August 9, 2013

Finest Hour 118, Spring 2003

Page 05

For many of us, The Churchill Centre was founded to serve as the worldwide focal point of interest in Winston Churchill: to assist “Churchillians”—critics and admirers alike—in pursuing their varied interests in the people and events Churchill touched during his unprecedented career as statesman, writer, speaker, painter, and sage. We exist equally to awaken and mobilize the appreciation of Churchill and his achievements which resides—however unrecognized—in vast numbers of people who cherish liberty, and are willing to defend it.

Although headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Centre is not a reincarnation of the now-dormant International Churchill Society of the United States. The Centre is a new entity with a worldwide mandate, international leadership and, we hope and believe, universal appeal to anyone whose political and personal freedoms are of high importance.

This international aspect cannot be overemphasized—and that is why our Board of Governors voted unanimously in January to “internationalize” the spelling of our name. The Churchill Centre has no national borders.

We boast members from scores of countries from India to Brazil, Denmark to Australia. Our immediate past President is a Canadian. The chairman of our 2002 International Conference in Virginia was British. Our 2003 Conference in Bermuda is co-chaired by a Canadian and a Briton. The 2004 Conference will be in England and Normandy, and the 2005 Conference is scheduled for Quebec City. While the majority of our funding does come from the United States, the Centre receives substantial financial support from beyond American borders. Four of our academic advisers, our Patron, eleven of our Honorary Members, two of our Trustees, and four of our Governors are not American citizens.

2024 International Churchill Conference

Join us for the 41st International Churchill Conference. London | October 2024

More

There are “fraternal organizations” besides The Churchill Centre, largely in the English-speaking world, which are deeply devoted to Sir Winston and to Churchillian ideals. Some have existed for decades, developing a rich heritage of successful meetings, important scholarly material, oral history, and the nourishment of close, rewarding and lasting friendships. These organizations and their activities have continually supported the burgeoning interest in and devotion to the Churchill legacy.

New groups with similar aspirations are constantly emerging. They are usually under-funded, under-supported and under-recognized; and the considerable efforts of the volunteers who organize and lead them are often under-appreciated.

Col. Nigel Knocker, a Churchill Centre Governor and the highly respected chairman of ICS UK, and I have often discussed our shared vision of The Centre as the primary unifying body among a galaxy of worldwide Churchill organizations—the spiritual home for the many who belong to no other Churchill group, and a major resource for those well-established independent groups who choose to use it. At Nigel’s suggestion, the Centre’s Executive Committee considered and adopted as Centre policy that “The Churchill Centre should be the single, unified worldwide body for Churchillians and become as fully integrated with other Churchill organizations as national laws and preferences permit.”

A primary thrust of my presidency will be to pursue steadfastly the vision embodied in this policy—while at the same time being fully sensitive to, and accommodating if at all possible, the identity, desires and prerogatives of all existing organizations and those who belong to them. Yet I believe it important firmly to establish The Churchill Centre as the one organization to which all Churchillians worldwide can look for information, support and encouragement, intellectual stimulation and fellowship, among kindred souls inspired by Winston Spencer Churchill, the man, his achievements, his legacy.