August 6, 2013

Finest Hour 120, Autumn 2003

Page 15

Speaking in defense of the Patriot Act, which gives unprecedented powers to investigators of terrorist activities, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told the American Enterprise Institute: “In the long winter of 1941, Winston Churchill appealed to the United States for help in defending freedom from Nazism with the phrase, ‘Give us the tools and we will finish the job.’ In the days after September 11th, we appealed to Congress for help in defending freedom from terrorism with the same refrain….Congress responded by passing the USA Patriot Act by an overwhelming margin. And while our job is not finished, we have used the tools provided in the Patriot Act to fulfill our first responsibility to protect the American people.” Ashcroft is now defending the act, which opponents say violates civil liberties.

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The United States Congress is presenting Prime Minister Tony Blair with a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his support for America since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and his willingness to join the United States in war against Iraq. The last British leader to be so honored was Winston Churchill.

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Dwight Eisenhower: Soldier, Statesman, Father (Simon & Schuster) resembles Lord Randolph Churchill in that the author, John Eisenhower, is the statesman’s son and a respected military historian. Eisenhower portrays his father as a military man, emphasizing his relationship with the rumbunctious George Patton, his friendship with Winston Churchill, his sometimes tenuous rapprochement with Charles de Gaulle.

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Don’t go near the water: CNN reports that “Industrial pollution from chemical and power plants and excessive spraying of rice fields with herbicides have rendered the Po River unfit to swim or drink, but you can drink in the same serene scenery that lured Monet, Manet, Whistler and Churchill here with their paint boxes.” (WSC didn’t swim in the Po either.)

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According to Reuters, Germany is replacing the word Luftwaffe with the words “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” on the two planes that carry its leaders on official visits to foreign countries. “Obviously, when the President flew to countries where there are certain historical resentments against the Luftwaffe, he didn’t exactly get off to a good start,” said a spokesman for President Johannes Rau. —Terry McGarry

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As the Charles Dickens £10 note ceases to be legal tender, 25% of Britons think the figures on bank notes, such as composer Edward Elgar, social reformer Elizabeth Fry and first Bank of England governor Sir John Houblon, are irrelevant and should be replaced. According to surveys, the figures most people would like to see on the £10 note are soccer star David Beckham (37%) and Winston Churchill (29%). Princess Di attracted 21%, Shakespeare 13%; Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones and singer Robbie Williams tied at 8%. Good news or bad? Probably bad: Peter Hitchens (Christopher’s more agreeable brother) has reissued his controversial book The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana, contending that most Britons no longer recognize the land of their birth. Thus Beckham wins a vote to be put on bank notes—assuming sterling survives at all.