“Film after film, book after book, paints Churchill as a grotesque anachronism. WE NEED TO LOOK DEEPER. Because as he himself once said, “I should think it was hardly possible to state the opposite of the truth with more precision.” —RML
Korea, an Old Conundrum, and Mr. Churchill’s Wisdom
Korea was a problem in 1952—as it is today. “Is the Prime Minister aware of the deep concern felt by the people of this country at the whole question of the Korean conflict?” an opposition Member of Parliament asked the-then Mr. Churchill.
“I am fully aware of the deep concern felt by the honorable member in many matters above his comprehension,” Churchill quipped. Which avoided responding to an unanswerable question.
Self-Preservation’s Jarring Gong
How do you answer the Korean question? There are no good choices. The Sino-Russian proposal for the U.S. to abandon joint military exercises in exchange for another promise by the North to stop building missiles and testing nukes is a non-starter.…
Churchill’s role in the defense of Antwerp, in October 1914, has been called one of his “characteristically piratical” adventures. An eminent historian described it as “a shocking folly by a minister who abused his powers and betrayed his responsibilities. It is astonishing that [his] cabinet colleagues so readily forgave him for a lapse of judgment that would have destroyed most men’s careers.”1
As the Germans closed in around Antwerp, Max Hastings writes, Churchill “assembled a hotchpotch of Royal Marines and surplus naval personnel… his own private army.” Then he “abandoned his post at the Admiralty.”…
Hillsdale College Asks Your Help…
In response to growing demand, Hillsdale College is making an archive of our popular free online courses. It’s our hope that any citizen who wishes to learn can take advantage of the teaching that takes place on Hillsdale’s campus every day.
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These free online courses cover topics such as Winston Churchill, the Constitution, American history, free market economics, and more. Well over a million people have already taken at least one course.
Why do we make our online courses available at no charge? Because education on behalf of liberty is our mission.…
Churchill was not infallible, and it diminishes him to treat him as superhuman. On some topics in my book, accomplished scholars have catalogued Churchill’s failings. I take note of them, along with certain less-well-known exculpatory facts. None detract from his greatness. Churchill published 20 million words and left an archive of a million documents: easy pickings for anyone determined to expose his alleged faults by selective editing. Yet that same archive offers the complete context. You have only to do your homework. I have done it. There is no missing context.
On the matter of Churchill’s taxes, a friend quotes a very good historian we both respect: “His relationship with the taxman was scandalous. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Churchill exploited tax loopholes and he retired as an author on more than one occasion to avoid paying tax.”
My friend writes: “Surely what Churchill did was just on the borderline of tax-optimization? It would only be scandalous if it was tax evasion. But it was in fact legal.”
I am not an expert on Churchill’s taxes. I accept that he took whatever measures that were open and legal to minimize the bite.…
Optimist and Pessimist: Fifteen minutes of fame! David Davis MP, Secretary of State for Brexit, boots one in his recent speech and I’m finally in The Guardian. Probably the first and last time, given my opinions. **
Question: Referring to your posts of quotations Churchill never said, do you know who actually did say “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”? I find no attribution other than to Churchill.
Pessimist: Not Churchill’s Quip
Answer: Sorry. I can’t track it; nor can my colleague Ralph Keyes, editor of The Quote Verifier.…
"There is a long story of the friendly relations between Great Britain and Turkey. Across it is a terrible slash of the Great War, when German intrigues and British and Turkish mistakes led to our being on opposite sides. We fought as brave and honourable opponents. But those days are done, and we move forward into a world arrangement in which peaceful peoples will have a right to be let alone and in which all peoples will have a chance to help one another."
.A lifelong supporter of Zionism and the Jews, Winston Churchill is sometimes labeled an anti-Semite. The proffered evidence, an alleged article of his, has made the obligatory rounds of the Internet.
A 1937 article draft in the Churchill Archives supposedly proves that Churchill’s off-expressed sympathy for the Jews was hypocrisy. Churchill was, if this article is to be believed, a closet anti-Semite.
The 1937 draft, “How the Jews Can Combat Persecution,” had “apparently lain unnoticed in the Churchill Archives at Cambridge since the early months of the Second World War,” stated The Independent:
Churchill criticised the “aloofness” of Jewish people from wider society and urged them to make the effort to integrate themselves….Churchill…
It is depressing and disheartening for anyone who knows the barest facts to hear history told by actors, with reality turned on its head under guise of entertainment. Invented dialogue and scenarios are of course necessary for dramatic effect.
Q: What can you tell me about Churchill’s order for “Utmost Fish” in 1939. What did this have to do with his role as First Lord of the Admiralty?” —L.S, Spokane, Wash.
A: It had nothing to do with his role. It was characteristic of his attention to detail, and willingness to stray outside his limits.
“Utmost Fish”
Hillsdale College’s “The Churchill Documents,” Vol. 14, for September 1939-May 1940, carries a recollection by Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare. Shakespeare (1893-1980) was a Liberal MP, 1923-45. He served Churchill as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs from 1940 to 1942.…
