Winston Churchill, a Man of All Seasons
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Winston Churchill. |
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, DL, FRS, RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was perhaps the most successful man of the 20th Century. Sure, others made more money, had bigger families, invented this or that, or did whatever else you may think constitutes success.
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Official portrait of Winston Churchill. |
Churchill, however, did more with less. He bounced back from adversity more often, and to greater effect than anyone else during the 20th Century. Just for starters, Churchill was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States.
Churchill also won the Nobel Prize in Literature. And he's legendary despite the fact nobody really remembers or cares about either of those two facts.
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Jennie Jerome, Winston's American mother, when Winston was a lad. |
Like so many other leaders who had huge impacts on their country, Churchill wasn't completely "of" England. His mother, Jennie Churchill, was a socialite from Brooklyn, back in the days when Brooklyn was a separate city and an address there was considered classy. There was some controversy about Winston's birthdate, which was only eight months after the wedding, but Winston would only comment, "Although present on the occasion, I have no clear recollection of the events leading up to it."
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Churchill at the beach in the swimsuit of the time. |
Winston did the usual thing for ambitious and able young men at the height of the Empire, serving overseas with distinction after going through Sandhurst. He was noticeable for actively maneuvering to go where the fighting was thickest, thereby advancing himself.
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With Kaiser Wilhelm II, on maneuvers in 1909.
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Hungry for money, he became a war correspondent, visiting the States and Cuba among other places. Churchill also tried to learn to fly twice, first in 1913-1914 and then in 1919. One of his early instructors (Captain Gilbert Wildman-Lushington RMA) crashed. His second attempt ended with a crash of his own at Croydon 18 July 1919, with Group Captain Alan John Lance Scott as the instructor.
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Winston and daughter Mary watching measures to combat flying bombs in the south of England June 1944, shortly after D-Day. |
Winston sustained minor injuries, and his wife and others in government grew concerned and asked him to stop. Though he claimed it was useful to learn to fly to better understand the challenges facing the Royal Naval Air Service (founded during his tenure as First Sea Lord), he eventually did give up.
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Churchill as a war correspondent in 1899. |
Winston retained his love of flying his entire life, and reportedly would take the controls of his Dakota aircraft during World War II, and somewhat mysteriously he seems to have worn some air wings (on an Air Commodore's uniform) signifying his status as a pilot during that time. Winston was a man on the move, and hungry to advance himself and take risks.
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"Churchill with his flying machine at the Central Flying School at Upavon on Salisbury Plain, May 1914." |
With a full resume and family connections galore, he won a seat in Parliament as a Conservative and was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, just in time for World War I. He instigated the disastrous Gallipoli campaign and had to resign in 1915, but he quickly bounced back. He served in command positions on the Western Front, again building up his resume at serious risk to his own life.
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Churchill holding a M128 Thompson, 1940. |
Reportedly present at the New York Stock Exchange during the Wall Street market crash of 1929, Winston survived the inter-war years in good humor, though money always was a concern. His political instincts were not particularly good, praising Mussolini and opposing Indian independence, but those were common attitudes of the time. He consistently opposed German rearmament efforts, realizing the danger of a powerful Germany. His main worry, though, was Communism. He was no fan of the Soviet Union, or of Stalin. As he later said, though,
"If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons."
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Young Winston Churchill, 1895. |
Things started coming to a head with Germany in the late 1930s. Always able to coin a memorable phrase, Churchill dismissed the Munich Agreement made by a naive Prime Minister with Adolf Hitler with the succinct line, "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war." War soon followed as Winston knew it would. The British government was in trouble, and it suddenly became quite handy to be known as the most strident critic of its failed policies towards Germany.
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Another picture of Churchill as a subaltern, 1895. |
The choice for a new Prime Minister came down to Churchill or Lord Halifax. Since Halifax was a member of the House of Lords, the feeling was that it would be better not to have a Lord in charge of the war effort - though Churchill was at least as much a member of the aristocracy as anyone else. Churchill being an elected member of the House of Commons made all the difference. Halifax (supposedly) turned down the job, and Winston was in. It was a good thing, too, because Halifax later became in interested in a settlement with Hitler, which Churchill successfully opposed.
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Winston in 1899, complete with mustache. |
Churchill rallied the country against the German Blitz, and many of his lines became clichés. Some of his best lines ("This was their finest hour") have become so associated with the war that people forget that Churchill first came up with them (or at least was the first to popularize them). Their tone of utter defiance and determination have been lightly mocked ever since, but they saved his country.
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