August 5, 2013

Finest Hour 120, Autumn 2003

Page 06

QUOTATION OF THE SEASON

“Death and sorrow will be the companions of our journey; hardship our garment; constancy and valour our only shield. We must be united, we must be undaunted, and we must be inflexible.”
—WSC, House of Commons, 8 October 1940


“DEATH AND SORROW”

WASHINGTON, JULY 9TH— The quotation above was referred to concerning suicide terrorists by Yonah Alexander, professor and director, Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies; and Kerrie Martin, research associate at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. “In sum,” they write, “universal expressions of contempt and revulsion of these atrocities are only a first step. Both political resolve and concrete counter-terrorism measures are required beyond any ceasefire temporary arrangements. Indeed, the message communicated by Winston Churchill in October 1940 serves as a useful guideline for current and future strategies….”

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RUNNER UP

LONDON, AUGUST 15TH— Scientist Sir Isaac Newton triumphed in a poll for the greatest Briton conducted with an international audience. Viewers of BBC World Voted the discoverer of gravity as the most respected Briton, ahead of Churchill who was voted the greatest Briton in a similar UK-wide poll last year. Sir Isaac polled 21.4% of the online audience; Sir Winston was second with 17%. The apple doesn’t fall far.. .oh never mind.

HALLOWE’EN SPIRITS

FREDERICKN. RASMUSSEN in the Maryland Online site, is a regular teller of Churchill tales. As you will be reading this around Hallowe’en, we excerpt from his article of a year ago at that season.

“Experts in the field of spectral phenomena claim that Maryland and Washington are rich in sightings of the not so dearly departed. Deep in Greenbriar Swamp in the lowlands of Dorchester County, residents tell of Big Liz, the headless slave who guards a treasure trove buried by her master.

“Another ghost story dating to the Civil War that has persisted through the years is that of repeated appearances of Abraham Lincoln, who has been seen standing in a window of the White House staring toward Virginia, as he had done often during the war.

“Even Churchill, who thought nothing of taking on Hitler and Mussolini, was not happy when assigned to the Lincoln bedroom. Quite often, he was found in a vacant bedroom across the hall the next morning.”

Finest Hour would be happy to learn if there is anything to the Churchill-Lincoln bedroom story.

“SOMEWHAT DISREPUTABLE”

LOS ANGELES, JULY 27TH— In an otherwise accurate account of the Churchill book industry (which is booming), William Wallace of the Los Angeles Times could not resist digging a little dirt:

“Relations between the Churchill family and many professional historians have been strained ever since the younger Churchill secured $20 million from the British lottery fund not to sell his grandfather’s private papers to an American university in 1995. The lottery grant was viewed as cultural extortion in many quarters, where the popular understanding had been that Churchill’s papers were supposed to go to the British people. The outrage was further fueled when it turned out that the grandson had kept the copyright, meaning anyone wanting to quote significant chunks of Churchillian passages had to pay for it.”

Mr. Wallace then quoted an individual claiming to represent a Churchill organization that Sir Winston’s family writing books amounts to “cashing in [and] somewhat disreputable…. What is it, fifteen or eighteen books now?”

What is “somewhat disreputable” is the sowing of envy and scorn, which a number of people known and unknown cannot resist where Churchill is involved. (See FH 87, Summer 1995, pages 4, 12 and 36.) The Los Angeles Times published the following letter from the editor of Finest Hour:

“As an editor charged with finding reviewers for the continuing avalanche of Churchill books, I appreciated Mr. Wallace’s account. But I have to point that the individual he quoted does not speak for The Churchill Centre, since his views would impugn the great man himself. Winston Churchill began the family book industry in 1908 with his biography of his father, Lord Randolph; and Martin Gilbert’s commanding Churchill biography would never have existed had not Sir Winston’s son Randolph begun that task in 1965—as Sir Martin often reminds us.

“Mr. Wallace was also incorrect to suggest that the sale (for a paltry sum, given the nature of the material) of the Churchill Papers was ‘cultural extortion,’ and that retention of the copyright means ‘anyone wanting to quote significant chunks of Churchillian passages [has] to pay for it.’ The Churchill Centre has published significant chunks of Sir Winston’s writing for twenty-five years at absolutely no charge, by courtesy of his grandson—as have many other non-profit, charitable and educational institutions.

“Levying charges for commercial use is a perfectly legitimate function of Churchill’s will, which left the copyright to his son and grandson. As William Manchester wrote, a writer’s work is as much his property as an artist’s painting or a computer programmer’s program: ‘Authors are forever being told that they should give their work to society, that to expect money in return is, well, tacky.’ Would Mr. Wallace regard his heirs charging for the rights to his work as ‘cultural extortion’?”

TONY AS WINSTON

WASHINGTON, JULY 17TH— Tony Blair laid it on thick. His address to Congress on Thursday was a Transatlantic Union speech, and he pronounced it glowingly great. In terms that might make even a chest-beating American patriot blush, the British PM asked little of America except to press on “in this fight for liberty America must listen as well as lead,” he continued. “But, members of Congress, don’t ever apologize for your values. Tell the world why you’re proud of America.”

Blair thanked President Bush for doing the “tough but right” thing in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for his and President Clinton’s efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland, and for $15 billion more to fight AIDS in poor countries. But it was his ringing endorsement of the action in Iraq—and his biting criticism of those who accuse America of imperialism—that stood out. “There has never been a time when the power of America was so necessary, or so misunderstood,” he said.

Like Winston Churchill, who came before Congress the month the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor and plunged into war, he quoted Abraham Lincoln, although for a different purpose. “Those that deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves,” Blair quoted. “Why America?” he asked rhetorically. “And the only answer is: because destiny put you in this place in history, in this moment in time and the task is yours to do…. You are not going to be alone. We will be with you in this fight for liberty.”

It was not the first time a British leader had offered flattery in a perilous age. On 26 December 1941 Churchill, in the thick of the fight against the Axis, with his host country attacked by Japan and newly in the fight, came to Congress to declare how grave were the dangers. “But here in Washington in these memorable days I have found an Olympian fortitude which, far from being based upon complacency, is only the mask of an inflexible purpose and the proof of a sure, well-grounded confidence in the final outcome,” Churchill said.

Blair, surely a student of that speech, also saw virtue in U.S. power. He went so far as to say it need not be balanced with competing powers, saying of that notion, “It is dangerous because it is not rivalry but partnership that we need.” Europe must “defeat the anti-Americanism that sometimes passes for political discourse.”
—Calvin Woodward © 2003 Associated Press

CHRISTINA ANYONE?

NEW YORK, AUGUST 15TH—With yachts, as with everything, it pays to shop around, writes Breckenridge Ely in Forbes. If you’re looking for a short but exciting trip, $100,000 will get you and thirty six guests a day and a half on Aristotle Onassis’s former yacht, the 32 5-foot Christina. Ari’s famous bar is where Sir Winston Churchill first met Jacqueline Kennedy. A memorable view of the Onassis entourage aboard Christina in Sir Winston’s day is provided by Celia Sandys in her new book, Chasing Churchill, reviewed on page 30.

FREE ADMISSION TO CHARTWELL

WESTERHAM, KENT, SEPTEMBER 4TH— Chartwell administrator Carole Kenwright has confirmed that, in accord with the statement on their membership cards CC members at the “Supporter” ($250) or higher level will receive free admission to Chartwell. This is an added incentive to support the work of the Centre with your annual renewal. Over a third of CC members renew at more than the basic rate ($40), and for U.S. citizens anything over $40 is tax-deductible. Please keep this in mind when your renewal is up. You will also have our sincere gratitude.

DIANA MOSLEY R.I.P.

PARIS, AUGUST 9TH— The Hon. Lady Diana Mosley, widow of Britain’s prewar Fascist party leader who was imprisoned with her husband as a Nazi sympathizer and was regarded as the most beautiful and most controversial of the famous Mitford sisters, has died of a stroke aged 93. Her second husband, Sir Oswald Mosley, founded the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s, and Diana gave him her full support. She traveled to Germany frequently in the 1930s and often met with Hitler. In 1940 the Mosleys were imprisoned as national security risks. Although she ultimately conceded that Hitler’s actions were wrong, she never expressed regret over her friendship with the man she found “extraordinarily fascinating and clever.”

She was the fourth of seven children of David Mitford, the second Baron Redesdale, and his wife, the former Sydney Bowles. In addition to Diana, Nancy and Deborah, the other Mitford sisters included Unity, who generated controversy in the 1930s with her own pro-Hitler views; Jessica, the author, journalist and onetime Communist Party member, and the less well-known Pamela. Their brother Tom was killed in Burma in 1945.

In 1929 at age 18, Diana married brewing heir Bryan Guinness. They had two children, but the union was short lived. In 1932 she met Mosley and left her husband to live openly with the married political maverick. In 1936, she and Mosley were secretly married in Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels’ house in Berlin. Hitler was one of only six guests. The Mosleys moved to France in 1951, where they became close to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who, like them, were barred from functions at the British Embassy.

PBS CHURCHILL IN OCTOBER

OCTOBER 15TH—The “Churchill” television documentary, which appeared in three parts in Britain, will be screened in the United States on PBS October 15th. PBS will offer all three episodes together, so the show will run from 8pm to 11pm. UK reviews welcome.

“DO NO EVIL”

N. HOLLYWOOD, CALIF., SEPTEMBER 1ST— CC member Michael Berumen has authored Do No Evil: Ethics with Applications to Economic Theory and Business (Universe, ISBN 0-595-65724-9), now available at bookshops and through online services. He shows that not causing evil, and acting to prevent it, are more important than promoting good in formulating universal ethical principles. Berumen makes several references to Churchill, illustrating that moral knowledge is not enough, that one also must be willing to act courageously in the face of evil.

“NEVER GIVE IN”

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, JUNE 29TH— Houston’s Rice University today won the 57th College World Series. When Rice’s Reckling Park was built four years ago, a plaque was placed inside the dugout, with words coach Wayne Graham had inscribed on it: NEVER GIVE IN. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.—WINSTON CHURCHILL 1941. Graham’s players got the message.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

LONDON, JULY 14TH-— The Bank of England cut its benchmark interest rate a quarter of a percentage point, citing a flagging global economy. The new rate of 3.5 percent is the lowest since 1955, when Churchill was prime minister.

MORE WAR ROOMS

LONDON, APRIL 15TH— Nine underground Cabinet War Rooms have been newly restored and added to the twenty-one already on display in Whitehall in London. The complex, adapted from storage areas in 1938 and used by Churchill, his family and his Cabinet during the bombing of London in World War II, was first opened by the Imperial War Museum in 1984.

The new rooms, which went on display in April, include the Chiefs of Staff map room; Churchill’s kitchen, dining room and bedroom; and his private detective’s room. The rooms were restored using wartime photographs, with original furniture and artifacts. Among the highlights are original wartime maps, one with a pencil cartoon of Adolf Hitler, and a leather bound logbook opened at an entry for 26 September 1940: “Japanese Forces state of preparedness for chemical warfare.”

The Cabinet War Rooms is at Clive Steps, King Charles Street; http://www.iwm.org.uk. Admission £7, children under 16 free. Open daily 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (from 10 a.m. October through March).
Melissa D. Boyd

WHY THE PRESIDENT WAITED

SACRAMENTO, CALIF., AUGUST 10TH— Mrs. Dalton Newfleld has been going through her husband’s old correspondence (FH editor and President, 1969 to 1975) and came across a letter containing a report of an amusing incident from Air Force pilot Dick Fitzhugh, dated 13 January 1972:

“I flew Sir Winston when he was in the U.S. for his Fulton Mo. address in 1946. It was an exciting and unforgettable two weeks. Our flights were Miami to Cuba, back to Miami, then to Washington, where he was met by President Truman and travelled to Fulton on the Presidential train. Many things happened on the flights; one made national headlines. This involved his being thrown to the top of the plane—brandy, dinner and all— when we encountered unexpected severe turbulence. It was necessary that President Truman be kept standing in the snow and cold for a long period while Mr. Churchill changed clothes before deplaning in Washington.” —Devoy White

PLUS CA CHANGE…

HABBANIYAH, IRAQ, JULY 5TH— MiG-21 jets rust away where biplanes once stood ready, and American troops now patrol its grounds. But Habbaniyah airfield has changed little since 1941, when it was the scene of a decisive battle for British control. The two-lane streets are lined with the eucalyptus and palm trees planted by the British when the base was finished in 1938, and a few of the original hibiscus, rose and oleander bushes remain. The base’s name means “of the oleander” in Arabic.

Habbaniyah, a town as well as an airfield 35 miles west of Baghdad, has become an important base for U.S. troops in the Sunni heartland. A flying school established there was a critical foothold for the British in April, 1941.

A pro-German junta had taken control of Baghdad and the Allies’ oil supply was in danger of being cut. The British ambassador in Baghdad ordered several thousand British civilians to move to Habbaniyah, while Churchill rushed reinforcements to the British base and to another one in Basra.

On April 30th, junta leader Rashid Ali ordered 9,000 troops to surround and take Habbaniyah. The British troops were vastly outnumbered. But by loading machine guns and bombs onto the training aircraft—mostly biplanes or twin engine training planes—the RAF flight instructors and student pilots defeated three Iraqi brigades, several hundred troops, and ninety-six aircraft. By the end of the battle, British bombers flying from Habbaniyah destroyed the entire Iraqi air force. The ground troops, aided by reinforcements, launched a counterattack, took control of Baghdad, and reinstalled a friendly government.
—Chris Tomlinson, Associated Press

Our only question is: how often every century do we have to do this?

HAD FEISAL LIVED

WASHINGTON, JULY 31ST— The September issue of Smithsonian contains an illuminating article on Iraq’s century of violence, blaming most of it on the British, who helped liberate the country for its oil, which was T. E. Lawrence’s complaint (see last issue). This encouraged anti-British elements to gravitate to the Nazis in World War II (see above). The author speculates that had Faisal, Iraq’s first king, who died prematurely at 48, lived a normal span, he would have created a truly independent Iraq and stitched together its Sunni, Shiite, Kurdish and other minorities. So Churchill’s choice to run the place in 1920 was the right choice after all? Well…he doesn’t quite say that!

DEAD WHITE MALES IN L.A.

LOS ANGELES, JUNE 29TH— The biography section of libraries has changed, writes Thomas P. Evans in the Los Angeles Times. ‘When I was a teenager, the biographies I read were mostly about white men who were athletes, authors, soldiers or presidents Recently, however, I noticed the selections under Jackson: Anne, Stonewall, Shoeless Joe, Michael, La Toya, Mahalia, Jesse, Scoop (Henry), Andrew, Reggie, Bo. If a Martian landed to learn what made us tick, he could do worse than read the Jackson biographies. When I was young, Stonewall and Andrew would have been the only Jackson bios on the shelf.

“The number of biography volumes on the shelves is usually an indication of the effect their lives had or have on our society. For example, in my hometown library I recently found fifty-seven biographies of the Kennedys, followed by the Roosevelts (forty-four), Abraham Lincoln (thirty-two), George Washington (twenty-five), Dwight Eisenhower (twenty-one) and Winston Churchill (eighteen).”

Which makes WSC number one among “foreigners” in LA, yes?

NEW ACCOMS IN BLADON

BLADON, OXON., JULY 7TH— Clark Wiseman of Strato UK writes: “We are in the process of renovating three cottages behind the Bladon church yard. We intend to rent these to visitors and holiday makers in the area on a weekly basis. They will be finished in an arts and crafts style and there will be no expense spared. I wondered if there was any interest from yourselves on a way that this could be marketed to your members?” We replied that we would be glad to mention this development. Visitors to Blenheim, Bladon and Oxford who are interested may contact Mr Wiseman at +44 (0) 1993 811111, fax +44 (0) 1993 812074, or website, www.strato.co.uk.

ERRATUM

Finest Hour 119: on page 18, for “Feisal and his son…ruled Iraq…until the revolution of 1958,” read “Feisal and his descendants…,” etc. (Feisal died in 1933, his son Ghazi died in 1939; his grandson, Feisal II, took the throne at age 4, ruled under a regent until 1953, and was assassinated in 1958.)

HOVE HELP WANTED

Finest Hour 118: on page 7, “Datelines” pictured a plaque at Hove, Brighton, which states that young Winston attended the Misses Thomson Preparatory School at Hove from 1883 to 1885. The spelling of “Thomson” and the dates are incorrect. We checked with Alan Packwood, Keeper of the Churchill Archives, who writes: “We have school reports for Churchill for St. George’s School, Ascot up to and including the summer of 1884. The first surviving report for Brighton is September 1884. The final date is also wrong as letters here indicate that Churchill stayed at the Brighton School until 1888, when he went up to Harrow. In my opinion, the plaque should read 1884-88.” Adjacent stonework is similarly wrong. Hove authorities tell us they cannot afford a new plaque; the Centre is interested in donating the cost of a correction. Is someone interested? 

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