“There was about Churchill a faith that nothing was beyond our reach: A DETERMINED OPTIMISM. ‘I confess,’ he said, ‘that like Disraeli I am on the side of the optimists. I do not believe that humanity is going to destroy itself.’” —RML
Lectures at Sea (2): Churchill and the Myths of Ireland
This is the Ireland portion of my lecture on the 2019 Hillsdale College Round-Britain cruise. Hillsdale cruises with “lectures at sea” are an annual event. They usually occur in the spring. For information on the 2020 cruise to Jerusalem and Athens, click here.
My book considers the tall tales, exaggerations, lies, myths, rumors and distortions about Churchill over the years. Nowadays, the old adage that you don’t speak ill of the dead is obsolete. It seems more important now to deconstruct history and puncture heroes.…
Consistency in Politics: continued from Part 1… Updated with material from my book, Churchill and the Avoidable War (2015). It exonerates, partially, the actions of Mr. Baldwin.
Churchill reflected in his memoirs on why Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin refused to admit his country had a defense problem—Nazi Germany—because he thought the admission might cost him an election. (Reference to Baldwin’s “miscalculation” refers to his admission, in Parliament, that his previous low estimates of German air strength had been catastrophically low)….
Mr. Baldwin was of course not moved by any ignoble wish to remain in office.…
“Who’s that man on the horse?” I asked my father at the age of about seven. “That’s Robert E. Lee,” my Dad said.
“Who was he?” … “He led the South in the Civil War.”
He gave me a book for young people which I still have. Illustrated Minute Biographies: 150 Fascinating Life-stories of Famous People, from the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day, Dramatized with Portraits and Scenes from Their Lives, by Willam A. DeWitt. It’s still available and inexpensive. It’s far out of date now, but still a fine read for the young.…
