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Part 5: Loyalty

Churchill had “a reputation for brusqueness strengthened by his handling of the common folk,” his postwar bodyguard Ronald Golding continued.

He had the habit of summing people up after two sentences of conversation. They were classified, it seemed to me, as either “interesting” or “uninteresting.” With the former, conversation ensued; with the latter, Churchill would ignore them. On such occasions Mrs. Churchill frequently came to the rescue, engaging the luckless in conversation. If they were tongue-tied she would do most of the talking until it was time for them to leave.…

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Churchill’s Funeral, 50 Years On: His Words Still Call to Us

26 January 2015

In the time since his funeral I learned that Churchill’s life and thought—the eerie relevancy of his challenges and experiences—still call to us across the years. There will always be scoffers, who portray him as an anachronism. “In doing so, it is they who are the losers,” Martin Gilbert concluded, “for he was a man of quality: a good guide for our troubled present, and for the generations now reaching adulthood.”

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Recognizing Cuba

18 December 2014

“I was, I think, the first in this House to suggest, in November 1949, recognition of the Chinese Communists….I thought that it would be a good thing to have diplomatic representation. But if you recognise anyone it does not necessarily mean that you like him. We all, for instance, recognise the Rt Hon Gentleman, the Member for Ebbw Vale.”* —Winston S. Churchill, 1 July 1952.

On President Obama’s December 17th announcement restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba, a colleague writes: “Finally we’ll have access to truly great healthcare.”

Funny. Actually top tier Cuban healthcare is mainly for party members. There is a tiered system.…

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Richard Deane Taylor 1925-2014

27 November 2014

Richard Deane Taylor achieved immortality when he painted one of the most evocative and accurate portraits of Winston Churchill for Collier’s in 1951, to mark Churchill’s return to office. Years later he gave me the privilege of using it on the first English edition of my book of quotations, Churchill By Himself. He leaves fond memories among his colleagues and former students.

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Nye — Churchill broadcasting on VE-Day, 8 May 1945. On national health he earlier told Lord Moran: “The doctors aren’t going to dictate to the country, they tried that with Lloyd George.” (Imperial War Museum, public domain)

Churchill’s Leadership, Denver 20-21 April 2015

20 November 2014

This year marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of Churchill becoming prime minister in 1940, and the fiftieth anniversary of his death in 1965. This Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar drew leading historians and thinkers to examine Churchill’s extraordinary statesmanship and the lessons that may be drawn from his example today.

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Boris Says the Strangest Things

17 November 2014

Boris Johnson, whose book, The Churchill Factor, is feted widely, speaks his mind with a smile. Like Mr. Obama, he’s a chap I’d like to share a pint with at the local.

But fame and likability don’t a Churchill scholar make. And in that department, Boris Johnson needs some help.

His remarks are quoted from a November 14th speech at the Yale Club in New York City.

Boris Fact-checks

1) Lend-Lease, Roosevelt’s World War II “loan” of $50 billion worth of war materiel to the Allies, “screwed” the British.

I queried Professor Warren Kimball of Rutgers University, editor of the Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence and several books on World War II, who wrote:

The U.S.…

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El-Sisi: The Churchill Test; Another Damaskinos?

9 November 2014

Realpolitik: "At a conference in the Greek Foreign Office, lit only by hurricane lamps as bombs burst over the Piraeus, Churchill subjected the warring Greeks to a discourse the like of which they had never heard before. The two factions agreed to appoint Damaskinos as Regent; he called for reconciliation, ended the fighting, and left office in 1946 with Greece a constitutional monarchy."

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Official Biography — Hillsdale first trod “new ground” with document volume 17, Testing Times 1942, shown here with Martin Gilbert’s “wodges” from which its 1652 pages were distilled. (Hillsdale College Press)

Hillsdale College Senior Fellow

6 November 2014

I am pleased to post this press release, and honored to be associated with the distinguished Churchill scholars at Hillsdale. Without their work, the Churchill Official Biography would be out of print and unfinished. With them, you can buy every volume at a modest price, all 31 volumes. It's nice to be among friends.

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“Our Nige”: The New Happy Warrior

25 October 2014

N.B. A shorter version of this piece on Nigel Farage appeared in The Weekly Standard online

A few years ago Britain’s Nigel Farage was a political curiosity, head of a fringe party, gadfly member of the European Parliament, an ex-commodities broker who never went to college, dismissed as a nutter by ruling elites in London and Brussels. On 23 June 2016, he was widely credited with a key role in the referendum favoring Brexit— Britain’s exit from the European Community.

“Our Nige,” his supporters call him—personable, chatty, good-looking, beer swilling, cigarette and cigar smoking—wants Britain, not the European Union, to govern British affairs.…

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Senators’ Goose Goslin slides safely into home and collides with Yankees catcher Wally Schang in 2nd game of a double header, 1925. The Senators went on to win their second straight pennant. (Library of Congress)

Ryan Zimmerman and the Curse of the Goose

2 August 2014

On 23 June 2014 Washington Nationals star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman went out with a hamstring injury that may sideline him for the rest of the season. The effect on the team's play was astonishing. Postscript: he was soon back, and stayed on the roster until he retired in 2021. He was not Goose Goslin, however.

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