2021 - Richard M. Langworth

“To be opened in the event of my death…” Winston Churchill to his Wife, 1915

30 December 2021 Comments 3 Comments

Q: The goodbye letter

I am doing some work for my English AS course and need a comparative piece to go with a poem I am studying. I have tried looking for Winston Churchill’s goodbye letter to his wife but have been unsuccessful. Is there any way I could even have a part of the text of the letter for my studies? —A.S., UK

A: “In the event of my death…”

This was a great and memorable letter. After his removal as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915, Churchill spent six uneasy months in a sinecure position, unable to influence war policy.…

Christmas Eve, Washington, 1941: Eighty Years On

24 December 2021 Comments 1 Comment

"Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm." —WSC

Churchill’s Magnanimity: Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947)

20 December 2021 Comments 2 Comments

Churchill’s censorious remark about Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin was not, I was pleased to learn, his last words. Once again his characteristic magnanimity prevailed. My thanks to my colleague Dave Turrell for this information.

June, 1947

Sir Martin Gilbert published the arresting assertion by Churchill in 1947 (In Search of Churchill, 1995, 106). In June, WSC was invited to send a letter (I would think for a festschrift) on Baldwin’s 80th birthday, August 3rd. Writing to an intermediary, Churchill refused. “I wish Stanley Baldwin no ill, but it would have been much better if he had never lived.”…