote, "This was their
finest hour." I have seen this in an
American catalogue at $100. OSPREY
reserve postpaid price (including £5
donation to ICS funds) is £20. The
best two bids above the reserve
price will win. Bids/payment in
sterling preferred. Bids in US dollars
are acceptable but bidders should
note that a premium of $7.50 is necessary
to cover currency conversion
charges. The way to beat this is to
get a sterling bank draft or traveler's
cheque. The closing date for the receipt
of bids here in Grantham is six
weeks from receipt of this issue. No
telephone bids please.
OSPREY* CORNER
IWAS almost overwhelmed by
the response to my Churchill
Crown Cork Bottle Opener offer
in Finest Hour #88. Within less than
two weeks my entire stock of bottle
openers had been despatched
around the world, from California
to Australia, and I had started a
waiting-list of aspiring collectors
whom I will supply as soon as I can
track down further examples
around the Antiques Fairs. That
might take a few months and in the
meantime I cannot accept any further
orders for bottle openers. In
most cases payment was received
promptly but it has been necessary
to send a few reminder letters and,
unfortunately, I have one instance
which looks like becoming a bad
debt. That single defaulter will
know who he is and maybe reading
this will prick his conscience.
The experience gained from the
first OSPREY offer has prompted me
to change the rules slightly. A similar
response to another open-ended
*Official Society for the Prevention
of Rip-offs of Expatriates and
Yanks. Mr. Hall's address will be
found on page 4.
offer might lead to a demand I could
not fulfill, embarrassment for me,
and much disappointment all
round. Equally, any further incidence
of non-payment would increase
costs, reduce the prospective
benefit to the Society's funds and be
quite unfair to the readership as a
whole. Therefore future offers will
be on a postal auction basis. Only
items already in my possession will
be offered. The lot(s) will be sold to
whoever registers the highest bid(s)
by the closing date. There will be a
reserve price based on the UK market
value plus shipping costs and a
minimum donation to the funds of
ICS/UK. All the difference between
the winning bid(s) and the reserve
price will also go to the benefit of
ICS funds. The winning bidder(s)
will be advised and asked to pay
up-front. The merchandise will be
despatched as soon as payment has
been received and banked. For the
moment OSPREY postal auction offers
will be confined to items of relatively
small size and value since the
cost of shipping and insuring heavier
and/or more expensive pieces is
prohibitive.
This quarter's offer is a Royal
Doulton ashtray. Two examples are
available: cream earthenware, 4 1/2
FINEST HOUR 90/42
NEW FROM ICS!
Churchill The Artist & Bricklayer
OVER several months, Ronald
Smith and I have held discussions
with Roger Bairstow,
proprietor of Bairstow Manor
Potteries, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.
Roger's initial view was that
Churchill toby and character jugs
had "been done to death" by the
potteries over the past few years.
We found it difficult to disagree
with that in respect of WSC's role as
World War II Prime Minister, but
argued that there were many other
facets of Churchill's career which
hitherto have been largely ignored
— artist, author, bricklayer, Knight
of the Garter, soldier, Boer prisoner,
racehorse owner, etc.
As a result Roger slowly became
enthusiastic and the first Bairstow
Manor "Life and Times of Winston
Churchill" figure, "Winston the
Artist," was put on trial sale in
Ronald Smith's shop in London,
where it has done very encouraging
business. It is a lovely little figure,
beautifully modelled by Andy
Moss, with excellent detail and
paintwork. It will be in a limited
edition of 3000 and sell in UK High
Street china shops at £100-£120.
On the page opposite is a photo
of "Winston the Artist." Four

CHURCHILL THE ARTIST; NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH ICS STORES & ICS/UK
colourways will be available, each
depicting a different Churchill painting:
(1) Mediterranean near Genoa,
Coombs 425, Painting as a Pastime
plate XIV. (2) By Lake Lugano,
Coombs 413, Painting as a Pastime
XVII. (3) Village scene, Lake Lugano,
Coombs 419, Painting as a Pastime VI
(4) Lakeside Scene, Lake Como,
Coombs 383, Painting as a Pastime III.
The scenes are hand-painted, not
transfers, with recognisable detail.
"Churchill the Bricklayer" is also
now available in three colourways.
These items can be ordered now
from ICS Stores for readers in
Canada and USA, and from Douglas
Hall for readers in Europe. (Other
places: write Douglas for details).
The price includes a small donation
to the funds of ICS/UK and /USA:
UK and Europe: £85 each. Make
cheque payable to Douglas Hall,
Somerby House, 183A Somerby Hill,
Grantham, Lines. NG31 7HA, UK.
USA and Canada: $140 each. Make
cheque payable to ICS Stores, PO
Bos 96, Contoocook NH 03229. Visa
and Mastercard accepted (send all
raised numbers and your name as
they appear on your credit card.)
Tallent Bust/Table Lighter
One of the most extraordinary
pieces of Churchilliana produced
during World War II
must surely be this 8 1/2 inch tall
terra-cotta bust made in 1941 by Tallent.
That old-established engineering
company was best known for its
paraffin-fuelled room heaters and
cookers, so what was it doing marketing
a bust of the Prime Minister
Well, the bust, nicely modelled and
very attractive as such, in fact doubled
as a table lighter. Compared
with modern table lighters it appears
to be somewhat oversized for
its intended function but in fact it is
on the scale of many of the so-called
"strike lighters" which were popular
during the 1920s and 1930s.
Churchill's head is hollow and
stuffed with cotton wool which is
soaked with lighter fuel through a
screw-capped opening in the back.
Churchill's "cigar" is removable, the
visible part acting as a handle for a
pointed steel tube which has a length
of wick running through the centre.
The wick becomes impregnated with
petrol vapour, the steel point is
struck against a strip of cerium inserted
into Churchill's midriff. A
very satisfactory, sometimes alarming,
flame is produced with which to
light one's "Romeo & Juliet," pipe or
cigarette. No moving parts. Nothing
to go wrong. Standard "Zippo"
wicks are exactly the right size and
although Tallent replacement cerium
TALLENT LIGHTER
strips are no longer commercially
available, I have found that a section
of emery board, or a piece broken
from a small file, can be glued in
place to make a quite satisfactory
substitute. The sheer size of the Tallent
bust/ table lighter — it weighs 2
l/2kg — can never be fully appreciated
from a photograph, so I have included
in the illustration a 2 3/4-inch
tall Wedgwood 1974 Centenary table
lighter to act as a benchmark. The
bust is fairly rare now, spotted in a
US catalogue at $250, offered by a
London dealer at £120; usually £40-
£60 when seen at UK provincial fairs.
In Defeat: Magnanimity
IF I may be allowed a fairly free
paraphrase of a well-known
moral This ten inch diameter
creamy-white bone china plate carries
a rare and fine full-colour portrait
of Churchill, uncommonly depicted
as an elder statesman, and
the simple inscription "1874 Sir
Winston Churchill 1965" in gold lettering
to match the rim line. The
backstamp is captivating — the entwined
letters "C" and "N" are surmounted
by a crown and encircled
by the legend, "Made in Western
Germany." I suspect this is a memorial
tribute dating from 1965 or
shortly after. Whilst, understandably,
several derogatory pieces of
Churchill propaganda emanated
from Germany during both World
Wars, this plate is a fine and sincere
tribute to the man who, as soon as
the shooting stopped in 1945, did so
much to promote the reestablishment
of his old enemy as a major
European power. Rare — and I will
risk the statement that I have not
seen another like it. That remark
usually flushes out an abundance of
letters to the Features Editor! [The
Editor recently sold two dupes!] &
FINEST HOUR 90/43

Savouring Churchill's Books:
1) By Way Of Introduction
By Henry Fearon
THE BOOKSELLER
ONE afternoon in the winter
of 1946, I was passing a
bookshop in Grafton Street,
when I saw displayed in one of the
windows a photograph of Winston
Churchill, and a copy of his famous
book The River War. Already, I
think, I had forgotten Churchill: already
I was trying to outlive the
memory of his defeat in the General
Election six months before. But I
stopped, dead still, before the window
— and suddenly remembered.
Not only did I remember what the
man had done, and what I and all
the Nation owed to him: I remembered
that his whole life lay written
between the covers of his many
books. Perhaps, I thought, it would
be possible to rebuild that life from
all the things which he had written
from his early youth to the beginning
of the Second World War. In
this way, he would come to life once
more (for me, at least) and I would
see him always just as he was at
each different stage in life.
So it was that I went into the
bookshop and bought The River
War. I paid ten shillings for the two
splendid volumes. I do not know
how much the work is valued at
now, nor do I care. I found the book
a revelation, and it has proved to be
the rock on which my whole collection
rests.
Mr. Fearon, of Maidenhead, Berkshire,
was an inveterate collector of
Churchill's books from 1946. During his
lifetime he compiled a unique catalogue
of his collection with personal appreciations
of all the titles. Thanks to Mark
Weber of London, who recently acquired
the Fearon catalogue, we offer
one of these perceptive and delightful
commentaries. Reader comments most
welcome
FINEST HOUR 90/44
The Bookseller — a most kindly
and courteous man — inquired if I
was interested in first editions of
Mr. Churchill's books; and I said
that I would dearly love to have
some of them as they came upon the
market from time to time. I was, he
said, the first person he had met
who wished to make such a collection;
and added that he would do
his best to help me in my endeavour.
He told me that The River War
had been sitting in the window for
three weeks, and not one soul had
come into the shop to ask about it!
He did not think he would be able
to find me many items, but assured
me that he would search for them
"in order to make you happy!" On
the strength of that we shook hands
warmly; and I walked out of the
shop and on along into Bond Street
carrying The River War wrapped up
neatly in a heavy parcel.
In the course of years I found my
collection growing very steadily.
My good friend the Bookseller was a
very good friend indeed. Gradually
I placed all the main works on my
bookshelves, as well as most of the
pamphlets which the great man had
issued during his long political life.
One item I have not been able to
discover: the extremely rare Mr.
Brodrick's Army which now, in my
old age, I shall never be able to afford.
This was published in 1903
and cost one shilling: nowadays its
selling price ranges between ten and
twenty thousand pounds! There are,
of course, many rarities which have
never come my way but, nevertheless,
I have many things which must
be dear to all collectors. Indeed,
some of these are of the greatest rarity,
and all display the inborn genius
of the author.
It is true that there are many occasions
when I disagree with him:
many occasions when he is so stubbornly
irritating that I could almost
fling his book or pamphlet out of
the house and into the gutter. But always
I remember the greatness
which brought me safely to the end
of the war, the gratitude which is his
due, and I put the offending volume
back again in its appointed place
upon the bookshelf. This shows, at
least, that I am critical: that I am not
a slave to heroism.
Soon after I began collecting, I
noticed one strange thing: I was no
longer alone in my search for Mr.
Churchill's works! By the time a year
had passed, I discovered that some
of the early volumes (which I had
acquired for a only few pounds)
were fetching what seemed to me
very high prices at Sotheby's and
elsewhere. I remember looking at
my collection and saying with the
utmost amazement, "It cannot be
worth less than £200!" A little later,
a set of the main works only (in a
somewhat poor condition) was sold
at auction for more than £1000.
From that moment onwards I have
never allowed myself to think of the
value of my own collection; but I
constantly see in catalogues and reports
of sales astounding prices
which make me realise how lucky I
was to begin collecting when I did.
The River War, at ten shillings, and
one other item must illustrate this
fact extremely well. I paid fifteen
shillings (thinking it a lot of money)
for the softbound volume on India.
This had been published originally
at one shilling; but the latest price
for it which I have seen recorded is
£450. Presumably the market fluctuates,
but there can be no hiding the
luck that was mine! Nor can I forget
how fortunate I was upon that winter
afternoon when I saw The River
War, and made a lasting friend of a
delightful, kindly Bookseller.

2) The Eastern Front I The Unknown War
THE sixth and last volume of
The World Crisis, with its secondary
title of The Eastern
Front, was published on 2 November
1931, and cost 30s. The new
Preface, dated 13 August 1931, was
written at Chartwell; and the dedication
this time is: TO OUR FAITHFUL
tions to make, and, for the first time,
was in the same position as his readers:
viewing the scene from a long
way off, trying to visualize the appalling
battles and the hardships,
and forever seeking in his mind an
explanation of the whole. Some may
think, as I am inclined to do, that the
task he set himself was a failure; but
what a noble failure it is! The Eastern
Front is a book which not only tries
to provide a picture rich in details,
but also tries to understand its complexity;
and if Churchill has done
nothing else for us, he has, at least,
brought us considerably nearer to
the understanding.
The Unknown War
Amid the many disasters of the
War in the West, we Westerners can
be excused for forgetting that there
ever was an Eastern Front, and also
for our ignorance of what was happening
there. All that is generally
remembered is that the war began
on that front; that the initial causes
of the war were there; and that the
Russian Revolution brought an end
to it — an ending as terrible and cat-
ALLIES AND COMRADES IN THE RUSSIAN
IMPERIAL ARMIES. This is the only one
of the six volumes to be illustrated
with photographs (all very well chosen,
too) and, despite its limitations,
it remains — and will always remain
— my favourite of the six.
When it was published, Churchill
was out of office (his break with
Baldwin and the Conservative hierarchy
was complete), and he was
now turning, more and more, to literature
as a mode for living. The
Eastern Front comes to us from the
beginning of his years as a political
outcast; and this is a most fortunate
thing for, as yet, the urge to write
was not strictly dependent on his
pocket, and the beneficial lure of
popular journalism was not as dazzling
or as lucrative as it became a
little later on.
It was a book written in the quiet
of his country home, pondered on
most deeply in every stage of its creation,
and was at all times a pleasure
to him. He had no axes to grind (as
in the earlier volumes), no vindicaastrophic
as the war itself. We chose
at the time to note what was happening,
but paid little attention to
the consequences. The Western
Front was so dangerously close and,
mercifully, Austria, Russia and the
whole Eastern Front were too far
away to cause us worry or dismay.
We were much too busy thinking of
our own miseries. Churchill admits
his own inability to value the immensity
of what was happening —
and eventually happened — there:
Although I had lived and toiled
through the war years in positions
which gave a wide outlook
and the best information, I was
surprised to find how dim and
often imperfect were the impressions
I had sustained of the conflict
between Russia and the two
Teutonic Empires. Indeed, I
thought at one time that I would
call this volume "The Unknown
War."
The American and Canadian Editions
(New York: Scribners; Toronto:
Macmillan) were entitled The
Unknown War from the beginning.
When in due course the English
publisher released the Keystone
(cheap) Edition in 1937, it too was
called The Unknown War, and that
THE FIRST AMERICAN AND FIRST KEYSTONE EDITIONS, 1931 and 1937.
FINEST HOUR 90/45

title was retained by Macmillan in
their wartime issue of the book.
Handling the book in the "cheap"
form is a very real delight, and I am
glad to have it in the collection, for it
reflects prewar publishing in its best
and finest light.
From the popular point of view
The Unknown War is undoubtedly
the better title. Nevertheless, the historian,
student and lover of literature
must prefer the one Churchill
began with. The Eastern Front is concerned
with an area so vast that no
ordinary person can comprehend it.
Only a geographer can picture the
broad scenes, only a soldier of military
genius can begin to understand
the complexity of war in such terrain.
Because it is all so far away,
this brilliant story of an unknown
front has the aura of a fairytale, perhaps
the sort which tells of Bluebeard
rather than the lovely Cinderella.
We close the book with an
involuntary shudder, and go to bed
a little frightened, and in the dark of
night we may be wakened not by
dreams but by nightmares.
Doom and Tragedy
How can one fail to sense the
doom which permeates the whole
theme of The Eastern Front How
can one fail to be deeply moved by
the tragedy which befell three great
empires engulfed in this most
hideous war But how can one possibly
hope to understand it If but
one tiny particle of the truth is
opened up for us, we must be
thankful to any author who can provide
it. Churchill gives us far more
than a particle, yet still we cannot
understand: the horror haunts us
and explanation fails to exorcise the
spectre. Here is how this great book
opens:
If for a space we obliterate from
our minds the fighting in France
and Flanders, the struggle upon
the Eastern Front is incomparably
the greatest war in history. In its
scale, in its slaughter, in the exertions
of the combatants, in its military
kaleidoscope, it far surpasses
by magnitude and intensity
all similar human episodes. It
is also the most mournful conflict
of which there is record. All three
empires, both sides, victors and
vanquished, were ruined. All the
Emperors, or their successors,
were slain or deposed. The
Houses of Romanov, Hapsburg
and Hohenzollern, woven over
centuries of renown into the texture
of Europe, were shattered
and extirpated ... These pages recount
dazzling victories and defeats
stoutly made good. They
record the toil, perils, sufferings
and passion of millions of men.
Their sweat, their tears, their
blood bedewed the endless plain.
Ten million homes awaited the
return of the warriors. A hundred
cities prepared to acclaim their
triumphs. But all were defeated;
all were stricken; everything they
had given was given in vain.
The words "sweat, tears and
blood" will not be passed by unnoticed.
What, we may wonder, was
Churchill's thought when he offered
us no more than these a few years
later The dazzling victories and defeats
are, indeed, among the many
splendid things to be found on
every page; but I shall make no
comment on them here. Let me be
content with "little pictures" — the
glimpses, the glorious portraits: literary
masterpieces, all of them. Let
us look at Francis Joseph; and at
once we see him as he was in life,
and warm to him:
Francis Joseph had ascended his
throne in 1848 amid executions,
martial law and the revolt. He
had sustained every kind of public
tribulation and domestic
tragedy. His brother, the Emperor
Maximillian, had been executed
in Mexcio by a rebel firing
party. His only son Rudolph, heir
to the throne, had perished tragically
in 1889. His wife had been
stabbed through the heart on a
jetty in Geneva by an Italian anarchist.
He had never declared a
foreign war he did not lose, nor
bent himself to a domestic policy
which was not evidently failing...
He had sat on the throne for more
than sixty years when King Edward
VII died. At seventy-five he
was not only well preserved, but
FINEST HOUR 90/46
vigorous. He walked far; he
could still ride; his chief amusement
was shooting boar and bear
and deer. He was jealous of his
brother Maximillian; he did not
love his wife; he had been on bad
terms with all his family ... In the
closing years of his reign he had
become almost an automaton. He
discharged routine duties without
pleasure, indeed with distaste,
punctually and assiduously,
literally from dawn to
dusk. He rose usually at four in
the morning, and, dresssed in his
sky-blue uniform, drank his coffee
at his desk amid official portfolios
and files. His wish was to
go to sleep not later than eight
o'clock at night... Alone upon his
rocky pinnacle from which the
tides of time had sunk, this venerable,
conscientious functionary
continued in harness pulling
faithfully at the collar, mostly in
the right direction, to the last
gasp.
Katharina Schratt
Among the many delightful vignettes
of the Emperor's Court and
entourage is this of the postmaster's
daughter in Baden. One wonders
why her story has never been made
into a book or, perhaps, a novel or a
play. Throughout his long life, Francis
Joseph made two friends only —
real, personal friends, that is. There
were, of course, the usual hangerson,
the smiling toadies who came
and went. One of these real friends
was the Baron Von Margutti, the
head of his household. And the
other Let Churchill tell us of the
other:
The Emperor had one other confidante,
Katharina Schratt. The
daughter of a postmaster, [she]
had been in the eighties a successful
actress. Francis Joseph admired
her beauty, charm and humour.
The Empress welcomed
her. She became associated with
the Court. For over thirty years
she was the Emperor's cherished
friend. Whether at Schonbrunn or
Ischl her discreet dwelling was
always close at hand. Very early
in the mornings the old gentleman
would leave his palace by a

private door and walking by
carefully-secluded paths would
breakfast with Frau Schratt, "always
good tempered and smiling,"
in an old-fashioned room
"with a white-clothed table, gay
with flowers." Here he found
peace, happiness, and a window
on the world, which none of his
punctually-handled portfolios
had given him ... She was the link
between the Emperor and the
outer world. She was his newspaper:
from her he learnt more than
from all his ministers put together
... it was often only from
her that he learnt the truth.
Tannenberg
For the rest, The Eastern Front is
there to read with considerable interest
— and, yes, even with a
meaure of enjoyment, for one is constantly
carried away by descriptions
of manoeuvres and events, and the
studied history of momentous battles.
There is nothing finer in the
whole book (and this is a book of
very many fine things) than the account
we have of Tannenberg. God
only knows what happened there;
and God alone can know the full
measure of the tragedy and disaster.
But the German victory has never
been surpassed in all the wars of
history. Ludendorff, for many years,
claimed all the credit for it; and the
battle was (as Churchill tells us) "the
stepping-stone by which he rose to
the effective control of the whole
German War."
But though the claim has been
proved false, one important thing resulted
from it. Another brain (and
many think a superior one) was also
instrumental in winning that tremendous
battle and bringing an overwhelming
defeat to Russian arms.
Tannenberg was every bit as much
the victory of Hindenberg as it was
of Ludendorff; and it was the battle
which brought these two military geniuses
together. And, says Churchill,
this memorable partnership "stands
among the renowned associations of
Great Captains in history."
This series will be continued, in no
special order, as books struck Mr.
Fearon's fancy. &
ICS Commemorative Covers
5OTH Anniversary • March 5,1946
Winston Oturchiti's Speech
"Sinews of Peace" at Fulton, Missouri
29|
USA|
ilUwiiii. CbvhvMta Mr «!">• ursl
Winston Churchili's
The Sinews of Peace
50th Anniversary Station
Fulton, Missouri 6S2S1 March S, 1996
TOP: THE ICS "SINEWS OF PEACE" COVER 46.
BELOW: THE KINDGOM PHILATELIC COVER (NON-STANDARD SIZE).
OF PEACE 1996
'USMOei;
1 CHURCHILL
TTie Smews of PiSHB
50th Anniversary Ste^S
Fulton, Missouri 65251 March 5.
On March 5th, the Fiftieth Anniversary of Churchill's watershed speech at
Fulton, Missouri, ICS issued its 46th commemorative cover (top). Simultaneously,
the Kingdom Philatelic Club issued their own cover. Those on the
automatic covers list received
the ICS cover by
post; anyone else may
order covers from $3/£2
each payable to ICS, c/o
Dave Marcus, 3048 Van
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M26

"SOMEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC" (2)
IMMORTAL WORDS
There are, however, two distinct and marked differences in this joint declaration
from the attitude adopted by the Allies during the latter part of the last war;
and no one should overlook them.
The United States and Great Britain do not now assume
that there will never be any more war again.
On the contrary, we intend to take ample precautions to prevent its renewal
in any period we can foresee by effectively disarming the guilty nations
while remaining suitably protected ourselves.
The second difference is this:
that instead of trying to ruin German trade by all kinds of additional
trade barriers and hindrances, as was the mood of 1917,
we have definitely adopted the view
that it is not in the interests of the world and of our two countries
that any nation should be unprosperous
or shut out from the means of making a decent living for itself and its people
by its industry and enterprise...
How near is the United States to war
There is certainly one man who knows the answer to that question.
If Hitler has not yet declared war upon the United States
it is certainly not out of his love for American institutions;
it is certainly not because he could not find a pretext.
He has murdered half a dozen countries for far less.
Fear — fear of immediately redoubling the tremendous energies
now being employed against him
is no doubt a restraining influence.
But the real reason is, I am sure, to be found in the method
to which he has so faithfully adhered and by which he has gained so much.
What is that method It is a very simple method.
One by one: that is his plan;
that is his guiding rule;
that is the trick by which he has enslaved so large a portion of the world...
Czechoslovakia was subjugated;
a French Government deserted their faithful ally
and broke a plighted word in that ally's hour of need.
Russia was cajoled and deceived into a kind of neutrality or partnership...
The Low Countries and the Scandinavian countries,
acting with France and Great Britain in good time,
even after the war had begun,
might have altered its course
and would have had, at any rate, a fighting chance.
The Balkan States had only to stand together
to save themselves from the ruin by which they are now engulfed.
Never was the career of crime made more smooth.
World Broadcast, London, 24 August 1941