June 3, 2015

Finest Hour 101, Winter 1998-99

Page 05

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QUOTE OF THE SEASON

“When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind, want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong— these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.”
-WSC, HOUSE OF COMMONS, 12 April 1935

PARIS REMEMBERS

PARIS, NOVEMBER 11TH— Following a salute, the Union Flag and Tricolour which veil the statue slide to the ground and are quickly folded by four cadets, two from Sandhurst, two from Saint-Cyr. To the Churchill statue that she has just unveiled, Elizabeth II gives an emotional smile. On this Armistice Day 1998, Her Majesty is Parisian. And she has just unveiled, with President Jacques Chirac, a monument by sculptor Jean Cardot, dedicated by France to the most famous British Prime Minister of the century: a choice which owes nothing to chance. The Queen underlines it by saying that Churchill “would also have wanted to remind me that this same date, 11th November fifty-four years ago, he and General de Gaulle walked down the ChampsElysees together, at the end of the second great conflict which tore into the very heart of Europe.”

The Queen said Churchill, her first Premier, “who guided me with such wisdom and humour through the earliest years of my reign,” had a sometimes difficult relationship with de Gaulle, but would have been delighted with the honour bestowed by France, a country he “loved all his life.” Churchill is only the second Briton honoured with a Paris statue, after Edward VII, in honour of his efforts to improve Anglo-French understanding at the beginning of the century.

Lady Soames, Sir Winston’s daughter, was acknowledged first since it was at her initiative that, on 22 June 1993, Her Majesty The Queen Mother inaugurated a fund for a statue of General de Gaulle in London. In return, France chose Armistice Day 1998 to erect beside the Seine, opposite a bronze statue of Clemenceau, Father of Victory in 1918, a monument to the man General de Gaulle called the Father of Victory in 1945. After the ceremony at Churchill’s statue, Her Majesty placed other flowers at the statue of Clemenceau, where Churchill had laid them on this day in 1944.

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Arriving in Paris the evening before, the Queen began the day by laying a wreath under the Arc de Triomphe. The ceremony, on the 80th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I, carried a special solemnity. Marne taxis, a battery of artillery, vintage Renault carriages and de Dion Bouton trucks evoked the Great War. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of this 11th month, the President of France greeted The Queen as she arrived at the head of the Champs Elysees, among ranks of a cavalry regiment of the Guard. Together the Heads of State bowed before the flame of the unknown poilu, each wearing symbols of the battles in which the two allies fought. Elizabeth II greeted a delegation of former soldiers, among them General Bourgeois, 102 years old, who voluntarily enlisted at age 17 in 1914 as a defender of Verdun.

Among the guests who gathered for a luncheon at the Elysee Palace were Pierre Mesmer, head of the honorary committee for the Churchill statue, Lady Soames and Sir Winston’s grandson who bears his name. The toasts between Her Majesty and President Chirac were made with Pol Roger Champagne, cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 1988. This was a fitting ceremony to mark the new statue of a man who first incarnated resistance to the Third Reich by announcing, on 4 June 1940: “We shall never surrender.”

Later in the day, The Queen was received in Wevelgem, Belgium by King Albert II and Queen Paola. With the Irish President, Mme. McAleese, the Royals visited the Irish memorial of Messines. Their Majesties then travelled on to Ypres where, each evening, the horn sounds for the Allied soldiers who fell.

-Antoine Michelland in Paris Match, Translated by Gail Greenly

USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

BATH, MAINE, JANUARY 7TH— The U.S. Navy’s newest guided missile destroyer (see Datelines in recent issues) will be involved in ceremonies this spring. The launching will be at 2:50 PM Saturday April 17th at Bath Iron Works. Lady Soames and Mrs. William Cohen, wife of the Secretary of Defense, will officiate. The launch is open to the public and members are cordially invited. Information will be mailed to all members in New England and anyone else who requests it by telephoning the editor.

There may be a separate christening ceremony at Bath or Portland on Friday April 23rd, marking the 50th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, attended by various NATO heads of state and government, and Lady Soames. However, the Navy is not sure at this writing whether this event will come off. They are, however, certain that a launch will occur on the 17th. For those too far away to attend both, you should grasp the sure thing and plan to be in Bath April 17th in plenty of time for the launch which, the Navy says, will definitely occur at high tide, 2:50 PM.

HOUSEKEEPING NOTES

As FH commences its second hundred issues, a moderate redesign is upon us. Our title changes to script and incorporates the “V” logo formerly used by ICS/USA (and still used by ICS/UK), a registered trademark.

“Amid These Storms” has been dropped, freeing the editor to contribute more articles. The Churchill Center Report has been folded into “Datelines,” since the Center is intrinsic to all we do. You will inevitably notice adjustments in coming issues as we settle into our new suit of clothes. Thanks to David Eisenlohr and Bev Carr for the title design work, and to Chris Petersen for making it all work.

SHAKESPEARE FIRST

LONDON, JANUARY 2ND— Churchill ran a close second to playwright William Shakespeare in a BBC poll of its listeners for Britain’s greatest personality of the past 1,000 years. Shakespeare polled 11,717 votes, Churchill 10,957, and William Caxton (publisher of the first printed book in the English language) 7,109. Charles Darwin was fourth in the poll with 6,337. Not a bad start for the Millennium sweepstakes; proves BBC listeners a fairly erudite lot, too.

YOUNG MEMBERS WANTED

Not everyone who joins The Churchill Center or Societies gives an age. Among about 1000 American members who do, five percent are under thirty. A more encouraging statistic is that the average American member age is only 48, and the average age of those joining through the Internet (now our largest source of new members) is 44. WE WANT YOUNG MEMBERS! If you are not a member already, or know someone who should be, remember that USA student membership costs only $20; and if even that is a hardship, mail or Email us with your situation and let us see what we can do. For example, there are plenty of regular members who will gladly subsidize subscriptions of young people who are genuinely interested. Similar student discounts are also offered by ICS UK and Canada. Write to the national offices listed on page 2.

ANOTHER MUSICAL

PASADENA, NOVEMBER 6TH— From tonight through December 20th the Pasadena Playhouse (State Theatre of California) produced “Only a Kingdom,” which marked the second appearance of Churchill in a musical production. (The first was Robert Hardy in the title role of “Winnie,” some years ago in London.) “Only a Kingdom” was about the Abdication of Edward VIII. The actor playing WSC, John Connolly, bore a remarkable physical likeness and had mannerisms that looked Churchillian. In the play, Churchill was portrayed as spokesman for the Royal Family, specifically the Queen Mother, who were all strongly against King Edward’s abdication. [She was indeed, but in the real-life episode Churchill took the King’s part against the majority of Parliament. -Ed.] I do not know if this play will ever reach the east coast. It was well acted; Stan Chandler as Edward VIII had a great voice; but as theater, I’ve seen better. -David Crone

LOST AT SEA

SYDNEY, DECEMBER 28TH— The Australian sailing sloop Winston Churchill (FH 100, p. 6) sank during a raging storm in the Tasman Sea during the annual Sydney-to-Hobart race, broken up by 90 mph winds and seas as high as 35 feet which arrived almost without warning. The race ended with six dead and numerous yachts lost. Winston Churchill was abandoned at sea. Of her nine-man crew, seven including skipper Richard Winning and 19-year-old Michael Rynan (at sea for the first time) were rescued from life rafts while two crew-mates were swept off the rafts some 95 miles from shore.

Winston Churchill put up a game fight, but after hours of battering a huge wave broke to leeward, ripping loose chain plates, breaking planks and, perhaps, driving her mast through her hull. The boat rapidly filled with water. Winning cast off his raft as the stern was sinking. He turned to help a mate and when he looked back the mast was disappearing. The lashes parted and the rafts were soon separated and out of sight of one another. Winning’s raft capsized twice, which required some survivors to go overboard to right it. The rafts were conical with a shallow pointed top; with three people inside all their weight is below the water line so they are theoretically impossible to capsize—they capsized twice. In the aftermath, Richard Winning vowed never to race again.

Our thanks for this report to the Sydney Herald and Clarence Martin. Finest Hour extends deepest sympathy to family members and survivors.

STATUS OF WAR PAPERS III

LONDON, JANUARY 17TH^ Sir Martin Gilbert has kindly advised us that The Ever-Widening War: 1941, his third volume of Churchill War Papers and the final “Companion Volume” to Biographic Volume 6 of the Official Biography, is to be published Monday 18 October by Heinemann. He is “on a crash schedule” to complete all final editorial work in February. (Sir Martin turned the manuscript for this book in to the English publisher, Heinemann, in December 1997.)

During 1998 Heinemann’s parent, Reed Consumer Group, was bought by Random House. The takeover was, in words of a most reliable source, “the most almighty mess and the Reed records were, and are, less than adequate.” Sir Martin’s news makes us cautiously optimistic, and we congratulate him (in Churchill’s words) for “continuing to pester, nag and bite.”

We also hope the new managers get real, and reconsider the ridiculous £95 per copy UK price—the identical Norton US edition lists at $75 (our price $58)—and that they stop scrapping remainder copies of the Official Biography (if there are any left) rather than distributing them to needy schools and libraries.

Alas the previous Heinemann management has put virtually all the biographic and companion volumes out of print—including, now, Volume I of the War Papers. Their press runs of the Volume 5 Companions (1922-1939) were so small that the books now cost over $300 on the secondhand market; even Sir Martin lacks one of them. Given that record, things can only get better. Had primary responsibility for editing and producing the War Papers been given to the Norton publishers years ago when this project began, we would probably have four or five volumes in print by now. New management is good news. -RML

NOT REALLY “OFFICIAL”

Incidentally, the name “Official Biography” is somewhat misleading, as Sir Martin Gilbert noted in a 1991 interview with Brian Lamb on C-Span’s “Book-notes”: “I’m called the official biographer, though to the enormous credit of the Churchill family they’ve never asked to see a single word of what I was writing until the books were printed and bound and ready for sale to the public. They never asked me to delete a word or to skirt around a particular issue. So ‘official’ is a misnomer if it’s thought to mean a censored or restricted biographer.”

THE VIRTUAL CENTER

Because our website and other places say, “The Churchill Center, Washington, D.C.,” we occasionally get communications from people who want to visit our building. Of all possible answers we like Dr. Mather’s the best: The CC is a “virtual center.” It certainly exists, as its many activities show, but it does not own or occupy a building. This is not to say it doesn’t plan to—a building fund is part of its extended endowment.

Meanwhile, for anyone with questions about membership, joining, gift membership or other business, you have only to telephone our toll-free number, (888) WSC-1874, to find the cheery voice of administrator Lorraine Horn, who will be pleased to answer questions or direct to you someone who can.

“WSC”: PRO AND CON

A reader has suggested that we should not use the initials “WSC” in reference to Winston S. Churchill because using the initials, like, say, JFK, FDR and so on, isn’t British practice. We have accordingly diminished our use of “WSC,” but we haven’t abandoned it. True, Britons do not refer to people by their initials as often as Americans do (though everyone knows who EIIR is, and Stanley Baldwin was always “SB” to his colleagues). But for editorial practicality (in lieu of repeating “Churchill” all too often) “WSC” cannot be bettered.

“Sir Winston” is usually too formal (and he wasn’t that until 1953). “Winston Spencer Churchill” rarely fits. “Winston” is too familiar, and we are informed that he despised “Winnie.” “WSC” has its function and we don’t think WSC would mind too much. He wore the initials on his carpet slippers, penned them on official documents, even had a “WSC” template so he could “sign” his paintings. Also, his daughter and biographer both use “WSC” freely. Good enough for us!

CHURCHILL POSTERS

ICS Canada and our Internet team have produced superb posters, carrying the most famous photograph of Churchill, kindly authorized for use by Yousuf Karsh. The posters advertise the Churchill Home Page, www.winstonchurchill.org, and are designed to interest teachers and students in Churchill and our organizations. Hundreds have already been distributed free of charge to schools in Canada, the U.S.A. and Great Britain. Most posters are 18×24″ but a few were printed in a more compact 12×18″ and either is presently available. For the time being, they come in a tube with the 1995 Conference poster marking “Churchill, Roosevelt and the end of World War II.”

Posters are free to teachers, students, schools and colleges. Please Email or mail us with the name and address of the school, the teacher or department head to whom they should be addressed. (Limit two to a customer.)

Posters are also free to current members. In U.S.A., please send $5 payable to “Churchill Center” to the editor, to cover the cost of postage and packing. In Canada send C$5 payable to “ICS” to John Pumpton. In UK send £2 payable to “ICS” to Nigel Knocker. (Addresses are all on page 2.)

YOU COULD OWN ONE

NOVEMBER HTH— In case you have your heart set on obtaining a 1941 Enigma machine, one was being auctioned at: <www.breker.com/english/index.htm>. The catalog description said it was complete except for “Birnen,” so I logged onto the LEO German-English online dictionary and found out this word means “pears” in English! Well, I guess the light bulbs are sort of pear-shaped. Estimate DM 12.000-18.000. The previous one went for DM 24.034 ($13,400 or £8,000). –Jim Kirk <[email protected]>

CAROL SUZUKI

SANTA MONICA, JUNE 4TH— A regular and longtime attendee at Churchill conferences and tours and beloved wife of Peter Suzuki, Carol died in her sleep after a two-year battle against cancer. Born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia, Carol Jean Bonar worked for the US State Department while pursuing her history degree at the George Washington University. In 1970 she moved to Wiesbaden, Germany, to study German. Here she met Peter, who was teaching for the University of Maryland in the same city. They were married in January 1972, honeymooned on the island of Djerba, Tunisia, and moved to Omaha, Nebraska. Here they remained, with Peter pursuing his teaching career at the University of Nebraska.

Everyone who knew Carol Suzuki rejoiced in her friendly and outgoing manner and her deep knowledge of the Churchill saga. Peter Suzuki’s many friends in The Churchill Center and Societies send their heartfelt sympathy. Our grief, though not so great as his, is deeply felt. -RML

ON THE MAP

WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 27TH— National Geographic maps have been an important resource for world leaders, scientists, explorers, academics, travelers, and millions of readers of the renowned yellow-bordered magazine. During World War II, NG‘s 1944 map, “Germany and Its Approaches,” became Churchill’s personal briefing map. Half a century later during the Gulf War, National Geographic received 10,000 additional requests from the public for a map of the Middle East. A new map was created and included in the February 1991 issue of National Geographic. The Society donated 50,000 copies of the map to U.S. military units throughout the Persian Gulf.

THE THINGS THEY SAY, cont’d…

LONDON, OCTOBER 30TH— Winston Churchill has demanded a retraction of a slur in a Daily Mail gossip column, which repeated the old story that his grandfather once slept with actor/playwright Ivor Novello, describing the experience as “musical.” Apparently this was picked up from Ted Morgan’s biography of Somerset Maugham, and a Novello biography by James Harding. The Mail asserted that historian Andrew Roberts (Eminent Churchillians) backed up the lie in his review of Clive Ponting’s (dreadful) Churchill biography. But what Roberts said was that this was just about the only lie about Sir Winston which Ponting did not include!

EU HONOURS “VISIONARIES”

BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 28TH— Sir Winston is one of nine “visionaries from the past” honoured by European Parliament buildings in Brussels, Strasbourg or Luxembourg named for them. The other eight: Italian anti-fascist Altiero Spinelli and postwar premier Alcide De Gasperi; postwar German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer; French feminist Louise Weiss; Spanish diplomat Salvador de Madariaga; Belgian statesman Paul-Henri Spaak; Czech-born Nobel peace prize winner Bertha Von Suttner; and French statesman Robert Schuman. –Daily Mail

THE OLD GAS BAG

LONDON, NOVEMBER 2ND— Winston Churchill considered unleashing poison gas on Germany in the last year of World War II, The Guardian reports. Citing a memo discovered in Britain’s public archives, the newspaper said Churchill contemplated a mustard gas attack that would “drench the cities of Ruhr and many other cities in Germany in such a way that most of the population would be requiring medical attention.”

Churchill’s comments were made in the letter to General Sir Hastings Ismay, secretary of the War Cabinet, on 6 July 1944, the newspaper said. Churchill said the only reason that Germany had not used gas on the Allies was because “they fear retaliation…Not certainly out of moral scruples or affection for us.” But Churchill added that he would not use the gas unless it could be shown it was “life or death for us” or that “it would shorten the war by a year,” The Guardian said. “In the meanwhile, I want the matter studied in cold blood by sensible people and not by that particular set of psalm-singing uniformed defeatists which one runs across now here now there,” Churchill continued. After some study, Ismay told Churchill the military chiefs thought a gas attack would not have a “decisive” effect on the war and Churchill accepted their decision.

We are sure to see eventually a warped version of this report from some modern-day psalm-singing uninformed defeatists to illustrate WSC’s ungodliness. Remember, you read the truth here.