Churchill in Nashville, 1932

Winston Churchill was here on his 1932 lecture tour. He especially liked Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans, Cincinnati, and Ann Arbor—the latter not too far from Hillsdale College. “And who would miss Chattanooga,” he wrote, “lying in its cup between the Blue Ridge and Lookout Mountain?”

East, west, north, and south he rode the rails, “living all day on my back in a railway compartment and addressing in the evening large audiences.” His theme was Anglo-American unity. He concluded, rather startlingly for someone with his background: “It is the hardest work I have had in my life.”

Aside from making money—something he was always short of in those days—he was keen to visit battlefields of the Civil War, which he would describe in his History of the English-Speaking Peoples. At Murfreesboro, he observed “the greatest bravery by both sides.” The Federals lost 9000, Braxton Bragg’s Confederates over 10,000. “The Federal hold on Nashville was unshaken, and Bragg withdrew to cover Chattanooga. Murfreesboro gave the impression of a drawn battle….”

Churchill viewed the Civil War as Lincoln did, “with malice toward none and charity for all”—as a milestone toward what the Constitution calls “a more perfect union.” He understood and admired the courage and devotion of both sides. I doubt he would approve tearing down any of their statues. But that’s just my opinion.

And because he had studied the Civil War, he knew on December 7th, 1941 that World War II was won. He didn’t attempt to guess how long it would take. But he knew for certain that  “America was in the war, up to the neck, and in to the death.”

Current Contentions

Alas, this noble spirit is the subject of current contentions, and bad movies from “Dunkirk” to “The Crown.” Not a month passes when he is not accused of something dreadful, from alcoholism and racism to misogyny and warmongering. Confronting this busy industry is the purpose of my book.

Critics often set Churchill up as the savior of 1940, then tear him down with a familiar litany: his self-centeredness; his liking for gas warfare and carpet bombing; the rude things he said about Hindus or Jews or Muslims; his disdain for the uncivilized, meaning anyone other than card-carrying Englishmen.

The assault is both personal and political. The personal includes charges that he was a school dunce, a failure in marriage, avid for conflict. There are side-claims about his parents. Lord Randolph died of syphilis. Lady Randolph slept with 200 men. His brother Jack was not Lord Randolph’s son.

Policy critiques range from what he did—like defending Antwerp and attacking the Dardanelles—to what he didn’t do—not bombing Auschwitz, not feeding occupied Europe, not stopping the Bengal famine.

Where do people get these notions? The scholar Harry Jaffa said that detraction of the great has become a passion for those who cannot suffer greatness—a skewed vision of the egalitarian principle, the theory that there are no great figures, we are all the same.

We may not claim that Churchill was infallible. It diminishes him to treat him as superhuman. On some topics in the book, accomplished scholars have catalogued his failings. I acknowledge these. But I offer certain exculpatory, but more obscure facts.

What to Know

The first thing to know about Churchill is that there is more to him than 1940. Sir Martin Gilbert, his great biographer, wrote: “As I open file after file of Churchill’s archive, from his entry into Government in 1905 to his retirement in 1955, I am continually surprised by the truth of his assertions, the modernity of his thought, the originality of his mind, the constructiveness of his proposals, his humanity, and, most remarkable of all, his foresight.”

The “macro-Churchill” thought deeply about the nature of humanity and its institutions. The “micro-Churchill” helped to solve intractable problems. In 1921, he helped to secure Irish independence. In Cairo around the same time, he drew boundaries of today’s Middle East.

This was an act some say we should not thank him for. Yet he established a stable Jordan, which is there yet. He confirmed Britain’s commitment to a Jewish national home, which is also there. Churchill also proposed a Kurdish homeland. Let us, he said, “protect the Kurds from some future bully in Iraq.” That’s just Winston being silly, the Foreign Office said. We’ll never have any trouble from Iraq.

In the 1930s he opposed self-government for India, and lost. He then sent a message to Gandhi… “Use the powers that are offered. Make the thing a success.” Gandhi actually admired Churchill. Since 1906, in fact. “I have a good recollection from when he was in the Colonial Office,” Gandhi said. “I have held the opinion that I can always rely on his sympathy and goodwill.”

Liberal Reformer

As a young statesman, Churchill campaigned for a “minimum standard” guaranteed by the state. But he called socialism “the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, the gospel of envy.” He strove to help the needy while not dislocating the system that generated that help. “Churchill’s writings and speeches are full of reflections and philosophy that offer food for thought,” wrote the historian Paul Addison. “It is rare to dis­cover in the archives the reflec­tions of a politi­cian on the nature of man.”

In the first part of the book, covering Churchill’s early youth, I consider his mother’s supposed indiscretions, the parentage of his brother Jack, his early troubles with education, and what really killed Lord Randolph Churchill. But I think you’ll most enjoy Chapter 1—the lighthearted myth that Churchill was part Native American. Like Elizabeth Warren. He himself believed this, and was proud of it.

* * *

Continued in Nashville (2):The Myth of Churchill’s American Indian Ancestors

Note: Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality is now available in paperback, with a lower price for the Kindle edition.  Click here.

The Churchill Society of Tennessee held its autumn banquet program in Nashville on the evening of Saturday October 14th. Our guest speaker, Richard M. Langworth, CBE discussed “Winston Churchill: Current Contentions.” Some 200 members and friends attended.

Residing in Moultonborough, New Hampshire and Eleuthera, Bahamas, Langworth is a writer and publisher of works on Winston S. Churchill and automotive history. His newest book is Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality: What He Actually Did and Said (McFarland, August).

Churchill Works

Langworth is also author or editor of A Connoisseur’s Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, Churchill in His Own Words, Churchill By Himself and nine other books about Churchill. In 1991 he published the first American edition of Winston Churchill’s rare 1931 collection of speeches, India.

Richard founded the Churchill Study Unit (1968), serving as president, and president of its successors the International Churchill Society and Churchill Centre (1988–99). In 2000-06 he was chairman of its board of trustees. He was editor of the Churchill journal Finest Hour from 1968 to 1970 and 1982 to 2014, and editorial consultant to the National Churchill Museum in 2011-15. Since 2014, he has been Senior Fellow for the Churchill Project at Hillsdale College, which is completing Churchill’s official biography.

In 1998, he was created a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by HM The Queen for services to Anglo-American understanding and history.

Automotive

The author of fifty books and 2000 articles about classic cars, Richard was editor of The Packard Cormorant from 1975 through 2001, and is a Trustee of the Packard Motorcar Foundation (Detroit). His works have won awards from the Antique Automobile Club of America, Society of Automotive Historians, Old Cars Weekly, The Packard Club and the Graphic Arts Association of New Hampshire. He is also editor of The Rainbow Times, publication of the Rainbow Bay Association on Eleuthera.

For current Tennessee events contact John H. Mather MD, President Churchill Society of Tennessee, 1015 West Main Street, Franklin, TN 37064. Tel: (240) 353-6782. Email: Johnmather@aol.com