John Dill Archives - Richard M. Langworth

Churchill Quotes: “Action vs. Inaction….Religion of Blood and War”

16 August 2020 Comments 0 Comments

N.B. We do not see Churchill in Woodville’s dramatic painting above. He had drawn his pistol not his sword, in deference to his weak right shoulder. For the skill and dexterity it took to sheath his sword and aim his pistol, see my review of Brough Scott’s Churchill at the Gallop (with Ben Bradshaw’s painting of Churchill in the charge.)

Action and inaction

Q: Could you verify the correct wording for the Winston Churchill statement: “I never worry about action, but only inaction.” There are various iterations among the sources. —S.D.

From Churchill by Himself, page 190 (note he placed quotemarks around “worry”): “I never ‘worry’ about action, but only about inaction.”…

Churchill’s Racist Epithets are Remarkably Rare (Hearsay doesn’t Count)

3 August 2020 Comments 0 Comments

Extracted from “Hearsay Doesn’t Count: The Truth about Churchill’s ‘Racist Epithets,'” for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. For the original article, please click here. Readers please note: a footnoted version of this article will be published this year in a Hillsdale journal of Churchill Studies.

Epithets and expressions

In recent weeks Winston Churchill has become a target of ignorance. “Racist,” read the spray-painted label of the mob on his London statue. He should be knocked from perch, plinth and prominence. Some historians claim he used all the racist epithets we abhor, from the n-word to nationalities: “As the great tribal leader of 1940,” read one account, “his glorious speeches were peppered with references to the British race.”…