August 2017 - Richard M. Langworth

Civil War Memorials: What We Need to Remember

26 August 2017 Comments 2 Comments

Of Civil War…

“We think we are wholly superior people,” said the Civil War historian Shelby Foote. The 50th and 75th Anniversaries of the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg were poignant, inspiring moments. The words spoken of those occasions give cause to wonder. In the welter of emotions, have we forgotten what we need to remember?

Footage of Civil War Veterans at 50yr Anniversary in 1913 & 75yr Anniversary in 1938
Watch this video on YouTube “We may be given to meet again…”

Shelby Foote:

We think we are wholly superior people. If we’d been anything like as superior as we think we are, we’d never have fought that Civil War.…

Frederick Lindemann: Churchill’s Eminence Grise?

21 August 2017 Comments 6 Comments

Revisionist History, Season 2, Episode 5, “The Prime Minister and the Prof [ Frederick Lindemann ],” podcast by Malcolm Gladwell.

A popular weekly half hour podcast, Revisionist History takes aim at shibboleths, real and imagined. This episode is Churchill’s turn in the barrel.

Scientific Nemesis

The villain, aside from Sir Winston, is his scientific adviser, Frederick Lindemann, later Lord Cherwell, aka “The Prof.” You’ve probably never heard of him, says narrator Malcolm Gladwell. You should have. It was Lindemann who made Churchill bomb innocent German civilians and starve the Bengalis.

Ironically, the program begins with an ad for its sponsor, Chanel Perfume.…

Rhinoceros Table, Mr. Churchill? Thanks but No.

18 August 2017 Comments 0 Comments

The Hillsdale College Churchill Project received a novel question: “After his 1908 African safari, Churchill’s taxidermists ask if he wants a ‘Rhinoceros Table.’ What in the world is a Rhinoceros Table?”

Rhinoceros Table, anyone? The reference is in The Churchill Documents, vol. 4, Minister of the Crown, 1907-1911 (2007), page 753:

Rowland Ward Ltd., 167 Piccadilly, to WSC, 4 March 1908

Sir, In accordance with instructions given on your behalf by Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wilson, we have in hand the following: MODELLED HEADS 1 Rhinoceros, 1 Zebra, 1 Warthog, 1 Wildebeest, 1 Coke’s Hartebeest, 1 Grant’s Gazelle, 1 Thomson’s Gazelle and the dressing of three Zebra skins, at a total cost of £32.…