January 2019 - Richard M. Langworth

Churchill’s Prep for the “Iron Curtain” Speech 1946

31 January 2019

Q: Where did Churchill write the Iron Curtain address?

When we first moved to the United States we bought a home in New Canaan, Connecticut that had once been owned by Bernard Baruch and used has his get-away. We were told that, as he and Churchill were friends, Churchill had been invited by Baruch to stay there and it was there he wrote his Iron Curtain speech. We were never sure whether this was true or whether it was something a local real estate agent had dreamed up. There was another house down the road where George Washington was said to have slept on his way through!…

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Origins: “I’ll kiss him on all four cheeks”

24 January 2019

Q: Churchill’s Kiss: A Cheeky Affair

I found myself using an alleged Churchill witticism I have long known, but could not find in your book, Churchill’s Wit: The Definitive Collection (2009). As I have it, Churchill was preparing to meet Marshal Stalin, and a diplomatic advisor said, “He will probably expect to kiss you on both cheeks.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said Churchill, “as long as he doesn’t want to be kissed on all four.” Can you verify this one?

My own main area of scholarly research is Samuel Johnson, another subject often misattributed. Good quote collections more than just the quotation and its source.…

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Churchill and Texas: The Complete History

20 January 2019

Washington, after Pearl Harbor. Texas Reporter: "Mr. Minister [sic], can you tell us when you think we may lick these boys?" [Pause while someone explained to Churchill the meaning of the American slang, “lick.”] WSC: "If we manage it well, it will take only half as long as if we manage it badly." Texas reporter: "In one of your speeches you mentioned three or four of the [war’s] great climacterics. Would you now agree that our entry into the war is one of these, sir?" WSC: I think I may almost say [affecting a Texas drawl] Ah sho’ do!"

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Don Weber, RIP: Storming Pikes Peak, 42 Years On

16 January 2019

Arrivederci, Don

Don Weber of San Antonio, a sterling gentleman of the old school, died December 10th at the age of 90. Those who miss him may like to leave a few words on his permanent legacy page. There you will also find details of his extraordinary life.

In Don Weber’s memory, we thought it would be a nice thing to reprint my article on storming Pikes Peak in his 1914 Packard Six Model 1448 on the 1976 Glidden Tour. It first appeared in my sixth issue as editor of The Packard Cormorant, Spring 1977.…

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Bengal Famine: The Hottest of Churchill Debates

13 January 2019

Bengal 1943-44

Most popular by far: On both the Hillsdale College Churchill Project website and this one, more reader comment is engendered over Churchill’s role in the 1943 Bengal Famine than any other subject. A lot of it, pro and con, is by Indians themselves. This is understandable. The food shortage that ravaged Bengal in 1943-44 was the greatest humanitarian crisis in India’s history. Up to three million people died—5% of the province’s population. Proportionally, think 16 million Americans.

The book that started the controversy, Churchill’s Secret War, is now eight years old.…

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Athens 1944: Not Churchill’s Finest Hour? Hmm….

4 January 2019

Question:

A r eader writes: “Rather late in the day, I have been reading The Spectator (UK) Christmas Special dated 15/21/29 December 2018. Page 28 refers to one Ronnie Boyd, who had been a teenage Ordinary Seaman aboard HMS Ajax in December 1944, when Winston Churchill arrived in Athens to try to end the ongoing civil war.

“British forces ‘helped put down, with considerable force of arms, a perceived partisan/communist uprising—the so-called Battle of Athens, or the Dekemvriana in Greece,’ the article states. There follows the extraordinary statement ‘Not Winston Churchill’s Finest Hour, it has to be said.’…

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