Journal of the International Churchill Society - Winston Churchill

BUSINESS OFFICESAustralia: Peter M. Jenkins8 Regans Ave., Endeavour Hills, Victoria 3802Canada: George E. Temple20 Burbank Dr., Willowdale, Ontario M2K 1M8New Zealand: R. Barry Collins9 Millstream Place, WarkworthUnited Kingdom: Geoffrey J. Wheeler88A Franklin, Tadley, Hampshire RG26 6EUUnited States; Derek Brownleader1847 Stonewood Dr., Baton Rouge, La. 70816Chairman of the Board: Richard M. LangworthPutney House, Contoocook, NH 03229 USACHAPTERSCantula/Nrw Brunswick: Celwyn P. Ball1079 Coverdalc Rd. RR2, MomMon NB EIC 8J6Canada/Toronto: George E. Temple (acting)20 Burbank Dr., Willowdale, Ontario M2K 1M8UK/Central England: Peter Coombs1 Pound Close, Yarnton, Oxon. OX5 1QGUSA/New England: Jon S. Richardson47 Old Farm Road, Bedford, N.H. 03102USA/NY Metro: Paul Biba23 Crcstview Dr.. Bernardsville. N.J. 07924USA/North Texas: David A. Sampson5603 Honey Locust Trail, Arlington, Tex. 76017USA/Tennessee: Donald Johnson4817 Shadycrest Drive, Nashville, Tenn. 37211USA/Washington: Kirby A. Wilbur13411 78th Place N.E., Kirkland, Wash. 98034AFFILIATED REPRESENTATIVESCanada/Vancouver: Norman Faiers, Pres.Sir Winston C. Churchill Society of Vancouver2450 Mathers Ave., W. Vancouver, B.C. $7V 2H8vSPECIAL OFFICERS VGeneral Treasurer: George A. Lewis268 Canterbury Road, Westfield, N.J. 07790 USAPress Officer: Dr. David T. Hill6708 Shorewood Dr., Arlington, Tex. 76016 USA1CS Stores: Sue M. Hefner134 N. Woodlawn, Lima, Ohio 45805 USALegal Advisor: Wallace H. Johnson9905 Devonshire Dr., Omaha, Neb. 68114 USACommemorative Covers: David Marcus221 Pewter Lane, Silver Spring, Md. 20904 USABiblographic Affairs: Ronald I. Cohen5 Murray Ave., Westmount, P.Q. Canada H3Y 2X9How mighty is man, and how bravein the face of the infinite.Listen to him, Lord, as he assures.You how magnificently he will be housed,how astutely' he will conduct himselfhow comfortable he will be as hetravels across Your universe.Note the perfection of his machines,the beauty of his science. Note howcarefully he will be clothed, how efficientlyhis needs will be tended to, howskillfully he will meet Your problems,how shrewdly he has thought of andprovided for every possible threat to hissafety and ease — except the threat of his own nature and all the things Youcan devise to test it.See him as he prepares to challenge You, wired — encapsulated — suited —unsuited — experimenting — communicating — carrying his life on his back in aportable pack — scientifically eating — sleeping — doctoring himself — peeringinto Your hidden places — while he glides in unbelievable machines at unbelievablespeeds over unbelievable distances just beneath the comer of Your eye.Look very quickly and You will see him pass through Your shadow. Perhaps hewill return and perhaps he will not, but he goes equipped with all the precautionsYou have permitted him to achieve in all the millenia of his life upon Earth.Will they be enough?Don't tell him.Let him go.He would not believe You anyway.— Allen Drury, The Throne of Saturn, 1971New Hampshire, January 1986 — Sir Winston Churchill would be unsurprisedto know that within 48 hours of the destruction of the Challengerspace shuttle on January 28th, there were expressions of sorrow and sympathy,not only from London, Ottawa, Canberra and Wellington toWashington, but from people in Britain, Canada and Australia to us here JnNew Hampshire.That they should think particularly of this state is due to the loss ofChrista McAuliffe, our Concord, N.H. schoolteacher, selected from 11,000applicants to be the first teacher in space. But in a wider sense, I think,Britons, Canadians and Australians felt a unanimity with us, a sense ofmutual loss.As the English-Speaking Peoples rejoiced together in the Royal Weddingand Moon Landing, the Coronation and the end of two World Wars, sothey mourned together the Blitz and Pearl Harbor, the deaths of Rooseveltand Kennedy, Churchill and Mountbatten — and of the crew of Challengeron January 28th.The Space Program will go on — as it must. More brave people will fly —for they will insist on it. I hope that some future shuttle mission will bestaffed by an international crew of Australians, Britons, Americans, NewZealanders and Canadians: For the English-Speaking Peoples deserve toshare triumphs, as well as tragedies.- R.M.L.

NORTH TEXAS ORGANIZESDallas, 19 February — The NorthTexas Branch of ICS held its organizationalmeeting today with a luncheon atLoew's Anatole hotel, for visitingHonorary Member The Lady Soames,DBE. Lady Soames was in. Dallas forpresentation of the Winston ChurchillAward to H. Ross Perot the previousevening, in the presence of H.R.H. ThePrince of Wales.The Winston Churchill Foundation,founded 1959, bestowed the third ChurchillAward on Mr. Perot, a computer entrepreneurwho organized a 1979 rescuemission to free two employees in Iran.Presented occasionally, "to people of exceptionalaccomplishment," the Awardhas previously gone to ICS Hon. MemberGovernor W. Averell Harriman andPrime Minister Margaret Thatcher. FromFebruary 18th through March 2nd, theDallas Museum of Art is exhibiting a collectionof Sir Winston's paintings.The ICS North Texas Branch is headedby David Sampson, 5603 Honey LocustTrail, Arlington, Texas 76017. ICS hasabout two dozen members in the Dallasarea; we expect to have over 100 followingDavid's vigorous efforts.VANCOUVER FOR '86 AGMVn'xnuver. R.C. — The beautifullysituated Harbou iide Holiday Inn, 1133West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.,Canada V6E 3T3 has been selected as thesite of the International Churchill Society's1986 Annual General Meeting,Saturday-to-Monday, October 4th-6th1986. The event coincides with Expo '86,which will be running through mid-October, amidst the spectacular autumnscenery of British Columbia. It is our secondCanadian AGM in the last threeyears. (The 1987 AGM is tentativelyscheduled for London, England.)Members should book accomodationsnow, even if their plans are still uncertain.The Holiday Inn can hold only 50rooms,, though total attendance is expectedto be 400. (Many will be local,joint members of ICS and our hosts, theChurchill Society of Vancouver.) Specialrates are as follows (US$ in parentheses):Harbor-view singles $120 (US$87),doubles $135 (US$98); city-view singles$105 (US$76), doubles $120 (US$87).Book by writing the hotel at the addressabove or by telephoning them at (604)689-9211. (Mention ICS.)The program of events will be laid outin detail next issue. Included are two banquetdinners for distinguished guests onSaturday and Monday evenings. The latteris a black-tie event with military bandand appropriate ceremony, typical ofVancouver Society dinners. Meetings,displays and seminars occur during thedays, but Sunday is mostly free to allowtime to visit Expo '86, and Vancouver'smany other attractions.Make your reservations now. You willnot want to miss our largest meeting inhistory in one of North America's mostspectacular cities.ICS-UK RESTORESEVEREST GRAVELondon, 26 November — The LadySoames, DBE, laid a wreath today on therestored grave of Elizabeth Ann Everest,in a touching tribute to her father's nanny.The ICS UK office has recently takenresponsibility for the care andmaintenance of the grave, in the City ofLondon Cemetary, Manor Park.Mrs. Everest was engaged as nanny tothe young Winston in 1875, and stayedwith the family until 1893. She wasnicknamed "Woomany" by WSC and hisbrother Jack, whose affection for herlasted throughout their lives. WSC usedEverest as the model for the housekeeperto the eponymous hero of his novel,Savrola. Her epitaph he took from theautobiography of Edward Gibbon, whohad written of his old nurse, "If there beany who rejoice that I live, to that dearand excellent woman their gratitude isdue."Society members found the Everestgrave in unkempt condition during ourfirst visit to "Churchill's England" in1983. The UK office under GeoffreyWheeler initiated a scheme to re-level theheadstone and provide gardening care in1984. Sir Winston had paid a local floristan annual sum for many years to maintainthe grave.ICS AT NEMON SERVICESLondon, 14 November 1985 - Patrickand Karin Churchill, who hosted our ICSparty at their Oxford home in September,represented the Society at a Service ofThanksgiving for the Life and Works ofOscar Nemon in London today.ARCHIVES CENTRE APPEALCambridge, UK — The Churchill ArchivesCentre is seeking further fundingto enable it to maintain and extend itsresearch services involving the ChurchillEra. In particular, the Centre wishes toimplement its programme of oral history,via taped interviews with people close toSir Winston's life and work. It alsowishes to create a postgraduate researchstudentship in the history of the ChurchillEra, and to inaugurate a programme ofperiodic conferences and seminars linkedto the main themes of Sir Winston's life.All these projects together require a totalcapital sum of $750,000, or about$100,000 per year in regularly donatedincome.The Archives Centre seeks individualswho have a particular personal admirationfor Sir Winston and his achievements,or an interest in conserving thenational heritage. It is intended that thenames of major benefactors should bedisplayed in bronze lettering on the wallof the Exhibition Hall in similar fashionto those of distinguished and generouspeople who funded the original constructionof the Centre. For further informationplease contact Keeper of theArchives Correlli Baniett, ChurchillArchives Centre, Cliurchill College,Cambridge CB3 ODS, England, tel.(0223) 61200.VANCOUVER SOCIETY INFOUNDATION DRIVEVancouver, B.C., 15 October — TreasurerW.F. Ramsey of the Sir Winston S.Churchill Society of Vancouver has sentICS general treasurer George Lewis theSWSC Society's cheque for US $250 astheir donation to help launch the ChurchillLiterary Foundation (described indetail in FHH1; if you do not have thisissue, write the editor for a reprint of theprogram.)ICS is again greatly in debt to our goodfriends in Vancouver, who two years agomade ICS membership "standard" for alltheir members and who in 1986 are actingas the hosts of the ICS Annual GeneralMeeting.The Churchill Literary Foundation hasreceived strong response after our appealin Finest Hour #47', and we plan to producethe limited edition (500 copies) ofWSC's touching short-story, "TheDream" (Woods C527) in a fine binding

this year. "The Dream" will bepresented to all donors of US$250 orthe equivalent, of which $240 is taxdeductibleby U.S citizens. (Our applicationfor tax-free status in Canada is nowgoing forward.)Stage two of the Literary Foundationplan, which aims to raise an initial capitalof US$125,000, is now being planned inconjunction with the Karl Rove directmail consultant firm of Kansas City, Mo.In addition to raising the initial Foundationcapital, we also hope to increase ICSmembership 20-fold, from the presentnear-1000 to 20,000 members.Please write the editor for more information.DINING INSTRUCTIONS FROM WSC"When one wakes up after daylightone should breakfast; five hours afterthat, luncheon. Six hours after luncheon,dinner. Thus one becomes independent ofthe sun, which otherwise meddles toomuch in one's affairs and upsets theroutine of work." (WSC, quoted inRobins Reader #2/1977. We wouldappreciate attribution.)"RED KEN" CASHES INLondon, 8 May 1985 — Ken Livingstone,left-wing leader of the GreaterLondon Council, found a way of cashinginon the ceremonies to commemorate the40th anniversary of V-E Day, when ablue GLC plaque was unveiled at WSC'sformer residence, 28 Hyde Park Gate{FH #48 page 6). Although he was notborn until four weeks after the peace,Livingstone played a prominent role, emphasizingthe importance of the defeat offascism. The Daily Telegraph conjecturedthat the absence of a F[oyalprescence at the unveiling cererrjony(despite generations of Churchills) wasowed to Livingstone's rendering theevent "politically charged." (It didn'tquite turn out as they had feared.)SCRIBBLINGS MAKE =L 500London, December 1985 — Furiousscribblings from WSC, complaining toEvening Standard editor Percy Cudlippthat a photo of himself in the paper in1937 made him look old, were expected"to make =£ 500" at Sotheby's. Churchill,then 63, asked Cudlipp for "a secondchance with a real contemporary picture,instead of joining the general campaignto make me an elder statesman andsend me to the knackers." While understandingthe workings of supply and demand,we can't help regretting that more ofthis high-powered collector money doesn'tgo toward causes like those mentionedearlier in this column."CHURCHILL FELLOW"Canberra, Australia — The ChurchillMemorial Trust of Australia has admirablyupgraded its quarterly newsletter,The Churchill Fellow, which hasbecome a lively 4-6 page compilation ofreports and experiences of ChurchillFellows abroad. Notable are comparisonsof art, science, social work, crime andeducation in Australia and the UnitedStates. The July 1985 issue reported thearrival at Churchill House, C.M.T. headquarters,of a replica of the Ivor Jonesstatue (FH #41 cover) in ParliamentSquare, London. The statue was broughtto Australia by David Jones Pty Ltd. andfeatured at their "Best of Britain" exhibitionin May 1975. Charles Lloyd Jonespresented the statue to the Churchill Trustin 1983. It was stored until recent reconditioningby Don Evans, a specialist whohad retired from the Australian WarMemorial. — Peter Jenkins, director ofthe ICS Australia office, snapped thephotograph of the statue shown herewith.To receive The Churchill Fellow, senda reasonable donation to the WinstonChurchill Memorial Trust, GPO Box478, Canberra, ACT, Australia 2601.Churchill House Statue, CanberraCHURCHILL PUB IN FREEPORTFreeport, Bahamas - Visitors to the InternationalBazaar in Freeport, GrandBahama, may want to toss one down atthe Sir Winston Churchill Pub (telephone352-8866). Specialties (which would notin the least appeal to WSC) include thetriple-rum blockbuster "Bahama Mamma"and its running mate the "Back toBack." The Pub flyer quotes WSC'sfamous dictum, "I have taken more outof alcohol than alcohol has taken out ofme." (We hereby advise that WSC wasnot, in this case, referring to an overdoseof Bahama Mammas.)POUND-SIGNS BESET ARTIFACTLondon, December 1985 — A 1932Daimler 35/120 landaulet limousinemade =£60,500 this month because itsfirst owner was allegedly WSC. (Thiswould appear to be the Daimler presentedto Churchill by wealthy friends after recoveryfrom his New York accident in1931.) Pre-sale estimates of =L35,OOOwere already double the value of ordinary1932 model 35/120s when Churchillianacollectors gathered at the sale, atHonorary Artillery Company headquarters.The Swiss buyer was, as usualat Sotheby sales, not identified.Proof positive that Barnum is onceagain proved right are the phoney baublesinstalled on the car by its seller, who;found the Daimler in dilapidated conditionin a Gloucestershire garage andrestored it. "Over-restored" is the rightword: we will bet our right hands thatWSC never installed a bulldog bonnetmascot, family coat of arms or "cigarcutter" with which the car was equippedwhen sold.DATE WITH HISTORYLondon, 4 December — A direct descendantof every incumbent at 10 DowningStreet since Asquith dined theretonight to celebrate Number 10's 250thanniversary as the Prime Minister's officialresidence. The dinner was attendedby H.M. The Queen, the Prime Minister,previous Prime Ministers and othermembers of the Government. Sir Winstonwas represented by The Lady Soames,D.B.E., who recalled wartime experiences,and the proud moment whengrandchildren saw WSC and Lady Churchilloff in their coronation robes andwatched the procession from windowsoverlooking Whitehall. This was only thethird time The Queen had dined atNumber 10. The other times were theresignation dinners of Sir Winston Churchilland Harold Wilson. Lady Soameswas at her father's dinner in April 1955.

FINEST HOUR'S 50 thSPEAKING AT a birthday party for a magazine I greatly respect — National Review — William F. Buckley, Jr. said that "expressionsof gratitude can be most awfully trying to the ear of an audience, generally captive. But the act of gratitude nowadays is probablymore often neglected than overdone."This is therefore a special issue of Finest Hour, our largest ever, designed as a celebration and an act of gratitude to yourselves,the members of the Society. For the fact that there is any 50th issue for Finest Hour at all is strictly a function of the steadfast andunstinting generosity of Finest Hour's friends.In planning this edition we realized that even at 36 pages net, we could not begin to capture the drama and excitement of 1985— the most successful, as it was the most tremendous, year in I.C.S. history. Much less could we contemplate the regular featuresand special articles in their planned regular rotation, including the editor's "Churchill and the Baltic," already once postponed, thefirst of a series of scholarly essays on new subjects — and the reviews planned of Francis Neilson's and R.W. Thompson's revisionistChurchill books.We must therefore ask your indulgence. The Baltic essay is postponed until Summer (issue #52), since senior editor JohnPlumpton has readied a major scholarly feature on the book Lord Randolph Churchill for Spring. In the Spring issue too, StanleySmith, George Richard and Tom Sherman will cut loose on Messrs. Neilson and Thompson.Still more important, we could not do genuine justice to the memorable address made to us in Boston on 2nd November byUnited States Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger — not to mention the riveting speech by Martin Gilbert on the subjectof "Churchill's England" in London on 17th September. We have accordingly decided, with the Secretary's permission, topublish Mr. Weinberger's speech in a special commemorative booklet. This will appear early this Spring and will be sent ormade available to all members. Martin Gilbert's London address will duly appear in the Spring issue of Finest Hour.One could hardly imagine, upon receiving the first, crudely photocopied number of Finest Hour in 1968, that either journal orSociety would be where they are today. We owe our first debts to the late Dalton Newfield, who became our editor and presidentin 1970, and realized that ICS deserved to be more than a specialized philatelic organization; and to our great and gallant friendthe late Lord Mountbatten of Burma, who so encouraged us by serving as our Patron from 1971 until his death in 1979. Thatvacancy has not yet been filled. Filling it is difficult.Though ICS had to close down in 1975, when Dal retired as editor and no one was found to take his place, it was he who keptits spirit alive. And when in 1981, somewhat more experienced, its first editor said he would be willing to try again, DaltraNewfield revealed a treasury just adequate to pay for the first new issue of FH.That was issue #32. Now it is issue #50. It seems like yesterday. We have lost Dalton Newfield; but I know he would lead theapplause for the many people all over the English-speaking world who have taken his place — "who work and put a lot into it,one way or another," as Lord Soames said, "keeping Winston Churchill's memory green."Never in the course of our history has so much been owed, by us all, to so many. In Australia, Peter Jenkins has held the fortfor five years, with the enthusiastic support of Churchill Trust directors past and present, Roy Morant, OBE and Rear AdmiralRichards; the philatelic expertise of Peter Buchanan; the erudition of FH contributor George Richard. R. Barry Collins of NewZealand recently rescued our bank account there, and contributes judgment to the decisions of our board. Canada has given us somany helpers I could not possibly name them all: John Plumpton and Ron Cohen make this journal what it is; Sterling Sunley,Arthur Cload and Ron Downey cement our relations with the great Western Canada Churchill Societies; George Temple has forfive years presided with ability and strained every nerve to give Canada a share of ICS membership three times the size of hershare of population. In Britain, Geoffrey Wheeler and Peter Coombs, followed by a host of enthusiastic, hard-working, generousand charming people, have spearheaded the most active national arm of the Society. In America, where would we be without themembership records of Derek Brownleader, Sue Hefner's "Stores," George Lewis' book-balancing, Dave Marcus' covers, GlenBrowne's auctions. Wally Johnson's articles, or the activities of our new branches? Where would our Boston convention havebeen, had Jon Richardson not been there to set wheels in motion, or James Humes or Secretary Weinberger not been able to attendt to add dignity and significance to the proceedings?And for what, after all? To relive the past? To indulge in a nostalgia trip? To pine for lost glories? All of these, assuredly. Butthere is more. For above and beyond everything stands our awareness of the man Winston Churchill, the permanence of histhought, all he did, and all he was — human, brilliant, prophetic, funny, optimistic, right and wrong, skilled and clumsy, bombasticand loveable, childish and adult, whose works and ideas and legend continue to inspire us 21 years after his passing.In that time children yet unborn when Winston Churchill died have become men and women. Some of them are among ourmembers today. They and we have come to realize that largely because of Winston Churchill, we have lived as free people in freeand sovereign lands — that by applying his thought, more relevant than ever, to today's problems, we may hope to survive thedark shadows, and to emerge into what he called "the broad, sunlit uplands of assured peace." Concerning Winston Churchill,what motivates us most of all is hope. — Richard M. Langworth

-198 5CHURCHILL'S ENGLANDAbove: Our coach party at Blenheim Palace, and an informal business meeting at Yarnton Manor the same day. Below: Arthur Simon,Barbara Langworth at Hoe Farm; Bladon memorial service with Rev. Gregory Page-Turner; Martin Gilbert speaking at the Waldorf.DESPITE an unprecedented 11 cancellationsout of an initial complement of 36people, and a 40 percent increase in thepound versus the dollar over six months(which did not affect our price), our partyof American and Canadian memberstraveled for the second time to "Churchill'sEngland" on September 16-26th.Here they met a host of British members(and Ron Golding from his Costa del Solretreat in Spain), on a memorable visit topeople and places related to the ChurchillSaga.We gathered at the Waldorf Hotel inLondon, nicely located for theatre-going,for a midday buffet on Monday the 16th.Thanks to Winston S. Churchill, MP, wewere allowed to visit the Houses ofParliament the following morning, and inthe afternoon we had a custom tour of theunderground Cabinet War Rooms. Officialbiographer Martin Gilbert, our keynotespeaker that eveningg at the Waldorf,gave a splended talk on places in Londonwhich played a vital role in Sir Winston'sexperiences.Wednesday the 18th was a special daycomprising visits to both Churchill countryhomes: Chartwell (1924-1965) andLullenden (1918-1922). Former Chartwellsecretaries Doreen Pugh and GraceHamblin treated us to an expertly guidedtour of the former. Mr. and Mrs.Wellesley-Wesley cordially hosted us atbeautiful Lullenden, not far away, after asumptuous lunch at the King's Arms inWesterham (which we recommend, butonly if you are ravenous.)Departing London the 19th, we stoppedFirst at Hoe Farm near Godalming, Surrey,where we were hosted again by thealways-gracious Arthur Simon, his familyand friends. After a superb lunch plannedfor us by Arthur at a mill house-turnedcontinued

estaurant, we traveled to Bath via themysterious Avebury Stone Circle. Here aguide demonstrated what he had onlyrecently learned—that the circle has apowerful effect on divining rods. We arrivedlate that afternoon in beautiful Bath,where our headquarters was the FrancisHotel. Here we book-hunted, had a guidedtour, and visited the American Museumat Claverton Manor, where WSC madehis first public speech.On Saturday 21st September we left fora tour through the Cotswolds to Warwick,and visited Warwick Castle, theMontgomery Regimental Museum andDoll Museum, before arriving at the fineold coaching inn of Whatley Hall in Banbury.On Sunday we were welcomed to aprivate tour of Blenheim Palace, includingthe muniment room (where Churchillresearched his life of Marlborough)and the Spencer-Churchill ConferenceRoom as well as the Palace proper and itsfamous Churchill exhibit. Peter Coombshad arranged lunch at Yarnton Manor,where the crypt of the Spencer Family islodged, and an informal ICS members'meeting occurred here. The afternoonwas occupied by a graveside memorialservice for Sir Winston Churchill andOscar Nemon at Bladon Churchyard,conducted by the Rev. Gregory Page-Turner, Rector of Bladon.Another banquet-highlight occurredSunday evening, when the Society hostedMr. and Mrs. Winston S. Churchill at"The Bear," WSC's favored wateringplacein Woodstock. Mr. Churchill'sgracious speech was responded to by RoyFaiers, editor of This England magazine.Mrs. Oscar Nemon had kindly invitedus to visit the late Oscar Nemon's studio,always a thrilling experience, wheremany fine Churchill works were displayedMonday morning. Mrs. Nemonand her son Falcon were on hand to greetus, and morning coffee was kindly laidon. Later, we were the guests of Karin/4i>ove; George Temple, Robin Steussy (right)at Chartwell's front door. Below: Our visit,timed to precede the public, was met by GraceHamblin, ever ready to share her memories ofover 40 years with the Churchills.Above: Michael Wybrow of Bramley, Surrey,not to be denied, demonstrated that WSC's"gorilla tree" at Hoe Farm still works.Below: John and Sterling Sunley visit WSC'sstudy on first floor of Chartwell.Above: Ronald Golding joined us from Spain;ship's beams at Hoe Farm were impressive.Below: Wybrow the Irrepressible proposes(again) to Anna, at (again) the Temple ofDiana, where WSC proposed to CSC, 1908.

and Peter Churchill at their nearby lodgehouse and adjacent studio. Karin showedus her sculpture of WSC in garter robes,and several orders for this magnificentwork were placed on the spot. We lunchedin Oxford, and later visited the GeorgeWashington ancestral home of SulgraveManor, Northamptonshire.On Tuesday September 24th we leftBanbury for Churchill College, whereKeeper Correlli Barnett and his staff gaveus a wonderfully thorough tour of theChurchill Archives Centre and the Collegeitself. Returning to London and theStrand Palace hotel, we finally preparedfor the crowning event: dinner at theThe work of preservation is never-ending atthe Archives, Churchill College Cambridge.Savoy, with honored guests Lord andLady Soames, Anthony and Mrs. MontagueBrowne.It was a wonderful 10 days from start tofinish, replete with all the amenities SirWinston would have enjoyed, from "PetiteMarmite Churchill" to Pol Roger champagne,accompanied by a select and charmingcompany: the British, American andCanadian members of ICS.We're doing it all again — in Londonand Scotland — during September 1987.Lady Soames tells us that there are manyScottish sights related to Sir Winston —far more than one imagines —* and we arealready looking forward to it.Lullenden, the Churchills' home 1918-22, wasat its loveliest. Mr. and Mrs. Wellesley-Wesley were our kind hosts.Arthur Simon and his friends laid on a sumptuousmorning coffee at Hoe Farm. As usual,"the garden gleamed with summer jewelry."Tim Terry, Jim and Shirley Ann Hurjiy dinein the dark at candle-lit Medieval banquet,Coombe Abbey, Binley, Warks., 21st.Winston S. Churchill, MP, gave a fine speechat our dinner for him and Mrs. Churchill atThe Bear Hotel, Woodstock, on the 22n$.Mr. Churchill signed numerous autographsand a couple of books at The Bear after dinner.ICS filled the entire ground floor.Our dear friend Grace Hamblin, first curatorof Chartwell, flanked by Peter Coombs of ICSUK and the editor, "somewhere in Kent."Bill Beatty, Rochester, N.Y. is served a cuppaby Patricia Nemon on our memorable visit tothe Oscar Nemon studio, Oxford, 23rd.Treasurer George Lewis (N.J.) thanks CorrelliBarnett for a superb tour of the ChurchillArchives and Churchill College Cambridge.Arthur Simon leads Barbara Langworth up thegarden path, Hoe Farm. Arthur's many kindnesseson two visits now will never be forgotten.

THEPARTY "SAVOYRICHARD M. LANGWORTHLord and Lady Soames. Mr. and Mrs. Montague Browne.Ladies and gentlemen. We are all familiar with Sir WinstonChurchill's account of the evening of the Tenth of May 1940."At 6PM, " he wrote, "I was summoned to the Palace . . . His Majestyreceived me most graciously, and bade me sit down. He looked at me searchingly,and quizzically, for some moments. Finally he said, 7 suppose youdon't know why I have sent for you. ' Adopting his mood I replied, 'Sir, Isimply couldn 't imagine why.' "Without any attempt at comparison to that august occasion, 1 might saywith an equal amount of tongue in cheek to Lady Soames, ' 7 suppose youdon't know why 1 have asked you to join us. " Because, of course, she isalways most welcome at our affairs, and her presence honors us far morethan we do by the invitation.I knew, however, that Lady Soames was the ideal person to introduceour Guest of Honor. She has known him since 1952. And, as Sir Winston's daughter, she witnessed firsthand the warm relationshipthat grew up between them.She is, furthermore, an accomplished chronicler of what she calls "The Saga. " Her books, Clementine Churchill and FamilyAlbum, together comprise the standard biography of her mother, and the most outstanding photo-documentary of Winston Churchill,his family, and his life and times.Likewise she has long been a very good and close friend of this Society. Her enthusiasm for what we are trying to do is boundless.Her encouragement helps manifestly to keep us at it. She has many great accomplishments in her own right. Yet tonight, in this specialcompany, she comes most of all as a friend."Thus then on the night of the Tenth of May, " Sir Winston continued, "I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. " 1 too experiencea profound sense of relief, in having such a longtime friend of our Guest of Honor to introduce him to you tonight; even as Iam deeply honored to present Lady Soames to you now.LADY SOAMESI think that Christopher is going to saya proper thank-you for having us at theend — aren't you, darling? This is justmy way of saying what a joy it is to bewith you all again. I do appreciate somuch being asked to your lovely parties,and being kept, mostly very well, intouch with everything going on in the InternationalChurchill Society.All of us in the family find this profoundlymoving: that there is such aSociety, which exists to keep my father'smemory green, and may I also say, accurate.But now for my main task, which is to introduceyou to your speaker this evening.I am longing to hear what he is going tosay myself. Because I don't think, dearAnthony, I have ever heard you speak inpublic — though always and often, I'mhappy to say, in private!I met Anthony for the first time in 1952when he joined my father's private office.He'd already had a gallant and distinguishedcareer. He'd been a pilot offighter bombers, and had been decoratedwith the DFC. All these things naturallycommended him to my father, who admiredand liked clever, brave young men.But I don't think that when Anthonyjoined the private office he realised thatthis — nor indeed did any of us — was thebeginning of a very long relationship.That lovely prayer of Sir Walter Raleigh's,that speaks of true glory being not thestarting out of something but the finishingof it, is appropriate. Anthony served withmy father in his private office and becamealso a great friend of the family.I don't know how long it took forAnthony to love and to like us. I mean, Ihope he did, really — I don't supposehe'd tell you if he didn't! It took me only10five minutes to like him, but for the firstfive minutes I was puzzled by the purelydreadful jokes he told! Not improper,mind you —just really shocking, Edwardianpuns. I used to think: "He's young,he'll get over this." But no. As the yearswent by, whenever we met, out againwould come the puns. I hope he has somereally good ones for tonight . . .But now, having been joking andfrivolous, I come to what I really want tosay. And it is a wonderful, God-given opportunityfor me to express in public,with all of you who cherish my father'smemory, the enormous debt my father,my mother, and all of us who loved myparents owed, and still owe, to Anthony.When my father resigned in 1955 hewas sad and reluctant to go, let's make nobones about it. He went into private life,but in a funny way, you see, it wasn'tprivate. He was a public institution, a

world hero. The Foreign Office — andwe must give them some credit for this —allowed Anthony to continue being withPapa. It was very, very noble of Anthonyto allow this interruption in what wouldhave undoubtedly been a brilliant diplomaticcareer. But he chose to continuewith Father.And from 1955 until my father drewhis last breath, Anthony was practicallynever absent from his side. What wasprivate life like for my father when heretired? The whole world trod to 28 HydePark Gate. When we went abroad it wasto call upon kings and presidents andprime ministers, to address greatassemblies. The mail poured in. Myfather's business affairs, and his privatelife, Anthony really masterminded andmanaged, advised and helped. Hisknowledge, his professional know-how,his devotion to my father was one of themajor factors in the last ten years of myfather's life. I am glad to be able to go onrecord and say this, because I wonderhow many people know exactly howmuch Anthony meant to my father, mymother, and to all of us.And one more thing. At first, all right,perhaps you could say it was a plurn^ of ajob. People might have thought v theywould have liked to be in Anthony'sshoes. But the day came when my father,although much beloved and venerable,was past his wonderful prime, wasdeclining in energy and ability. He stillwanted to take his part in affairs, but heneeded help. He needed a wise friend,and a knowledgeable one, who wouldguard his reputation — who would guardevery.step he took. And long after it wasreally fun to serve my father, Anthony remainedto bear the burden of the day, tobe his friend and support throughout hissadder, declining years.They were not, necessarily, unhappyyears. Everybody who lives a long timedeclines, and a beautiful evening is awonderful thing. But of course, it wassad, the last two years, and it cannot havebeen fun, or particularly interesting actually,for a bright, bubbly young manwith a future.I am glad to have the opportunity to saythis; to say from the family, and for allwho revere my father's memory, that weall owe a great debt to Anthony MontagueBrowne. My parents both knew it, and 1really think, Anthony dear, that we in thefamily knew it. I want everybody else toknow it.And now I know we're going to, have alovely speech, and perhaps some reallybad puns from Anthony.ANTHONYMONTAGUE BROWNEMy very kind hosts. Mary and Christopher.Ladies and gentlemen. I won't startoff with a pun. I was truly moved by whatMary said. It was, and I'm not exaggerating,more than I deserved. Certainlythe rewards of those 13 years were worthmore than the little dust that there was.You expressed yourself very movingly,and I am deeply grateful to you, as for theprivilege I had of that association at thattime. I don't think that I would have enjoyedit more, whatever the period ofyour father's great life it had been. I ammoved by your words. I will say no moreabout that.11Speaking now between Mary andChristopher, I feel rather like a priest in asmall Italian village, getting up to make asermon and finding not one but two popessitting there.But since you insist on a pun, I willgive you a pun. It is about not makingpuns. The jester of a medieval sovereigninsisted on making puns and the sovereignfinally said, "I've had quite enoughof your terrible puns! One more and I willhang you." The jester did make one, andthe sovereign duly sent him to the gallows.But at the last moment he repented,and thought he'd been a bit hard as hequite liked the jester. So he sent agalloper to reach him at the foot of thegallows, who told him, "If you promisenever to make another pun, you will bespared." And the jester sighed and said,"No noose is good news."I am very much honoured by your invitation.The International ChurchillSociety has achieved an astonishingrecord for its comparatively short span oflife since it was reorganized and restartedin 1981. To maintain and restore WinstonChurchill's many written works, which isone of the objects of the ChurchillLiterary Foundation, is a true historical"service, and a very unusual thing to do.People have tried to do it for commercialreasons, but to keep it going on its ownworth is something that the future will bevery grateful for. Whether you're a"phile" or a "phobe," you'll be grateful.I won't say much about the Other Club,which has met here since it was foundedby Winston Churchill in 1911. I thinkyou've fixed the scene of this dinner veryimaginatively." Christopher, who hasbeen a member much longer than me,will speak about it. But let me say this: Atthe dtfier Club there are no speeches.You here tonight have no such luck!JVJLost great figures go through a periodof eclipse after their death, which may ormay not be permanent. Winston Churchill,who in his life conformed to no pattern,continues his own tradition. Herewe have your activities as an admirableexample. There are quite a number ofcommemorative organisations establishedduring his lifetime. Churchill College wasfounded at Cambridge with its emphasison technology; it now has a most distinguishedscientific record and numerousNobel Prize winners. The Winston ChurchillMemorial Trust in this country has,

William ManchesterDAY BY DAYWITH WINSTON CHURCHILLTHE FRINGES OF POWER: 10 DOWNINGSTREET DIARIES 1939-1955, by Sir JohnColville, 796 pages, $25. Available to ICSmembers from Churchillbooks, Burrage Rd.,Contoocook, NH 03229 USA for $21 postpaid (USA) or $22 (outside USA).At the height of the Battle of Cophenhagen,Lord Nelson, who had lost his right eye in anearlier action, received a signal from a timidBritish admiral ordering him to disengage. Heignored it, telling his officers: "I have onlyone eye — I have a right to be blind sometimes."Because he went on to forge a magnificentvictory, "showing Nelson's eye" hasbecome synonymous with splendid insubordination,though seldom more engrossinglythan in these diaries of Sir John Colvilie.World War II was barely a month old onOctober 3, 1939, when "Jock" Colville, thena 24-year-old civil servant in the ForeignOffice, was appointed private secretary to theprime minister at No. 10 Downing Street.Neville Chamberlain was in residence at thetime, but seven months later the House ofCommons, wrenching power from Chamberlam,turned to Winston Churchill, and thisbook — over 81 percent of it — is largelyChurchill's story. Except for brief periods (includingD-Day) when Jock braved the P.M.'swrath and flew as an RAF fighter pilot, he wasalmost constantly at Winston's side.Written with precision and clarity, TheFringes cf Power is a treasure for scholars and,for the general reader, a compelling narrative.A wartime rule forbade the keeping of writtenpersonal records, but Colville was a compulsivediarist. So he kept the accumulatingvolumes of his diary in a safe place at No. 10.Their eventual length is unrevealed to us; thisis an abridged version of the original, nowunder seal at Churchill College, Cambridge.But they must be vast. Of February 9, 1941,he writes: "At this stage of the proceedings Idecided to leave the three fat volumes of mydiary locked up ... because its indiscretionswere considerable." But he had scarcely turnedthe key before he started a small pocket diarywhich grew and swelled and multiplied.He had been warned that this was "dangerous."When the P.M. circulated a memorandumabout preserving the secrecy ofdocuments, Colville noted that it suddenlymade him "feel rather conscience-strickenTHE ^FRINGESOF POWEDOWNINGSTREETDIARIES1939 1955John Colvilleabout this diary. I haven't the heart to destroyit and shall compromise by keeping it lockedup here, even more strictly than hitherto." Wecan only be grateful for his audacity. Thewages of his sin are, for us, a priceless legacy,particularly his day-by-day account ofWinston's activities during the year afterDunkirk, when he and his countrymen, armedonly with righteousness and wrath, held theirisland free from Hitler's bloody grasp.If the book has a flaw, it lies in the title. Thediarist was no fringe spectator. He was in thecockpit of action, a trustee of delicate confidences,and as time wore on he became aman of sound judgment whose suggestionswere weighed and often adopted. One explanationfor his rise lies in Jock's intellect. AtTrinity College, Cambridge he had beenawarded first-class honors in history, and hissubsequent performance in the Middle East asa junior diplomat had been brilliant. He founddiversion in Milton, Keats, Shelley, Byron,Lord Chesterfield, and Lord Rosebery'sessays and like Churchill he enjoyed Trollope.(Neither qualified as an astute critic of seriousfilms, however. Orson Welles' Citizen Kane,now regarded as the most innovative andperhaps the greatest motion picture of all time,seemed "deplorable" to Jock, and Winstonwalked out on it.)But there was another reason for hisemergence. In the 1930s the privileged classstill dominated His Majesty's Governments; ofthe 29 men who dominated policy, 23 wereproducts of elite "public" (boarding) schools— 17 of them Etonians — and all but sevenwere Oxbridge men. Jock met every patricianstandard. He was a Harrovian, the cousin of aviscount; he opened each sunlit morning with abrisk gallop through Richmond Park andlunched at the Travellers, White's or the Turf;his grandfather had been a friend ofChurchill's father; he was a frequent guest ofQueen Mary, whose close friend and lady-inwaitingwas Jock's mother.For any diarist who hopes that his work willlive, discretion lights the way to dusty death.Like Boswell, Jock never hesitated to set downrumors, gossip, his own prejudices, and hisjudgments of others, which he later foundunreliable. He described Harold Macmillan as"finicky and probably a little insincere."Duncan Sandys was "an opportunist." Thisvolume is dedicated to Lady Soames,Winston's daughter Mary, but when he firstmet her she struck him as "rather supercilious."Of Mary's mother, the formidableClementine, he noted: "We talked a good dealof politics, about which her views are as illjudgedas they are decisive," and after anotherencounter with her he wrote: "Mrs. Churchillwas abusive. She seemed to expect me to makethe arrangements for a visit to Glasgow onMonday ..." Jock was busy and objected to"acting as Mrs. C-'s secretary"; therefore hepassed her instructions on to Grace Hamblin,Clementine's secretary. Clemmie was"furious," he wrote in that day's diary entry,"and said I gave myself airs, etc., etc. . . .Mrs. C. considers it one of her missions in lifeto put people in their place and prides herselfon being outspoken."Colville had been an enthusiastic supporterof appeasement (later Churchill would taunthim as a "Munichist") and even after the outbreakof war he had deplored a governmentwhite paper on German concentration camps,WILLIAM MANCHESTER is Adjunct Professorof History and Writer-in-Residence atWesleyan University, Connecticut, and authorof 14 books including Last Lion, his twovolumeChurchill biography, Volume II ofwhich is now in preparation. Our Pride in hismembership is exceeded only by that which wetake in publishing his review herein.Copyright © William Manchester 198522

1 should not like to mislead you intobelieving he was a vegetarian, or even ateetotaler. "When I was a youngsubaltern in the South African War," hesaid, "the water was not fit to drink. Tomake it palatable we had to add whiskey.By diligent effort I learned to like it."And . . . "I neither want brandy nor needit, but I should think it pretty hazardous tointerfere with the ineradicable habit of alifetime." And . . . "All I can say is thatI have taken more out of alcohol thanalcohol has taken out of me." And . . ."You can't make a speech on ice water.Who am I to contradict?"On top of what he did say there are anenormous number of quotations attributedto him that he never made. Agreat figure seems to attract quotationslike a magnet to iron filings. One of thecelebrated misquotes was about theBritish Navy. The subject came up and hementioned naval tradition. I said he hadnot always held naval tradition in highregard, and quoted his alleged view:"Rum, lice, sodomy and the lash — thoseare the traditions of the British Navy,"He liked it very much, but he had neverheard it before.A quotation that leaps immediately tomy mind was an unpublished one he oftenused when a speech was in preparation:"This speech is hanging over me like avulture." He also said, "I'm going tomake a long speech because I've not hadthe time to prepare a short one."But it's a common error to suppose thatbrilliance of oratory and facility aresynonomous. Winston Churchill'sspeeches were the result of very hardwork, over a long period. As the day of amajor oration drew near, the principal actorsuffered severely from first nightnerves, and went to the occasion pale andirritable. It is not hard to see why:"Winston Churchill makes a greatspeech" is hardly news; but "WinstonChurchill bores and loses his audience"would almost be a world headline.I have been reflecting on one or two ofhis famous speeches and their historicaleffects. I am not going to refer to what hesaid in wartime because it was perfectlyclear that his object was to rouse and rallythe nation. Later on he was so totally concentratedon winning the war that subsequentevents faded into relative insignificancein his mind.You may very well know the story ofhis observation when Hitler attackedRussia: "If Hitler invaded Hell, I wouldat least make a favourable reference tothe devil in the House of Commons."What is striking is that some of thesemost remarkable speeches were so illreceivedat the time, when they now appearso obviously true. This does not applyjust to his disregarded warnings about therise of Nazi Germany. The subject is, Ithink, worth examining. There are lessonsto be learned from it. We all think of thecelebrated Iron Curtain address, in theUnited States in 1946, as rallying theWest. But at the time he was disavowedby the State Department, and his hotel inNew York was surrounded by hostilepickets. The reaction in Britain was evenmore extreme, in some fairly obviousquarters.13Looking back on this incident, it is hardto understand the reaction. Reading thespeech now, after 40 years, it seems a statementof simple fact, a sober warning ofan obvious and terrible danger, couchedin language that is moderate through loftyfelicity, and remarkably free from therancour and profound distaste that mostjustifiably could have been aroused byour Russian ally's conduct.Remember, it was only a few yearsprevious that the Russians had concludedthat hangman's pact with Nazi Germany,closely followed by their cynical attackon Poland, and then on Finland, and thegobbling up of the Baltic States. Thenthere was the German U-boat base onRussian soil near Murmansk, that didn'tget much publicity. Molotov had sent atelegram of congratulations to von Ribbentropwhen the Germans captured Parisin 1940. The Soviet press gloated overevery British defeat — and there wereplenty to gloat over. Then at last the cannibalsfell out — after Stalin had angrilyrejected British warnings of the forthcomingGerman onslaught. It now seemsquite astonishing that the Left Wing canso easily rewrite history, and representwartime Russia as nobly sustaining thefight to save us in the 1 East.Who then were those who were so incensedby the Iron Curtain speech? Therewere among them the professional agentsof Communism; but there were also thesmug professional liberals, with theirpocketbooks full of elevated moralplatitudes. There were the self-advertisingbigots in the entertainment world, whoseblank ignorance of public affairs wasmatched only by their steely determinationto extract personal publicity fromthem. It is not hard to find their faithfuldescendants today. Their continuation isat once a tribute to our tolerance, and toour capacity for forgetting folly and injury;and also a puzzlement, for theyseem to have survived on a standard ofjudgment and a knowledge of public affairsthat would not see a domestic rabbitsafely through a day in its hutch.Beyond this is something far lesspredictable and far more important: massinertia, and distaste for being roused yetagain to confront a new threat, coming soswiftly on the heels of the old. The warwas barely over and the repeatedadrenalin of patriotic exhortation hadwearied so many minds. It was the sameresentment against the deliverer of this

new warning and summons to action thatan exhausted man feels against one whowakes him up from the briefest, wellearnedsleep. Worst of all, the warningwas palpably justified and undeniablyurgent. So much for a sad historicaldiversion.studying Churchill is rather like lookingat one of his paintings. You need to bea certain distance away to appreciate thesweep of his life, and the qualities that illuminatedit. High among these I putprescience and prophecy. Violet BonhamCarter, the daughter of Prime MinisterHerbert Asquith, who had known Churchillnearly all her life, said, "Demonsseem to whisper things to him."I believe he was very conscious of this.Of course, the quality did not arise fromanything supernatural, but from a deepstudy of history, and an extreme sensitivityto the winds and crosscurrents ofworld situations. I think that towards theend of his life this prophetic power wasan unhappiness to him. He saw all tooclearly what was happening to the civilisedworld, and to the stern values that standout so clearly in his life's work. He had aformidable memory and a great liking forpoetry, and he used to quote this sadverse of Houseman's: "Moral folly doneand said, and the lovely way that led, to'he slime pit and the mire, and theeverlasting fire."In his last years I was frequently alonewith him, and his melancholy was painfullyvisible. I tried to rally him. I spokeof the extraordinary life he had enjoyed,culminating in the fact that at the end,with all he had said and done, he wasalmost universally popular and admired.When he went to make the CharlemagnePrize speech in Germany in 1956, as hedrove through the streets -of Aachen andBonn he was cheered. It astonished him.After all, it was not very long after theend of the war. I referred to his NobelPrize for Literature, the vast scope of hisactivities. How, I concluded, could he beso downcast, when he had achieved somuch?I noted his reply verbatim, and again hesaid the same thing, similar on other occasions:"Yes, I worked very hard all mylife, and I have achieved a great deal — inthe end to achieve nothing."Now this of course is only a small partof the truth. But it is worth considering.What went wrong? Could things havebeen different? And could Churchill havemade them different? I think the answermust be "yes — but with greatdifficulty."X would like here to quote from a letterwhich our host Richard Langworth wroteto me, which I think makes a most importantpoint. "A member of the Society haswritten to me thus: 'WSC was ananachronism when he died, and he knewit, and that is one reason why he tired ofthis earth.' Personally, I don't presumeto make such judgments, having mainlyonly Lord Moran to go by. [And may Iinterject I think that is a stumbling blockto history.] But I believe from what I'veread that Sir Winston's depression in oldage had nothing to do with feeling himselfan anachronism. I think instead that twothings really depressed him. The first wasthe realization, probably as early asTeheran, that he had eliminated onemonster only to create another, and aworse one. The second was the continuedinability of the English-Speaking Peoplesto forge the working relationship onwhich he placed so much hope. Suez isthe obvious first example, but perhaps hehad been aware of this failure earlier."I think that is a very incisive view. I doindeed believe that the lack of truecooperation between the three greatpowers had been a terrible and increasingdisappointment to him, going back as faras Teheran and Yalta. I was not with himat that time, but this is certainly the impressionhe gave me in his later years.I do not think in his heart of hearts thathe ever expected anything very differentfrom the Soviet Union, though he hadhopes — dismally unfulfilled — of achange of heart after victory. But theeuphoria of the early relationship withPresident Roosevelt during the first yearsof the war was gradually to die away, asthe American administration believed thatit could do business with "Uncle Joe."Some business.1 he so-called "special relationship"with the United States was largely ofBritish making, and something of an illusioneven from the very start. It was notfor nothing that Winston Churchill calledthe last volume of his war memoirsTriumph and Tragedy.Then at home, Winston Churchill'sposition in his second administration haddiminished substantially from the waryears. Much of this was utterly inevitable.A peacetime administration is very differentfrom that of a wartime coalition,and age had unquestionably taken its toll.But there were other factors. Churchillonce ironically said to me that he enviedStalin. I was rather taken aback at thissuggestion. He went on to explain thatStalin had grasped the essential that politicalpower lay in controlling the partymachine. Stalin had been general secretaryof the Communist Party, like allother Russian leaders, but he. WinstonChurchill, had never been popular withthe top brass of the Conservative Party,and never had very much to do with it.Part of the reasons for this are personal,part historical. Of course he hadtwice crossed the floor. As he himselfremarked, "Anyone can rat — it takes acertain amount of ingenuity to re-rat."But when he came to office in 1940, hewas looked upon by many as a dangerousmaverick. One of the junior members inMr. Chamberlain's Government, whowas later to achieve great prominence inthis country, but in my view no truefame, said, "This is a black day inEngland's history . . . We've been giveninto the hands of a drunken adventurerwith all the worst characteristics ofCharles James Fox [the 18th centurypolitical rake]." Yet the same ministersix weeks later publicly and to his facecompared him with Pitt, who led thiscountry against Napoleon. (I alwayswondered what it was that he reallybelieved.)Anyway, the central party machine,I do not think really liked WinstonChurchill — either in or out of office.This is a sweeping statement, and I'm interpretingwhat I know of his sentimentsvery broadly. I can easily be shot down;certainly most party workers held him indeep affection, indeed reverence. Nevertheless,I think it was partly due to hisseparation from the party machine thatthings went wrong/ This separation wasto some extent deliberate. Having been acoalition Prime Minister, he was after allabove the party.Harold Macmillan said that at heartChurchill cared little about parties assuch. And I think he was supremely consciousthat it would be wrong anddegrading to use his own enormousprestige for any narrow party purpose.14

Another quote of Churchill's: "I havenoticed that whenever a distinguishedpolitician declares that a particular questionis above party, he really means thateverybody should vote for him."However, you can't be above party and atthe same time control it, or its patronage,or its influence on the choice of candidates,or even of party leaders.In any case, a degree of separation wasreality, and the consequences were unfortunate.For just as among the Left here,the friends of Russia contrived with areasonable amount of success to controltheir parties' activities. The conservativecase was diluted by what I used to call the"marshmallows," because they weresoft, sugary, synthetic and pink.I am a trifle prejudiced. But I do feelthat the harm they did was considerable.One sees its reflections to this day, insuch straightforward matters as nationaldefence, law and order, the protection ofour unfortunate, beleagured citizens inUlster. The harsh truth about theseFigures is that in their apparentlyreasonable approach to our problems theywere pusilanimous, parochial and petty.Massaging their egos, they were deliberatelyclosing their eyes to our vertiginousdecline, and they sought to instill,in Parliament and in power, those intheir own image. If this sounds rathercorny I make no apology. As Churchillsaid, "the use of recrimination is as aguide to the future."But recrimination was a very small partof Winston Churchill's approach. He wasonce described as "the youngest man inEurope," and that was when he was indeep middle age. I think it was one of themost interesting aspects of his character.He was, perhaps, more buoyant in nationaladversity than at any other fime.Perhaps he was happiest when addressinghimself to our national defence. I alwaysthought that his very early speeches, inwhich he followed his father's theme ofreduction in military expenditure, werethe most atypical. Not because he was inany sense a warmonger, but because asan historian he was well aware that this isa wicked world. We are not universallyloved, and many doubtful characters havevery sharp teeth.Moralists may find it a melancholythought that peace can find no noblerfoundation than mutual terror. As longago as 1930, he offered this advice: "Wehave never been likely to get into troubleby having an extra thousand or two of upto-dateaeroplanes at our disposal." Asthe man whose mother-in-law died inBrazil cried, when asked how the remainsshould be disposed of: "Embalm,cremate and bury — take no chances!"I wonder if it is possible to draw on theexample offered to us by Winston Churchill'swords and actions for our presentdistresses. Well, of course, conditionsare very different. The world, and Britain'sposition in it, have changed beyondSir Winston Churchill's saddest imaginings— and he was no mean prophet..[Nevertheless, there is one thing we canbe quite clear about: He would not haveadvised us to give up. It may be said — inmy case with the pessimism of deep middleage — that some of the qualities illuminatedin Winston Churchill's life are indanger of fading from our national lives.Among these I would put fraternity.We all know the French Republic'sslogan, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."People are very keen on Liberty andEquality. But Winston Churchill likedFraternity, because the other two sprangfrom it. I suppose the visible threat of warmakes Fraternity an obvious necessaryquality. We could do with it now.Winston Churchill also noticed the advantageof stating an obvious theme. InMay 1927, he said, "I was always verymuch struck by the advantage enjoyed bypeople who lived in an earlier period thanone's own. They had the first opportunityof saying the right thing — over and overagain."But this does not make fraternity anyless admirable or desirable — because itis hard to achieve what has been considereda virtue by our ancestors. Churchillsaid an awful lot about it, and particularlyits application to the Engiishspeakingworld — what I suppose now iscalled or styled the old Commonwealthand the United States. I came across apassage from a speech made during thedark days of the war which seemed tosum up his views. It actually referred toCanada, but the wider application isperfectly clear:"Canada is the lynchpin of the Englishspeakingworld. Canada, with those relationsof friendly, affectionate intimacywith the United States on the one hand,and unswerving fidelity to the British15Commonwealth and the Motherland onthe other, is the link which joins togetherthese great branches of the human family— a link which, spanning the oceans,brings the continents into their true relation,and will prevent in future generartions any threat of division between theproud and happy nations of Europe, andthe great countries which have come intoexistence in the New World."Well, many of those high aspirationshave been dashed. But I do think theyunderline his buoyant outlook, and hislove for the English-speaking family. Ifervently hope that it does not representsolely a spirit of the past.I don't think Winston Churchill himselfwould have felt he was out of time. Hemight have had a few ideas to present tous today. When he was reminded by asolemn friend of the evanescence of ourlives, of our hopes and our plans and ofour mortality, he replied: "Yes, we areall of us worms. But I do believe that I ama glow-worm."Thank you very much.CHAIRMANAs Mr. Montague Browne says, we arefortunate tonight to be sandwiched foreand aft by Soames. To respond to hisremarks, we are deeply grateful to behonored by Lord Soames" presencetonight.To describe his distinguished careerwould take up much more time than I'veallowed myself. But I should like to notethat he met Lady Soames in Paris at theBritish Embassy, where he was assistantmilitary attache in 1946 and on until1947. He was a Member of Parliamentfor Bedford in 1950-66. His many postshave included Secretary of State for War,Her Majesty's Ambassador to France,Vice-President of the European EconomicCommunity and Governor of SouthernRhodesia. He has also been LordPresident of the Council and Leader of theHouse of Lords. Ladies and gentlemen,I am honored to present The RightHonorable The Lord Soames.

THE RT. HON. THELORD SOAMESMr. Langworth. Ladies and Gentlemen.Thank you so much, Mr. Langworth,for those kind words. Some of it seems tohave happened so long ago that I hardlyrecognise myself!I have a simple duty this evening. It isto thank Anthony for the treat that he hasgiven us all tonight. And Anthony, wewill never bother you about puns again,because you brought back so manymemories to us, who lived through someof those sayings, and also related manythat were new. You certainly chose themin such a way as to illuminate the manWinston Churchill, and to give us, Ithought, a frightfully good word-picturein many ways of the humanity of the man.But more of that anon.I know it is my duty tonight to get onwith it. I was in New York about a monthago, at an after-dinner speech by a manwho made the error of taking as his textthe word "Yale," because he'd beenthere. He said, "Y stands for youth,"and he gave us ten minutes on youth; and"A is for ambition, L, for leadership, Efor enterprise."' I assure you that Iengraved it upon my heart. As he wasgetting well into enterprise (for we hadhad ten minutes on each), there was avoice from the back of this enormousroom at the Pierre Hotel which said, tooloud to be sot to voce, "Thank God hedidn't go to the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology."ioon after Winston returned from theBoer War he went up to Liverpool, verymuch in the thick of things — an aspiringpolitician, he went to address an enormousgathering at the Corn Exchange. Hestayed with the Lord Derby of the day,Eddie Derby, and they rode in a carriagetogether the few miles into Liverpool.Now Winston was very quiet, as nearlyeveryone is when they are brooding andhave a speech awaiting. Lord Derby, whowas a man three times Winston's age,turned to him and said, "Are you nervous,Winston?" "Am I? Hell, I'm nervousas anything, I sure am," Winstonreplied. "Let me give you a tip," saidLord Derby. "When I get up to make aspeech, I look around the hall and I say tomyself: 'I've never in my life seen,gathered together in one room, so manybloody awful looking people!" And then 1go right off!"Winston did take trouble with hisspeeches — Anthony, you referred tothis. He minded about most of them,though he was capable of making themost charming off-the-cuff remarks in asort of after-dinner situation. But when hewas taking trouble with a big speech, itworked out to be an hour of preparationper minute of delivery, and it was nothingfor him but hard work.Then came the skill of pretending, oflooking as if it was coming off the top ofhis head. He did know how to readwithout looking as if he wasn't. In thosedays there wasn't this lovely machine thatwe've all got now, which allows you toread your speech while looking aroundthe hall. He had to look as if he was notreading — and sound as if he wasn't.So we are gathered in this room. Andwhat a happy idea of yours. He loved theSavoy, and time without number he'dlunch or dine here in the restaurant.Before the First World War he and F.E.Smith, later Lord Birkenhead, both ofwhom had been kept out of a fashionabledining club of the day, thought they'dstart up a club of their own which theycalled the "Other Club." It was and stillis a marvelous club; it's small, and it haswonderful rules."The Club shall be called The OtherClub . . . The object of The Other Club isto dine . . . Nothing in the rules or intercourseof the Club shall interfere with therancour and asperity of party politics . . .All differences will be referred to the ExecutiveCommittee . . . The names ofthe Executive Committee shall be wrappedin impenetrable mystery . . .' - It was.really, a ///#// democraticmt'iu. . . .16And it's gone on ever since. We meethere every month, when the House ofCommons is sitting. And the dinner thatyou ordered tonight, I must say, took mymemory back to the "standard dinner"that was always at The Other Club, forthis was what Winston liked to have. Andhe insisted on a proper pudding. Maryand I remember once when a pudding wasserved up to him, he turned to Clementineand said, "Clemmie! Take this puddingaway — it has no theme!"You mentioned his relationship withthe party machine, Anthony. I remembera most embarassing (for me) luncheonwhen he was Prime Minister in 1954. Itwas and still is the habit for partymembers in the House of Commons togive the leader a luncheon once a year, inthe big room here at the Savoy Hotel.There was quite a lot of grumbling fromthose who thought that it was time he left,and handed over to others. We traveledhere together. I was the Parliamentaryprivate secretary, and one of my dutieswas to be sure he knew what was beingtalked and thought about by the party. Soin the car I said, "You should be aware ofthe fact that there's quite a lot of themwho want to see you go."Now he and I and others had often hadtalks on this touchy subject, so I told him,"I'm not going to enter into that today —all I'm saying to you is that you mustshow them that you are aware this feelingis around. I don't know how far it goes,but there is enough of it to make itnecessary for you to respond."When he got up he made a charmingand good speech, apparently off the topof his head. Then I suddenly heard himsay, "Christopher tells me . . . [laughter]. . . that a lot of you think it's time Iwent. Well let me tell you. Let me makeit quite simple. I have no intention of going,until either things get a lot better —or I get a lot worse!"And that was roughly that. For me itwas perfection. I mean, in one sentencehe'd stopped it all. He didn't belabour it.It was light and gentle. Nearly all thepoor fellows suffered with me — becausethey all thought I had mentioned theirnames!1 hose of us who knew, and had thegrea't chance in life to be close to that fantasticman, who loved him, still revere hismemory. For me he was certainly the

man I loved most in my life. Thus I thinkhow deeply grateful we are, and certainlyought to be. to those like yourselves inthe Society, who work and put a lot intoit, one way or another, keeping hismemory green. I think it's simplywonderful.We all have our memories of him, andof his many great qualities I would pickout two. One was his farsightedness —the statesman, not the politician. As anorator he threw his voice to the back ofthe hall, but as a statesman he threw histhoughts far more forward than any of hiscontemporaries. In the dark days of 1943,he was writing a paper on the recovery ofEurope and its future after the war, andhow France was going to have to take thehand of Germany and lead her back intothe comity of nations. He was talking likethat — the thinking was already there —in 1943, long before Normandy.As you touched upon, Anthony, theFulton speech was an eye-opener to mostof the world. And that was when? In1946. Yet a few years later in 1953, whenStalin died and Malenkov came to power,we began getting reports from our Embassyin Moscow that the talk was verydifferent, that Malenkov had a very differentview. And it was Winston, Iremember, saying, "If there's anotherroad we must find it." Detente was histheme. He said we must try it out, maybeit would work this time.When you come to read Jock Colville'sdiaries of that time you will see thisrefrain, again and again and again, andthe arguments he had with the ForeignOffice here, and with Eisenhower in theStates just to try it. I don't think that hereally ever thought it would work,because in his mind, the Russian state hadalready gone too far. But he knew itought to be tried in the interest of theworld. For the man who made the IronCurtain Speech to be the first to rap onthe door of the White House, and say"Come with me, Ike, and let's do ittogether," was a pregnant event.These are just three examples. Thereare many more. It was this statesmanlikequality that I admired more than anythingelse in him.JL he second quality is quite a differentmatter. It is my memory of his humanity.His human qualities demanded loyalty.As Mary said earlier in the evening, it isremarkable that Anthony MontagueBrowne should have chucked up a career,knowing that there was no return to it:Not in order to go and make his fortune,but in order to serve this man in the eveningof his life. And most of that job, letus face it, was not exciting. It was a job ofdrudgery. But it needed to be done — itneeded to be done for that man.J\ nthony gave himself to that, gave hislife to it. Winston had qualities thatdemanded of those who served him totalloyalty, love and devotion. I was abroadduring the general election of 1945 whenhe was defeated, but I was told that in thewhole of the private office — these hardboiled,highly intelligent civil servantswho had served him during the war —there was not a dry eye in the place. Theywere all in tears.I believe there are very few men whomyou can say command such loyalty. Foreveryone who knew him, especially in hislater life, he provided something truly extraordinary.Especially for me, who hadthe luck to marry this pretty gal, and tohave thrown in the joy of serving herfather.>3o thank you, Anthony — for bringingout so much of this in a speech full ofrespect, full of love, full of his humour,and full of the character and the humanityof the man.*Below: The Savoy dinner menu and programfrom 25 September included all of WSC'sfavorites.PROGRAMMEGRACEPeter Coombs, Esq.DINNERTHE LOYAL TOAST |iINTRODUCTION *The Lady Soames, D.B.E.GUEST SPEAKERAnthony Montague Browne, C.B.E.,Private Secretary to Sir Winston Churchill, 19S2-196STOASTThe Heroic MemoryAPPRECIATIONThe Rt. Hon. The Lord Soames,G.C.M.G.. G.C.V.O., C.H., C.B.E.PRESENTATIONRichard M. Langworth, Esq.Board Chairman, I.C.S./ pfvu>"INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIETYDINNERGuest of HonourANTHONY MONTAGUE BROWNE. C.B.E., D.F.C.PINAFORE ROOMTHE SAVOY, LONDONWednesday, 25th September, 1985MENULa Petite Marmite Churchill•Le Contrefilet de Boeuf R6ti YorkaiseLes Pommes NoisettesLes Haricots Verts Frais en Branche*Les Quarters de Poires Rafraichies au CitronLa Bombe Glacee PralineeouLes Batons de Celeri Farcjs au Roquefort•Le Cate SavoyVINPol Roger White Foil, Extra Dry17

THEPARTY ^ BOSTONANNUAL GENERAL MEETING • NOVEMBER 1985Secretary Weinberger flanked by Barbara and Richard Langworth and Elaine Bermun.James Humes/WSC looks over spectacles. Harvard Club.THE PRESENCE of Secretary Weinberger,famed Churchill impressario JamesHumes, and a splended turnout of ICSmembers from Texas to Ontario andMassachusetts to California, insured ahighly successful Third Annual GeneralMeeting of ICS, in Boston on November1st through 3rd, 1985. Attendance wasdouble the turnout at Toronto in 1984,and triple our first international AGM inLondon in 1983. Of course it's just a stepalong the way, for we are expecting between300 and 400 at Vancouver thisOctober.Headquarters hotel was the ParkerHouse on Tremont and School Streets,recently refurbished, blessed with finecuisine and a friendly staff who madeeveryone feel at home. Registration commencedat noon at the Longfellow Room,where a team consisting of Jane and JackNixon, Barbara Langworth, and Ian andHelen Morrison staffed our hospitalitysuite, convention registration and ICSbenefit sale. The Morrisons' Old Number6 Book Depot of Henniker, New Hampshireran the sale, with books supplied bythemselves, Churchillbooks, and RonaldI. Cohen. Business was brisk, with agross of over $1500, of which $300 wascontributed by the three suppliers to theSociety. (Shopping was also good inBoston; Bart Watt told us he corraledmint first U.S. editions of A Roving Commissionand Step by Step in their rareoriginal jackets at a Harvard Squarebookshop.) Many members spent part ofFriday attending the well-publicizedRenoir exhibit at the Art Museum.Taking up an entire wall in theLongfellow Room was our own chief exhibit— all the book-length works of SirWinston Churchill, from the collectionsof Richard Langworth and Jack Nixon.One representative edition of each majorwork had been selected, and where multivolumeworks exist, various editionsfrom different publishers were displayed.For example, the six-volume SecondWorld War was represented by the firstBritish, American and Russian, Heron,and first and second Chartwell editions.English-Speaking Peoples was representedby British and American firsts, theChartwell edition, and a pirated editionfrom a Taipei publisher. For The WorldCrisis, British, American and Frenchfirsts were displayed along with a postwarScribners and Macmillan edition.Star of the show was Jack Nixon's extremelyscarce first edition For FreeTrade — one of only about two dozencopies known to exist.Jon Richardson, who had handled alladvance plans, selected the Harvard Clubfor our Friday night dinner, located 3818stories up at 1 Federal Street, withbreathtaking panoramic views of nighttimeBoston. Our guest speaker, JamesCalhoun Humes, was introduced byRichard Langworth: "Being unable to produceSir Winston himself this evening,we have done the next best thing. JamesHumes not only looks like Churchill, oneWashington reviewer said — he is Churchill."Jamie Hughes, author, lecturer,speechwriter and advisor to PresidentsEisenhower, Nixon and Ford, thenpresented "An Evening with Mr. Churchill,"astonishing us with the realism ofhis impersonation of the Great Man, andbringing the room to silence in his finalrecollection — Dwight Eisenhower's lastvisit to the ailing, fast fading Sir Winston:"Two old men," Humes put it, "holdinghands." This spectacular performancecontinued informally after our Bostonschrod dinner, as Humes became SirWinston at the table, in the lifts, andfinally in the Parker House lounge. Therewas no stopping him, and we loved it.Registration continued Saturday, and abuffet lunch was available in the KingRoom for those members not otherwiseoccupied with the historic andgastronomic sights of downtown Bostonand Faneuil Hall, with its famous QuincyMarket. Some rode the Old Town Trolley

to landmarks like the Old North Churchand USS Constitution, while the Board ofDirectors gathered in the afternoon todiscuss current ICS affairs. In theabsence of a quorum, no formal businesswas conducted.The Secretary arrived at the ParkerHouse Press room precisely on time at6:30. There was enough time for him tobe introduced to nearly everyone present.We did not overhear all the conversations,but we remember Toronto's John Edison,a relative of Thomas Alva: "I'm Canadian,Mr. Secretary, but I'm behind you100 percent. Keep up the good work."On the plane enroute back to Washingtonafterward, our guest of honor commentedto his staff on the positive reception. Itdid not surprise us. He was, after all,another Churchillophile among friends.ICS Board Chairman Richard Langworthintroduced Secretary Weinberger bynoting the remarkable similarity ingovernment positions held by both himand Sir Winston: Defense and Defense;Federal Trade Commission and Board ofTrade; Secretary of Health, Educationand Welfare and Home Secretary.Langworth also pointed out that theParker House was "the most famous bastionof the Democratic Party in the Northeast,"and that the last Republican to stopthere "was Calvin Coolidge in 1929 —and all they'd give him was a sandwich."As it turned out, Secretary Weinbergercouldn't even stay for a sandwich, anddinner was served after his departure. Buthe spoke for over 30 minutes, holding hisDisplay of every hardbound Churchill work, including Jack Nixon's For Free Trade.audience spellbound with masterful referencesto Churchill's career and books— as early as The River War — whichdemonstrated his own ready knowledgeand understanding. The full text of theSecretary's speech will be published in aspecial booklet by ICS this Spring.After his talk, the.floor was turned overto James Humes for a response. We knewJamie would not resist becoming Winstonagain, and he didn't disappoint us. Then,becoming serious, he thanked the Secretaryfor his work: "It would not be carryingcomparisons too far to say thatRoosevelt had his Hopkins, Churchill hadhis Ismay, and Ronald Reagan had hisCaspar Weinberger."We then presented Secretary Weinbergerwith the ICS Blenheim Award, for peoplewho have made distinguished contributionsto the Society, or to the memory ofSir Winston. The award itself is a goldversion of the 1974 commemorativemedal struck by member Don Payne(cover, FH#AQ), mounted in a blacklucite plinthe.Wallace H. Johnson brought the meetingto a close after dinner, complimentingall involved, and inviting everyone tomeet again in a year's time at our 1986Annual General Meeting in Vancouver,B.C.The Society is indebted to the NewEngland Branch of ICS, particularly toBOSTON. 2 NOVEMBER 1985 - Secretary ofDefense Caspar W. Weinberger said lastnight that the Soviet Union is puttingforth serious proposals- to reduce nuclearweapons because the United States hasrebuilt its arsenal under PresidentReagan and is now dealing from a positionof strength.Drawing a parallel to the situation thatexisted in the mid-1950s following thedeath of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.Weinberger said there exists today a windowof opportunity in East-West relations.Following the recent resumption ofnuclear arms reduction talks in Geneva,President Reagan and Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev are to hold a summitmeeting on Nov. 19-20. Secretary of StateGeorge Shultz is due in Moscow tomorrowto present a counter-proposal to aSoviet arms plan.Addressing the International ChurchillSociety, of which he is an honorarymember, Weinberger quoted the formerBritish Prime Minister: "We do not seekto arm to fight. We' seek to arm toparley. "Weinberger, a long-time admirer ofChurchill and owner of a vast collectionof Churchill writings, said he took muchof his inspiration from Sir Winston, whoargued that no one negotiated with theweak and that to stop war you had togather unchallengeable forces on the sideof peace.Weinberger reminded his audience thatthe Soviets had walked out of the lastGeneva arms talks to protest NATO'sdeployment of cruise and Pershingmissiles in Western Europe beginning in1983. Yet they are back at the negotiatingtable, he said, "because they see nowthat that is the way and the only way toget what they want — a reduction inweapons. Their economy is in terribleshape. They can't feed themselves. "He emphasized the administration'sbelief in the Strategic Defense Initiative,the plan to build an anti-nuclear shieldagainst guided missiles. He called thelatest Soviet arms proposal interestingand said it contained seeds that could benurtured. But, he added, it asked theUnited States to stop modernizing itsarsenal and give up S.D.I., a combinationwhich he said was unacceptable.Weinberger spoke to a receptive audience.The Churchill scholars and collectorswho filled the wood-panelledPress Room of the Parker House hotelwarmly applauded him. The Society'schairman, Richard M. Langworth, drewa series of parallels between the careersof Churchill and Weinberger. TheSecretary of Defense has been Secretaryof Health, Education and Welfare anddirector of the Office of Management andBudget, positions whose equivalentsChurchill held in England.—Ethan BronnerThe Boston Sunday Globe19

the careful advance work and hotel selectionby Jon Richardson; also to Jane andJack Nixon, Ian and Helen Morrison,Donna and Wallace Johnson. Financialmatters were handled by George Lewis inNew Jersey and George Temple inToronto, while the meeting chairmenwere Barbara and Richard Langworth.Pentagon Public Affairs Operation OfficerCelia Hoke, Parker House cateringmanager Carey Alexander, Harvard Clubfunctions manager Lynn LaValle, wereof inestimable assistance to us in everyway. Finally and most importantly, toSecretary Weinberger and James Humesgo our very deep gratitude, for makingthis an event to remember. And to all ofthose who took the trouble to come, weare deeply grateful.EXCERPTS FROM THEINTRODUCTION OFSECRETARY WEINBERGEREvery day the Secretary of Defensemust deal with a world situation whichWinston Churchill — but few others —foresaw sixty years ago . . . "a bomb nobigger than an orange, demolishingwhole city blocks from the air. . . Deathstands at attention — obedient, expectant,ready to serve, ready to shear awaythe peoples en masse; ready, if calledupon, to pulverize, without hope of repair,what is left of civilisation. He awaitsonly a word of command. He awaits itfrom a frail, bewildered being — long hisvictim — now, for one occasion only, hismaster. "Every day the Secretary of Defensecomes to grips with this prospect — nolonger, alas, a premonition of the future,but a matter of immediate concern."What a disappointment the 20th Centuryhas been," Churchill said in 1921 —"This Century of the Common Man,which has witnessed more common menkilling each other than any other centuryin history. "We in turn must admire deeply theSecretary's devotion to Churchill's principles,and his steady reference, in tryingtimes, to the ways in which WinstonChurchill met and mastered similarchallenges — now so long ago, yet stillwith us 45 years after his finest hour.1 am sure 1 speak for many here when Isay that I for one am grateful that wehave, at such a time, a Churchillophile inthe Pentagon, even as 1 am deeplyhonored to present him to you tonight.RMLSECRETARY WEINBERGER// has been said that Churchill makes arather comfortable hero for any Secretaryof Defense, and 1 think in some ways thisis very likely true . . . At the same time, Ifind that Churchill is in many ways a mostuncomfortable hero . . . How can youemulate anyone who has seen action onthree continents and written five books bythe time he was 26? When he entered theCabinet he was 33. When he resigned asPrime Minister he was 80. He won theNobel Prize for Literature. A quickglance at Churchill's career is, I think,all that is really needed for anyone to betaken down several pegs ...There is something I found even moredaunting than the length of Churchill'scredentials and his ability to absorb themost virulent criticism ... Even moreimpressive, I think, than that, was thebreadth of his vision. He seemed almostto have second sight. . . He seemed outThe Secretary talks with Frank Wolfort, Boston (above) and Bart Watt,Toronto (below). Jamie Humes before his performance (right).20

world hero. The Foreign Office — andwe must give them some credit for this —allowed Anthony to continue being withPapa. It was very, very noble of Anthonyto allow this interruption in what wouldhave undoubtedly been a brilliant diplomaticcareer. But he chose to continuewith Father.And from 1955 until my father drewhis last breath, Anthony was practicallynever absent from his side. What wasprivate life like for my father when heretired? The whole world trod to 28 HydePark Gate. When we went abroad it wasto call upon kings and presidents andprime ministers, to address greatassemblies. The mail poured in. Myfather's business affairs, and his privatelife, Anthony really masterminded andmanaged, advised and helped. Hisknowledge, his professional know-how,his devotion to my father was one of themajor factors in the last ten years of myfather's life. I am glad to be able to go onrecord and say this, because I wonderhow many people know exactly howmuch Anthony meant to my father, mymother, and to all of us.SL*And one more thing. At first, all right,perhaps you could say it was a plurr\of ajob. People might have thought "theywould have liked to be in Anthony'sshoes. But the day came when my father,although much beloved and venerable,was past his wonderful prime, wasdeclining in energy and ability. He stillwanted to take his part in affairs, but heneeded help. He needed a wise friend,and a knowledgeable one, who wouldguard his reputation — who would guardevery.step he took. And long after it wasreally fun to serve my father, Anthony remainedto bear the burden of the day, tobe his friend and support throughout hissadder, declining years.They were not, necessarily, unhappyyears. Everybody who lives a long timedeclines, and a beautiful evening is awonderful thing. But of course, it wassad, the last two years, and it cannot havebeen fun, or particularly interesting actually,for a bright, bubbly young manwith a future.I am glad to have the opportunity to saythis; to say from the family, and for allwho revere my father's memory, that weall owe a great debt to Anthony MontagueBrowne. My parents both knew it, and 1really think, Anthony dear, that we in thefamily knew it. I want everybody else toknow it.And now I know we're going to have alovely speech, and perhaps some reallybad puns from Anthony.ANTHONYMONTAGUE BROWNEMy very kind hosts. Mary and Christopher.Ladies and gentlemen. I won't startoff with a pun. I was truly moved by whatMary said. It was, and I'm not exaggerating,more than I deserved. Certainlythe rewards of those 13 years were worthmore than the little dust that there was.You expressed yourself very movingly,and I am deeply grateful to you, as for theprivilege I had of that association at thattime. I don't think that I would have enjoyedit more, whatever the period ofyour father's great life it had been. I ammoved by your words. I will say no moreabout that.11Speaking now between Mary andChristopher, I feel rather like a priest in asmall Italian village, getting up to make asermon and finding not one but two popessitting there.But since you insist on a pun, I willgive you a pun. It is about not makingpuns. The jester of a medieval sovereigninsisted on making puns and the sovereignfinally said, "I've had quite enoughof your terrible puns! One more and I willhang you." The jester did make one, andthe sovereign duly sent him to the gallows.But at the last moment he repented,and thought he'd been a bit hard as hequite liked the jester. So he sent agalloper to reach him at the foot of thegallows, who told him, "If you promisenever to make another pun, you will bespared." And the jester sighed and said,"No noose is good news."I am very much honoured by your invitation.The International ChurchillSociety has achieved an astonishingrecord for its comparatively short span oflife since it was reorganized and restartedin 1981. To maintain and restore WinstonChurchill's many written works, which isone of the objects of the ChurchillLiterary Foundation, is a true historical"service, and a very unusual thing to do.People have tried to do it for commercialreasons, but to keep it going on its ownworth is something that the future will bevery grateful for. Whether you're a"phile" or a "phobe," you'll be grateful.I won't say much about the Other Club,which has met here since it was foundedby Winston Churchill in 1911. I thinkyou've fixed the scene of this dinner veryimaginatively. Christopher, who hasbeen a member much longer than me,will speak about it. But let me say this: Atthe Other Club there are no speeches.You here tonight have no such luck!JVlost great figures go through a periodof eclipse after their death, which may ormay not be permanent. Winston Churchill,who in his life conformed to no pattern,continues his own tradition. Herewe have your activities as an admirableexample. There are quite a number ofcommemorative organisations establishedduring his lifetime. Churchill College wasfounded at Cambridge with its emphasison technology; it now has a most distinguishedscientific record and numerousNobel Prize winners. The Winston ChurchillMemorial Trust in this country has,

William ManchesterDAY BY DAYWITH WINSTON CHURCHILLTHE FRINGES OF POWER: 10 DOWNINGSTREET DIARIES 1939-1955, by Sir JohnColville, 796 pages, $25. Available to 1CSmembers from Churchillbooks, Burrage Rd.,Contoocook. NH 03229 USA for $21 postpaid (USA) or $22 (outside USA).At the height of the Battle of Cophenhagen,Lord Nelson, who had lost his right eye in anearlier action, received a signal from a timidBritish admiral ordering him to disengage. Heignored it, telling his officers: "I have onlyone eye — I have a right to be blind sometimes."Because he went on to forge a magnificentvictory, "showing Nelson's eye" hasbecome synonymous with splendid insubordination,though seldom more engrossinglythan in these diaries of Sir John Colvilie.World War II was barely a month old onOctober 3, 1939, when "Jock" Colville, thena 24-year-old civil servant in the ForeignOffice, was appointed private secretary to theprime minister at No. 10 Downing Street.Neville Chamberlain was in residence at thetime, but seven months later the House ofCommons, wrenching power from Chamberlain,turned to Winston Churchill, and thisbook — over 81 percent of it — is largelyChurchill's story Except for brief periods (includingD-Day) wtu.n Jock braved the P.M.'swrath and flew as an RAF fighter pilot, he wasalmost constantly at Winston's side.Written with precision and clarity, TheFringes of Power is a treasure for scholars and,for the general reader, a compelling narrative.A wartime rule forbade the keeping of writtenpersonal records, but Colville was a compulsivediarist. So he kept the accumulatingvolumes of his diary in a safe place at No. 10.Their eventual length is unrevealed to us; thisis an abridged version of the original, nowunder seal at Churchill College, Cambridge.But they must be vast. Of February 9, 1941,he writes: "At this stage of the proceedings Idecided to leave the three fat volumes of mydiary locked up ... because its indiscretionswere considerable." But he had scarcely turnedthe key before he started a small pocket diarywhich grew and swelled and multiplied.He had been warned that this was "dangerous."When the P.M. circulated a memorandumabout preserving the secrecy ofdocuments, Coiville noted that it suddenlymade him "feel rather conscience-strickenDOWNINGSTREETDIARIESJ939 1955about this diary. I haven't the heart to destroyit and shall compromise by keeping it lockedup here, even more strictly than hitherto." Wecan only be grateful for his audacity. Thewages of his sin are, for us, a priceless legacy,particularly his day-by-day account ofWinston's activities during the year afterDunkirk, when he and his countrymen, armedonly with righteousness and wrath, held theirisland free from Hitler's bloody grasp.If the book has a flaw, it lies in the title. Thediarist was no fringe spectator. He was in thecockpit of action, a trustee of delicate confidences,and as time wore on he became aman of sound judgment whose suggestionswere weighed and often adopted. One explanationfor his rise lies in Jock's intellect. AtTrinity • College, Cambridge he had beenawarded first-class honors in history, and hissubsequent performance in the Middle East asa junior diplomat had been brilliant. He founddiversion in Milton, Keats, Shelley, Byron,Lord Chesterfield, and Lord Rosebery'sessays and like Churchill he enjoyed Trollope.(Neither qualified as an astute critic of seriousfilms, however. Orson Welles' Citizen Kane,now regarded as the most innovative andperhaps the greatest motion picture of all time,seemed "deplorable" to Jock, and Winstonwalked out on it.)But there was another reason for hisemergence. In the 1930s the privileged classstill dominated His Majesty's Governments; ofthe 29 men who dominated policy, 23 wereproducts of elite "public" (boarding) schools— 17 of them Etonians — and all but sevenwere Oxbridge men. Jock met every patricianstandard.'He was a Harrovian, the cousin of aviscount; he opened each sunlit morning with abrisk gallop through Richmond Park andlunched at the Travellers, White's or the Turf;his grandfather had been a friend ofChurchill's father; he was a frequent guest ofQueen Mary, whose close friend and lady-inwaitingwas Jock's mother.For any diarist who hopes that his work willlive, discretion lights the way to dusty death.Like Boswell, Jock never hesitated to set downrumors, gossip, his own prejudices, and hisjudgments of others, which he later foundunreliable. He described Harold Macmillan as"finicky and probably a little insincere."Duncan Sandys was "an opportunist." Thisvolume is dedicated to Lady Soames,Winston's daughter Mary, but when he firstmet her she struck him as "rather supercilious."Of Mary's mother, the formidableClementine, he noted: "We talked a good dealof politics, about which her views are as illjudgedas they are decisive," and after anotherencounter with her he wrote: "Mrs. Churchillwas abusive. She seemed to expect me to makethe arrangements for a visit to Glasgow onMonday ..." Jock was busy and objected to"acting as Mrs. C.'s secretary"; therefore hepassed her instructions on to Grace Hamblin,Clementine's secretary. Clemmie was"furious," he wrote in that day's diary entry,"and said I gave myself airs, etc., etc. . . .Mrs. C. considers it one of her missions in lifeto put people in their place and prides herselfon being outspoken."Colville had been an enthusiastic supporterof appeasement (later Churchill would taunthim as a "Munichist") and even after the outbreakof war he had deplored a governmentwhite paper on German concentration camps,WILLIAM MANCHESTER is Adjunct Professorof History and Writer-in-Residence atWesleyan University, Connecticut, and authorof 14 books including Last Lion, his twovolumeChurchill biography, Volume II ofwhich is now in preparation. Our Pride in hismembership is exceeded only by that which we .take in publishing his review herein.Copyright © William Manchester 198522

calling it a "sordid document calculated to appealto people's lowest instincts . . . after all,most of the evidence is produced from prejudicedsources, and it is in any caseundesirable to arouse passions."During the "Bore War" of the winter of1939-40 he acknowledged that Churchill was"the only man in the country who commandsanything like universal respect" and wouldprobably become prime minister before thewar's end, but added that "judging from hisuntrustworthiness and instability, he may, inthat case, lead us into the most dangerouspaths." When King George VI (who sharedhis doubts about Winston) handed Churchillthe seals of office, Jock quoted R.A. Butler assaying the prime ministry had been "sold tothe greatest adventurer in modern politicalhistory. ... a half-breed American."However, once the new prime minister hadrallied the dispirited, defeatist country, auniversal joint shifted somewhere in Britain'snational mood, and Winston's conquest ofColville's heart began. Americans, who knewlittle of Churchill until he began running thecrusade against Hitler (running it from anoffice in the Admirality; it took Chamberlaina month to move out of Downing Street) cannotunderstand why Englishmen were slowto grasp his greatness. As we watch himthrough the eyes of his private secretary,however, we see how his public's perceptionof him changed. Only 18 months earlier theyhad rejoiced in the shabby deal at Munich. Butin 1940, as Colville's admiration of him grew,the nation's grew also. Rarely in history has aleader actually led his countrymen from thegarden path to the paths of righteousness,transforming them from sheep to lions. Ninemonths after Winston became prime ministerthe diarist wrot; that "it is an interestingspotlight on No. 10 last winter that he shouldhave been regarded with such dislike anddistrust." By then Jock had been all butadopted by the Churchill family. He frequentlydined en famille with "the P.M.,Mrs. C. and Mary," and was privy to familysecrets and familial celebrations. This book,therefore, is very much the work of an insider.The general reader could easily get lost in solarge a cast of unfamiliar characters, but Jock,anticipating the problem, identifies 117 majorfigures with asterisks in the text; these leadone to encapsulated biographies, some oj; themgems, at the end of the volume. \In the hands of gifted men, diaries may approachthe level of literature. Perhaps nothingwritten about the Fall of France in 1940 is sogripping as Colville's entries between May 10,when Churchill became prime minister evenas the German Wehrmacht knifed throughBelgium and Holland into France, and May31, when Jock wrote of Dunkirk: "One ofthe world's greatest defeats is being redeemedby an outstanding achievement of ... gallantry."The accounts he set down during thosethree weeks are often inaccurate. Frequentlythey omit key developments. But that was allthat anyone in England knew at the time. Andit is precisely this which gives them their extraordinarysense of immediacy. Turning thepages we hold our breath, feeling that it is allhappening for the first time even though weknow, as the diarist could not, that the Nazithreat to invade Britain would founder.We are familiar with the broad outlines ofthe tale and often the details. What Colvilleprovides is an entirely convincing portrait ofChurchill, who, this writer has concluded, wasan incomparable fighter, generous to the conqueredbut inconsiderate of his staff, a user ofmen who discarded them without a thought,incapable of apologizing though charmingthose he had hurt, ruthless — even cruel — yeta statesman of soaring vision, possessed of thatsingle-mindedness which William Jamesdefined as the essence of genius, of an eloquencewhich held the entire House of Commonsunder his spell, of a wit that disarmed hisopponents, and of a pixie quality which hisoverworked staff found irresistible. On May1, 1940, when Colville first met Churchill —then First Lord of the Admiralty underChamberlain — a steady rain was drenchingthe Horse Guards Parade outside No. 10. OnlyWinston, staring out bleakly, could have muttered:"If I were the first of May, I should beashamed of myself.'' He was le passe maitreof the unexpected remark; five years to the dayafter that downpour he learned at dinner thatAdolf Hitler had poisoned his dog, murderedhis wife, and killed himself, and that on his instructionshis corpse, soaked in gasoline, lay inhis ruined Reichskanzei garden, enveloped inwrithing flames. Winston reflected a momentand remarked: "Well, I must say he wasperfectly right to die like that.''He never concealed his aristocraticstigmata. Nevertheless his wartime support inother classes was solid; shopkeepers andworking men were delighted by his deliberatemispronunciation of foreign names (not only"Nahrzees, " but also "Marsales,""Lieons," and "Calase,") though sometimesthis affectation offended Gallic sensibilities.Scheduled to broadcast an appeal to the Frenchin their own language, he entered the radiostudio, where a BBC delegation, including thenetwork's French expert, M. Duschesne,awaited him. Looking around Winston asked:"Where is my frog speech?" Colville notes:"M. Duschesne looked pained."X hroughout the war he went about heavilyarmed. Colville describes how, puffing on acigar, he fired his revolver and Mannlicher rifleat ranges up to 300 yards and, "despite hisage, size, and lack of practice, he acquittedhimself . . . with commendable accuracy."Winston — who would later become amagnanimous victor — thought that whileEngland stood alone everyone in the nationshould share his belligerent conviction that "AHun alive is a war in prospect." On May 19,1940, Clementine attended the Sunday serviceat St. Martin-in-the-Fields and walked outwhen the preacher urged pacifism. Winstonwas outraged. He told her: "You should havecried, Shame, desecrating the House of Godwith lies!" Turning the Colville he said: "Tellthe Minister of Information with a view to havingthe man pilloried." Jock would have beenappalled six months earlier, but now he wrotein his diary: "It is refreshing to work withsomeone who refuses to be depressed even bythe most formidable danger that has everthreatened this country."Colville's running account is a majorprimary source and should be the court of lastresort for several outstanding issues. One isthe charge that Churchill failed to warnCoventry of an imminent German bombing,though his cryptographers alerted him to it, onthe ground that the Luftwaffe, realizing that itscode had been broken, would switch toanother. This is told in A Man Called Intrepidand The Ultra Secret, and it is an absolutefraud. "Intrepid" never met Churchill, neverentered No. 10. Now Colville confirms thefinding of the present writer, amoung others,that the P.M., having been told that theenemy's prime objective that Thursday wouldbe London, spent the night in the capital. Helearned of the destruction of Coventry thefollowing morning (See also FH#4l — Ed.)A he book ends with the implication of amassive irony. England and her great alliesdefeated the Axis powers, but in hemorrhagingblood and wealth to rid the world ofa most wicked man in history, the Churchillianshad lost their Empire. It was ofcourse inevitable anyhow. The WrightBrothers had doomed the supremacy of seapower,the tie that bound the crown's imperialpossessions, and World War! had slaughtereda generation of English leadership.British Governments left the coloniesgracefully. Perhaps nothing in its life becamethe Empire like the leaving of it. The Empire'sknell had tolled from time to time during thewar, and Colville reveals that Churchill hadnot been deaf to it. As early as January 16,1940, a diary entry ends: "For some reason nosubject is more boring to the averageEnglishman than the British Empire." OnAugust 30, 1941, Winston learned that theSpitfires and Hawker Hurricanes which hadwon the Battle of Britain, driving Goering'sbomber fleets out of the English sky, had beenpiloted by secondary schoolboys, not publicschoolboys,. and he said: "They have savedthis country; they have the right to rule it."And on another occasion he told Jock he wasreconciled to a postwar Labour government.He wasn't really. He could never face adefeat with equanimity, and as the generalelection of 1945 loomed he once more becamethe old party warhorse. By then his place inhistory was assured, however, and hisremarkable sense of humor kept him buoyantuntil the terrible depression of his last years.Even at the last, when he told Colville hisdeath was imminent, he added, according toColville's entry that day, that "he could nothelp wondering whether the governmentabove might not be a constitutionalmonarchy." In the event, he said, theAlmighty might "send for him" and ask himto form a government. He relished the prospect.•23

J" l-ChurchilL in StampsPAGES 43-48:NEARLY PARLIAMENT DAYS •,''-• ..\~- i, f. Here.we switch back to the use] ofcdmmonlyi. recognized Chur :^,h.. chill issue's,-,since:-!'Cfiurchili 7 related;'istamps to illustrate this*ASCENDANCYTHE BOERS FIND AN ALLY"If I were a Boer fighting In the field—and if I were a BoerI hope I would be fighting in the field—I should find defeatin any form a bitter pill to take. I earnestly hope that theColonial Secretary will leave nothing undone to bring home tothose brave and unhappy men who are still fighting in SouthAfrica that whenever they are prepared to recognize that theirsmall Independence must be merged with the larger liberties ofthe British Empire, there is a full guarantee for the securityof their property and religion.—House of Commons, June 1902.•ijte&on page ^ _^ _e&T^but^islstill one ofjhe°in6st expensive; Churchill issues. Many^^forgeriej r/ . exist, for.] detail^ of^ which Jseel^Finest Hour #i 7. -*bf^Catalogue numbers;are.Sc6itJ[tt) and Stanley Gibbons (sg). •''""",43. Rhodesia was hot part "of the Boer; War ruckus, but is close ,J£'^ enough: for this' purpose;:1Kd. the 'pen. and .'sword motif is apc:^>-propriate'tof Churchill'^Pa'rliarnentary^ arguments for'\.f' magnanimity. The photograph is from a later period, but so of'."•'-,- course is the picture of WSC^n the stamps.'Give this layoutonly a C-plus for appropriateness., Stamps' are #206/222 (sg' 357/373). ' -:^;;>^S^f if. :.. ''/f44. I wish there was a stamp illustrating tfe Young Parha-,;t mentarian. Lacking thatVl used *a photograph, and the 8p British£;%1974 centenary}lssue, : '-#730.(sgj964X v The latter depicts Chur-:./ chill 16 years after he''crWsesilie aisle',''as Liberal Secretary-i:j%\ for ( War and. Air in 19J,9^whetth^was45.GJpi>e, bur no cigar...v45, OnceagainVe are'sCretching "accuracyTo use stamps por-"; traying a WSC far removed from his appointment as presidentof the Board of Trade. But the Parliamentary background scenes' are at least appropriate. The stamps are Yemen (sg 77-82), the" original set, also issued imperforate. and in se-tenant strips —none of which j including the peff varieties, probably ever sawlegitimate postal usage. They,make a"flashy page, but cause• . groans among Black-Blot-cpnscious'philatelists, not to mention'judges."" ' .- . -~- T^

ASCENDANCYASCENDANCY(1FIRST CABINET POSITIONChurchill first Joined the Liberal government as president ofthe Board of Trade. Toward commerce and government, he took afairly radical view for the time. "I do not want to impair thevigour of competition," he said in 1906, "but we can do muchwork to mitigate poverty...We want to draw a line below whichwe must not allow persons to live and labour; yet above whichthey may compete with all the strength of science and civilisationI am sure that if the vision of the fair Utopia, whichcheer-sand lights the Imagination of the multitudes, shouldever break into reality, it will be by developments through,modifications In, and Improvements out of, the existing competitiveorganisation of society."THE PRISON REFORMERChurchill had never forgotten his Imprisonment in South Africa.Besides improving prison conditions, he reduced the number ofprisoners between 16 and 21 years of age, shortened solitaryconfinement, and provided prison lectures and concerts. "I havealways admired his pluck and his capacity," wrote dramatist andprison reformer John Galsworthy. "I now perceive him to have aheart and to be very warm."Churchill asHome Secretaryin the uniformof a PrivyCouncillor—to which he'dbeen appointedin 1907.45-wsc.Parliament,St. Pauls.PostalgenuinityImprobable.ASCENDANCYASCENDANCYTHE CYPRUS QUESTION, 1907From 1906 to 1908 Churchill was Under Secretary of State forthe Colonies in the Liberal government of Campbell-Bannerman.In this capacity, he paid a visit to Cyrus in 1907. Duringhis tour he addressed the Cyprlot legislative council:"!think it only natural that the Cypriot people who are ofGreek descent should regard their Incorporation with what maybe called their mother country as an ideal to be earnestly,devoutly and fervently cherished. Such a feeling is an exampleof the patriotic devotion which so nobly chacterizes the Greeknation.""THE SOCIETY WEDDING OF THE YEAR"Churchill was too mixed up in politics to consider marriageuntil he was 33. Then he met and quickly married a 23-yearoldsociety girl, Clementine Hosier. "Clemmle" remained Winston'sconstant partner and inspiration for 57 years. Theirwedding, in September 1908, was termed by establishment papersas The Society Wedding of the Year."t tI 46Churchill'swords wererecalled byMrs. LenaJeger (Lab.)In the Houseon 28 July1954, incriticismof governmentpolicytoward CyprlotEnosls (freedomand unificationwithGreece.)Wedding Portrait1 1The appropriatetranscript wasdepicted on aset of Greekstamps Issuedin 195 1 *. Th«English transcriptappearsin the 2.00,2.50 and 4.00drachma values.This is theonly speechof any lengthmade by WSCto have beenreprinted onpostage stamps.The transcriptcontains 691words.EnglishEmbarking froma cab beforethe weddingservice. Atright isWinston'sbest man,Lord HughCecil.

Winston Churchill in Press and Periodicalsedited by John G. PlumptonPaul Johnson: RECORDING COLOSSUS/ON WINSTON CHURCHILL, Encounter,November 1983 Vol. LXI, No. 3, pp.67-70. (59 St. Martin's Lane, London)Biography is almost as old as thewriting of history, yet the number ofauthentic biographical masterpieces remainssurprisingly small, and they areoften of minor figures. Some great mendefy biography because the uniquestrength of their personality, the key totheir fame, eludes print. Lloyd George,whose mesmeric powers could reduceeven Churchill to abject servitude, continuesto baffle his many biographers.There is no such mystery about WinstonChurchill. There was little ambiguousabout his personality; his merits andweaknesses are easily described. He livedhis whole life on the stage and gaveeverything he possessed to the performance.He revealed everything abouthimself in his own words and nobiographer will ever lack first-handmaterial.Distilling the material is really thework of a lifetime and there are specialinterests not yet addressed: Chuchill as ajournalist, his finances, the appeal of veryrifti and hospitable men to him, the parliamentarianon the make, the Liberalstatesman, the rejected hero. An articlecould be written on the subject of Churchill'sobituary in The Times, probablybegun in the early 1900s and rewrittenmany, many times.Two studies are Lady Violet BonhamCarter's Winston Churchill as I KnewHim and Lord Moran's Winston Churchill:The Struggle for Survival, but bothhave a narrow angle of vision. In TheLast Lion, -William Manchester is ill-ateasewith his sources and he did notunderstand British life and politics nordid he understand the way in which Churchillcreated his father's myth. TedMorgan's Churchill 1874-1915 is moresuccessful because Morgan gets thebackground right. It is fresh and vividand treats Churchill as a human beingrather than a phenonmenon.There is no competition for the officialbiography. Of the many RandolphChurchill-Martin Gilbert volumes, virtuallyevery page sheds some light on theman. Future historians will cherish thememory of those who provided the meansand dogged faith to carry through thisnoble enterprise. Martin Gilbert is theideal man for the task. A historian of enviablegifts, he has mastered the massiveamount of primary and secondarymaterial and verbal evidence of thosewho knew Churchill. Gilbert's storyleaves us'with no doubt that great individualsdo, even if for a short time,control events and influence history.Although the Second World War wasthe climax of Churchill's life, it did notconstitute the most intense, still less themost felicitous phase of his long career.For this one has to go back to the periodcovered in Lady Violet's book, the periodbefore 1914.Churchill was a martial man bynecessity but a progressive by choice. Hewas the youngest member of perhaps themost distinguished Cabinet in Britishhistory, and he loved every minute of it.Near the end of his life, just before leavingthe House of Commons for a finaltime, he asked a Labour M.P. what partythe member belonged to, and thenreplied: "I'm a Liberal. Always havebeen."Victor Bailey: CHURCHILL AS HOMESECRETARY: REFORMING THEPRISON SERVICE, History Today,March 1985, Vol. 35, pp. 10-13 (83-84Berwick St., London)Shortly after becoming Liberal HomeSecretary in 1910, Winston Churchillembarked upon an ambitious reform ofthe English prison system. As an openinggambit, he arranged matters "so that nextyear there will be 50,000 fewer peoplesent to prison than last year."One of the most prominent socialreformers in government, Churchill alsosought to alleviate the worst evils ofcapitalist society by State-sponsoredmeasures of social welfare with insurancemeasures against sickness, unemploymentand old age.When he took office there was considerabletension between the classical(punishment should fit the crime) and thepositivist (punishment should fit thecriminal) doctrines.His first principle of prison reform was"to prevent as many people as possible26getting there at all." For the 5000 boysbetween 16 and 21 who were sent toprison for offences like swearing or playingstreet football, Churchill proposed"defaulters' drill" or disciplinary exercise.Secondly, a law to allow a period ofgrace for the payment of fines was intendedto aid the 90,000 people who wentto prison each year in default of payment.Thirdly, imprisonment for debt was tobe abolished and, finally, he proposed a"suspensory" sentence of imprisonmentby which means the young rowdies, prostitutes,drunks and vagrants would besubject to a period of statutory warningbefore being sent to prison.A reduction in the prison population,Churchill argued, would provide moreelbow room and free the prison staff fornew specialized tasks. Prisoners wouldbe distributed to the different institutionsby a Board of Classifications.Churchill was in office too briefly tobring more than a few of his many plannedreforms to fruition. Hence, his contributionto penal reform was characterizedmore by promise than accomplishment.However, he did devise a radical yetfeasible blueprint for reform, the hub ofwhich .vas to make the system "one completeseries of specializations so that thegeneral mixed prison should go the wayof the general mixed workhouse into extinction."He was opposed in principle to indeterminatedetention except on purelymedical grounds, believing that punishmentought to be proportionate to thecrime. He was influenced by a prisoner atDartmoor prison who spent 38 of 40years in prison for theft but who wasnever armed, committed no crime ofviolence and never stole large amounts.His sentence, declared Churchill, was"unrelated to human reason at anypoint."Churchill believed that there should bea just proportion between crime andpunishment, and that even convictedcriminals had rights against the state.In some ways, however, he experiencedwithin himself the ideological tensionsthat characterized Edwardian thinkingabout criminal justice. He advocatedthe new scientific system of rehabilitativeimprisonment but rejected the indeterminatesentence, which was the emblemof the new penology. •

; 100, 76', 60 &c 26EDITED BY JOHN G. PLUMPTONWINTER 1885-1886: AGE 11The overall result of the November General Election wasa political deadlock with Charles Parnell's Irish Nationalistsholding the balance of power. In the ensuing months,English politics was monopolized by the Irish question andLord Randolph played a prominent role in the intrigues andmachinations between both major parties and the Irish. Onebiographer later wrote, "1886 may well be the most importantperiod in Churchill's life, but it can hardly be called hisfinest hour."One of Randolph Churchill's political strategies was a planto unite with the Whig faction of the Liberal Party. Butwithin his own party he despised the Ulster Unionists. Hewrote Lord Salisbury about "those abominable Ulster Torieswho are playing the devil in Northern Ireland ... I foreseeenormous difficulties in the future with Parnell's party."At the end of January, Salisbury's Tories resigned and theThird Gladstone Ministry was formed. While Gladstoneprepared an Irish policy, Lord Randolph prepared for hisown visit to Ireland. In February, he wrote,"I decided sometime ago that if Gladstone went for Home Rule, the Orangecard would be the one to play. Please God it may turn outthe ace of trumps and not the two." Later, he uttered thephrase that became the "ace of trumps" for all opponents ofHome Rule: "Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right."Winston's contact with his family was only by letter. Oneremark to his brother Jack was particularly humorous in lightof his later scholastic record: "When I come home I must tryand teach you the rudiments of Latin."WINTER 1910-1911: AGE 36After spending Christmas at Blenheim, Churhill was athome at Eccleston Square when he was informed that the infamousHoundsditch gang, wanted anarchists, was trappedat 100 Sidney Street in Stepney. As Home Secretary heordered the use of the Scots Guards and the Horse Artillery,and as an unregenerate activist, he went himself to observethe seige which ended in the burning of the house.Churchill's relationship with the King, George V, wasuneven. Asquith had assigned him the task of writing anightly letter to the King on the work of the House. In oneletter, after proposing labor colonies for tramps andwastrels, he added: "It must not be forgotten that there areidlers and wastrels at both ends of the social scale." TheKing was offended by this remark which evoked considerablecorrespondence between the Royal secretary,Lord Knollys, and WSC.Churchill's relations with the monarch were considerablyenhanced by his defense of the King against a charge by anEdward Mylius, in a republican and anarchist paper, that theKing had been previously married while serving with theMediterranean Fleet. Because Churchill had been in completecharge of the legal challenge, the conviction of Myliusfor criminal libel sweetened the relationship with George V.At this time Max Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook), aformer Canadian financier recently elected as a ConservativeM.P., was walking on the terrace of the House ofCommons with Winston's friend, F.E. Smith. He commentedthat he would give five pounds to dine with "thatfellow Churchill." Smith brought them together and sobegan a lifetime friendship, if at times sorely tried by tensionsbetween them.WINTER 1935-1936: AGE 61In December Winston and Clementine left for Majorcawhere they heard of the Hoare-Laval proposal to placateMussolini over Abyssinia. Churchill's friends, confident thatBaldwin would have to include him in a restructuredCabinet, advised him to stay away "because you will be in aunique position of strength since you will neither have supportedthe Government, compromised yourself by hostility,nor taken the negative though semi-hostile line of abstention."Clementine came home for Chistmas, and Winston accompanied"Prof" Lindemann to Marrakesh and a visit withLloyd George.On 20 January King George V died and Churchill returnedto England to present the Address of the House to the newKing, Edward VIII.Pressure was exerted on the Government to appointChurchill to the new Ministry of Defence, but Baldwin wasdetermined to resist it — chiefly, said Sir Samuel Hoare,"for the risk that would be involved by having him in theCabinet when the question of his (SB's) successor becameimminent." Lindemann called it "the most cynical thing . . .since Caligula appointed his horse as consul." Clementinesaid that "perhaps it is a case of 'those whom the Gods wishto destroy . . .' "WINTER 1960-1961: AGE 86The holidays were spent at Chartwell as Sir Winstonrecovered from the effects of his fall.By mid-January he insisted on returning to the House ofCommons. Despite the protests of his staff and family, heset off in his Humber Pullman, flying the flag of LordWarden of the Cinque Ports.Later in the month he attended a meeting of the OtherClub at the Savoy Hotel with his special guest, AristotleOnassis. The menu included a roast piglet from the litter of asow once owned by Sir Winston and purchased by theMayor of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. With complimentsof the Mayor, the frozen piglet and the apple for itsmouth were flown to London and specially prepared by theSavoy chef for the Other Club.Other events attended by the Churchills were the annualdinner of the Royal Academy, a performance by theirdaughter Sarah in As You Like It at the Pembroke Theatrein Croydon, and frequent dinners in West End restaurants.All of this activity exhausted Lady Churchill and in Marchshe entered St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, for a completerest and thorough check-up.For his part, Sir Winston joked about his ageing, but whenhe told David Ben Gurion that he was getting on, the IsraeliPrime Minister replied: "You're not old. Moses lived until hewas one hundred and twenty."27

FROM THE PRESIDENTYou were kind to remember me in such athoughtful way with the cover commemoratingthe 40th Anniversary of D-Day, which SecretaryCaspar Weinberger forwarded on yourbehalf. It will make a fine addition to ourfuture Presidential collection and I appreciatethe special support which it conveys. Thankyou so much.Nancy joins me in sending you our bestwishes.— Ronald Reagan(Our letter to the President, 2 Nov 85):We are sending you via Secretary Weinbergerwho has just honored us by addressingour 1985 Convention in Boston, the 40th AnniversaryD-Day cover which we processedlast year on June 6th. I must ask yourindulgence over the delay . . . owing to theproblem of finding a suitable holder.The Board of Directors of the InternationalChurchill Society hopes that you will acceptthis keepsake with our thanks for personallydignifying that occasion in Normandy. Wecontinue to be grateful for your manyreferences to Sir Winston in your speeches,knowing you are guided still by his precepts,and his optimism over the future of English-Speaking Peoples. We are also grateful, as Ihad the honor to say tonight, that you have insuredthe presence of a Churchillophile in thePentagon.With best wishes to you and Mrs. Reagan onbehalf of our directors in the United States andin the British Commonwealth. Isl RML)FROM MR. MONTAGUE BROWNEI left for the Continent the morning after theInternational Churchill Society's Dinner and Itherefore beg your indulgence for not havingwritten sooner. It was a truly memorable occasionfor me. You paid me a great complimentin asking me to speak and your hospitality andreception were most heartwarming. I am alsovery grateful to you for the very strikingBlenheim Award which I shall treasure.— Anthony Montague BrowneBUBBLY GREETINGS(To George Temple, Ontario): Although Ihave neither the privilege nor the honour ofknowing you personally, I wish to thank youfor having sent the current issue of FinestHour to our representative in Toronto, withwhom I understand you had a fruitful talk.Nourishing excellent relations with the InternationalChurchill Society in other Englishspeakingcountries, I am confident that similarrelations will soon be tied with the TorontoBranch. Hoping that it will not be too longbefore we meet, either in Toronto or in Epernaywhere I would love showing you aroundour Maison de Champagne, I am, Dear Mr.Temple, Very Sincerely yours,— Christian Pol-Roger, Epernay, FranceNEW CHURCH1LLIANAThree items which may be of interest: (1)Solomon Islands issued a set of stamps for the85th birthday of the Queen Mother; the 12 Cvalue shows WSC with the Queen Mother onthe balcony of Buckingham Palace on VEDay. Also, the British Philadelic Exhibitionhas issued a label showing this stamp andanother of the Falkland Island Dependencies;it was issued as well with the SPECIMEN overprint.(2) Between 1939 and 1942 the SundayDispatch published a weekly essay by Churchill.As far as I can make out, there are nonew essays. There are approximately 150 ofthem; included is Savrola, World's GreatBooks, etc. I can find no reference in Woods.[Not unusual! Ed.] (3) The Royal Mint haveissued four gold coins at L6.50 each: WSC,Kennedy, Makarios and Ghandi. Membersmay write The Royal Mint, PO Box 502, Cardiff,Wales CF1 1HH. It appears that they canbe bought individually. They are mentioned inCoin & Medal News, 10/85.— L.L. Thomas, Warlingham, SurreyUN-HISTORYIn my college course on History of WesternCivilization, I was required to use A History ofWestern Society, by Professors McKay, Hilland Buckler of the University of Illinois,published by our old friends, Houghton-Mifflin. In the chapter headed "Dictatorshipsand the Second World War" one finds 16pages devoted to Hitler and Nazi Germany, 8to Stalin and Soviet Russia, three to Mussoliniand fascist Italy. Churchill doesn't even rate aparagraph!Churchill's entire contribution to the war elfortis summed up in two sentences. Thesecome (I kid you not) in the same paragraph asMarshall Petain and Vichy France.This chapter deals with the leaders of the SecondWorld War. The events of the war arecovered in the ensuing chapter, which makes afew fleeting references to WSC. Nevertheless,a bad impression is left on the state of "historybooks." Here is another reason to be thankfulthat WSC decided to write the history himself.—David Freeman, Placentia, Calif.JUDGE WINSTONOne of my proudest memories takes meback to a few years before the war, when 1 wasat school. I had entered for the speech prize,for which we had first to read a passage fromone of Churchill's historical books and thenmake a speech on "Sea Power." The judgewas Winston Churchill himself, who at thattime took his seat on the back benches inParliament.When the ordeal was over, I was introducedto the Great Man. "My boy," he said, "thereare two ways to make a speech: One is to do asyou did, write it down and learn it off by heart;the other is to stand up and speak and, as soonas you realise that a sentence you have utteredis gramatically correct, to sit down!" This28keeps coming to my mind whenever I listen to"Today in Parliament."— Robin Goodall, Leckhampstead, Berks.MORE ON SQUERRYESMention, in issue #49, of the acquisition byWinston Churchill, MP of Squerryes Lodge,Westerham, reminds me that this lovely 17thcentury house has an interesting connectionwith Gen. James Wolfe, the victor of thePlains of Abraham. It was in the garden of thehouse that Wolfe, visiting his friend GeorgeWarde, had delivered to him (at age 15) hisfirst Commission as a Second-Lieutenent inthe Royal Marines, his father's regiment. Theactual spot where he is said to have receivedthe document is marked by an urn on apedestal. If memory serves me aright, from avisit to Squerryes some 10 years ago, theCommission is on display, with other Wolfememorabilia, in a glass cabinet in the hall.— D. Lukin Johnston, Vancouver, B. C.N.B. Westerham was Wolfe's birthplace,and WSC several times spoke on Wolfe anniversaries(see FH#44 pages 6-7). Whenvisiting Chartwell, it is possible to stay inWolfe's birthplace — indeed in his birthroom— at "The Vicarage" on the High Street,which is a B&B. — Ed."We shall not fail""WE SHALL NOT FAIL"Amongst my mother's pictures I found acopy of the British War Relief Society'sfamous print of Churchill with the King andQueen. My mother had written a notation inthe corner, which I didn't want to try toremove. My father worked hard for theB.W.R.S. from 1939 to 1948. I thought youwould like to have a photocopy, perhaps toreproduce in Finest Hour.— Yvonne Henry, Allentown, N.J.THANKS AND REGRETSMrs. Davies and I recently visited Mr. Templein Ontario,, where he told of ICS. We hadtea at his lovely home and saw his extensivelibrary, including much reference material onChurchill. We will give applications to several

of our friends and hope that we may get additionalmembers., We commend you for the excellentobjectives and work being done.— Alexander V. Davies, Birmingham, Ala.Alas, 1 will not be able to join youNovember 2nd, but later I will send a contribution.You are lucky to have chosen myfriend Cap Weinberger as speaker. He is asyou know a strong Churchill devotee.Disappointedly,— Kay Murphy Halle, Washingtonpurchase a new audio-visual system for theFulton Memorial.— Mrs. J. Sterling McCluskey, MBE, Pres.New York Chapter, Friends of the MemorialKarin and I would like to pass on to all ICSmembers our best wishes for the New Year.We made many new friends when ICS came toour small home. It gave us great pleasure towelcome you, and certainly made our day.Whenever ICS arranges similar tours, pleaseinclude us in the venues if possible. Theweather was good that day but alas, a weeklater, we experienced a terrible storm whichwrecked my temporary shelter and almostruined the cabinet I was making. The top hadto be remade.Thanks to the kindness of Patricia Nemon,Karin was able to use Oscar's studio. Remarkablyshe has finished 20 pieces. Withoutbeing biased I think she is a very humblegenius, God bless her.— Peter Churchill, Boar's Hill, OxfordOn behalf of the officers and members of theWilliam Kretchman Post #730 I wish to thankyou for publishing information about ourstamp project. Hopefully through your effortswe will receive a favorable response. Pleaseaccept my gratitude for being supportive ofour project to service the needs of thehospitalized veterans, handicapped, shut-inand youth.— Martin Kaufman, Jewish War Veterans,Post 730, Miramar, Fla.NEW MEMBERSAusmiliu: N.S.W.Struthfield: EJ. Brition.Canada: OntarioCambridge: John H. Paull; Orono: Roy Dalzell;Scarborough: Churchill Collegiate Institute; Toronto:G.E. Campbell; Willowdale: Hon. Donald M.Fleming, G.W. Churton. M.C. Shonfield.United Kingdom (through 8.10.85 only)Avon - Bristol: Sydney Bennett; Cornwall -Crackington Haven: H.M. Boettinger; Essex -Basildon: P.J. Hood; Hampshire - Overton:J.M.H. Ellison; Kent - Tunbridge: Viscount deL'isle, VC, KG; London - Elizabeth Anne Gillian,MBE. I.H. Levy; Sussex - Ashtead: Mrs. ClaudeBlair; Eastbourne: Clive Ogden; E. Grinstead:M.Wellesley Wesley; Worthing: T.H. Russell.United Stales (zip order)Muss. - Murblehead: Dr. Gary S. Eisenhower;Brewster: John Lobingier. Jr.; N.H. - Contoocook:Michael P. Langworth; Conn. - Wallingford: Dr.Gordon S. Cohen: Weslon: Dr. Jeffrey Sutinover;N.J. - Red Bunk: E.E. Moore; Pennington: RussellH. Mullen; N. Y. - New York: Edward S. Rigney;Pcnna. - Bcnsulcm: Gary M. Carr; W. V. - Spencer:Fred C. Hardman: N.C. - Winston-Salem: Dr. J.R.Scales; Charlotte: J.A. Pope: Fla. - Coral Gables:George C. Mello: ///. - Greenville: Tom Shea;Calif. - Junesvillc: Lawrence J. Montello; Wash.-Bothcll: Edward L. Moore.We enjoyed the dinner at the Savoy, particularlytalking to Anthony Montague Brownewhom we had not seen for some years now,and his wife. We also had quite a chat withSgt Davies who not only came here to Woodfordwith Churchill, but whose brother stoodas a Liberal against WSC in the 1950 GeneralElection. 1 happened to know Daves fatherand his two brothers. 1 fear that I always talktoo much, but 1 enjoy it!_ Donald L. Forbes, Woudjonl, EssexA remarkable likeness, not previously see by us, of Winston Churchill "atthe time of his marriage, September 1908."' by Noel Dorville in The War Illustrated,20 November 1941. Dorville was a well-known French artist ofhis day; the sketch appeared "in a London daily" on 14 September 1908.(Mr Forbes was WSC's Woodford CommitteeChairman - I hope I have that right? -and wrote a lovely press release for ICS afterthe wreath-laying at Mrs. Everest's grave -see ••International Datelines. "Ed.) ;Just wanted to express again how impressedwe were with "Churchill's England." Theitinerary, the speakers, the food - it was allSU^! Tom & Margaret Brooks, Sarasota, Fla.Finest Hour #49 is the best yet [Notanymore! Ed.] It is a very professional job. Iam delighted with the Wallace Johnson article^ ^Donald S. Carmichael, Buffalo, N. Y.How very kind of you to send me one year'scompliment membership .n the ICS. I see29

5 MARCHVice President George Bush will deliver the41st John Findley Green Foundation Lectureat Westminster College on Wednesday afternoonMarch 5th. The lecture coincides withthe 40th anniversary of Sir WinstonChurchill's "Sinews of Peace" speech atWestminster on 5 March 1946. Past Greenlecturers have included President Truman,Hubert Humphrey, Gerald Ford, EdwardHeath, Caspar Weinberger and WilliamCasey. For more information contact theChurchill Memorial, Westminster College,Fulton, Missouri 65251 USA.25-27 APRILThe Churchill Memorial and WestminsterCollege presents a "Symposium on WinstonChurchill and Anglo-American Relations," tocommemorate the 40th Anniversary of Churchill's"Sinews of Peace" address (insufficientlyknown as the "Iron Curtain" speech)at Westminster in 1946. Seven distinguishedBritish and American historians will presentscholarly papers. Among these are ICSmembers, Professors Hal Elliot Wert and RaymondA. Callahan. Admission is free and allICS members are cordially invited to attend.There will be a special lunch for all Symposiumparticipants on Saturday 26 April,hosted by the British Institute of the U.S. andthe College.It is expected that the Symposium will shednew light on an important and vital alliance,concentrating on Anglo-American relationssince 1919. For registration forms write Dr.Russell M. Jones, Dept. of History,Westminster College, Fulton, Mo. 65251,(314)642-3361.MID-MAYThe United Kingdom Branch of ICS willhold its Annual General Meeting as usual inMay. The weekend date will be selected toavoid Cup Final Day. For further informationcontact Geoffrey J. Wheeler, 88A FranklinAvenue, Tadley, Basingstoke, HampshireRG26 6EU.20 JULYThe New England Chapter of ICS invitesyou to our second English pub lunch and gettogether,held again at Barbara and RichardLang worths' colonial home outside Concord,New Hampshire on Sunday, 20 July. A Churchillfilm will be shown on outdoor VCR-TV.We will be able to examine members' Churchilliana,books and memorabilia. A traditionalploughman's lunch will be served, alongwith English and Yank beer and soft drinks.The location is 1 !4 hours north of Boston, 3hours from Hartford. To join in, send $6 peradult, $3 per child to ICS, c/o Putney House,Contoocook, NH 03229 USA. Road directionsand inn suggestions will be sent to all who planto come.SUMMER 1986The North Texas Chapter of ICS will bemeeting this Summer to plan future events,following the sell-out success of our luncheonfor Lady Soames and Sir John Colville inDallas on February 19th. To contribute ideasor learn more details please contact DavidSampson, 5603 Honey Locust Trail, ArlingtonTX 76017.4-6 OCTOBERThe International Churchill Society's AnnualGeneral Meeting occurs at the HarboursideHoliday Inn in Vancouver, B.C., Canada,on Saturday through Monday October 3rd-6th.Featured are two noted speakers, a black tiedinner with band, various daytime meetingsand events, and time to visit Expo '86 in Vancouver.For registration details watch the nextissue of Finest Hour.We strongly urge that you book your roomsat the Harbourside Holiday Inn now. Specialrates are is force for ICS. See details on page 4of this issue or contact the hotel at 1133 WestHastings Street, Vancouver, B.C. CanadaV6E 3T3, telephone (604) 689-9211.FOR SALEMcGilvery, PO Box 852, La Jolla, California92308 USA, telephone (619) 454-4443.WANTED• VCR copy of "The Wilderness Years"series starring Robert Hardy as WSC, shownon PBS-TV in 1983. Approx. six 1-hour programs.Duplicate tape wanted. Paul S. King,Three Wells, Georgetown, Mass. 01833USA.• Exact reproduction dust jackets for theFirst British edition of My Early Life and theFirst American edition of A Roving Commission.Authentic for all editions through 1934,and will fit any trade edition. Rendered in fullcolor on the same paper as the extremely rareoriginals by Thornton Butterworth andScribner. $4.00 each postpaid, or the pair for$7.00 postpaid. Churchillbooks, BurrageRoad, Contoocook, New Hampshire 03299USA.• Painting of Sir Winston Churchill byJames Templar, 1965, depicting WSC in hisGarter robes. Size 39"x 29", fine condition.Slide available. $750 plus shipping. Laurence• Churchill Sculpture by Karin Churchill:an exact copy of the original at BlenheimPalace, limited to 400 only, of which about200 have been subscribed. This 16-inch-highwork in cold cast bronze is individually madeby the artist from the original mould, anddepicts WSC in his Garter robes. Each statueis signed, numbered, registered, and accompaniedby a Certificate of Authenticity. TheInternational Churchill Society will benefitfrom each sale. Price £300 plus shipping.Karin Churchill Studio, The Lodge, Jam Way,Boars Hill, Oxford, OX1 5JF, England.30• Details wanted on WSC's military andcivilian tailors, bootmakers, etc. Richard D.Carreno, Writers Clearinghouse, PO Box 118,Fabyan, Connecticut 06245, (203) 923-9925.CHURCHILL LITERARY FOUNDATIONThe full text of Secretary Weinberger'saddress to our 1985 Boston convention is to bepublished in a special commemorative bookletthis Spring. For an inscribed copy, send yourdonation of $250 US or the equivalent (taxdeductiblein USA) to ICS, c/o George Lewis,268 Canterbury Road, Westfield, NJ 07090USA. Donors will later receive the limited editionof "The Dream" (see FH47).

LET US GO BOLDLY FORWARDBY WINSTON S. CHURCHILLUnveiling of the Guildhall Statue, London, 21 June 1955IT HAS been my lot to live as a grown-up person through more than half of themost violent century in human record. I remember well the scene which spreadbefore us at the close of the Victorian era. The vast majority of the nations lookedwith confidence upon our island as the centre of a vast empire spreading all overthe world, as its leader in commerce, manufacture, and invention, as the model oforthodox finance and fiscal policy,as the author of Parliamentary government,and all guarded by the unchallengeable power of a navy which only cost about120 millions a year.Little did we realise how mighty was the world which was growing up aroundus, or how terrible and gigantic were the struggles into which all its people were tobe plunged. Now we look out upon a different prospect. All the values and proportionsare changed. We have emerged on the victorious side from two worldwars in which scores of millions have perished. They were wars which in theirscope and scale seemed far to surpass our resources, and at times to threaten uswith doom.Today we see our small island, with its dense population and delicate, complex,elastic but still precarious means of existence, no longer enjoying the ascendanceand power of bygone days, but yet preserving in no small measure the respect andgoodwill of large portions of mankind, and exercising in the new and far largerorganisation into which we have come, and which we have helped to found, aworthy and, I believe, growing share of influence. If this is so, it is because in thefearful ordeals of peace and war through which we have passed, we have doneour duty, and have faithfully sought the maintenance of peace from motivessuperior to the fear of death or destruction. We may all be proud to have livedthrough such a period, and I do not feel that our generation has any need to beabashed before our ancestors, or the famous ages of our history of which this hallso vividly reminds us.But now I leave the past, and I leave the present. It is to the future that we mustturn our gaze. I confess that, like Disraeli, I am on the side of the optimists. I donot believe that humanity is going to destroy itself. I have for some time thought itwould be a good thing if the leaders of the great nations talked freely to oneanother without too much of the formality of diplomacy. I am very glad that this isnow going to happen. We must not count upon complete and immediate success.Whatever is the outcome, we must persevere in the maintenance of peacethrough strength.A period of relaxation of tension may well be all that is now within our grasp.But such a phase would not be sterile. On the contrary, it would give the time forscience to show the magnitude of her blessings rather than of her terrors; and thisagain may lead us into a more genial climate of opinion and resolve.Let us go boldly forward and play our part in all this.