April 25, 2015

Finest Hour 119, Summer 2003

Page 09

Events are also now covered by our fraternal publication, the Chartwell Bulletin.

BAVENO, LAKE MAGGIORE, ITALY, MAY 18TH— Nigel and Angela Knocker represented The Churchill Centre and Societies at the unveiling of a new Churchill statue at the Lido Palace Hotel. It was here that Churchill spent part of his honeymoon in 1908. The pro-British owner of the hotel also has a statue of Queen Victoria in the garden, and displays many pictures of the present Queen.

The unveiling was carried out by Winston Churchill, who spoke in Italian. The British Consul from Milan and Col. Knocker also spoke, the latter relaying a message from Lady Soames. Afterwards there was a lavish reception which most of the town attended, including British and American local residents and holiday makers: a good and happy occasion, well run in the most beautiful setting.

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Any members visiting the Italian Lakes would be most welcome to call or stay at the hotel, which is very comfortable and well run. They should make their affiliation known in advance The details are:

Lido Palace Hotel Baveno
Lago Maggiore
28831 Baveno (Vb)
S.S. Sempione.30 Italy
email: [email protected]

UK Annual General Meeting

WOODSTOCK, APRIL 12TH— Some fifty members attended the A.G.M. of the International Churchill Society UK, holding a lively discussion of future plans. A group of Portuguese wish to open a chapter. We will, of course, help them. James Taylor, Head of Research and Learning at the CWR, gave an interesting talk about the CWR developments. I judged this AGM the best we have had.

Planning for the 2004 Churchill Conference continues satisfactorily. The notice on the Centre’s website asking for an indication of numbers intending to come has produced good results. This is particularly useful for the planning of conference phases 2 (Normandy) and 3 (Rhine crossing and Berlin). —Nigel Knocker, Chairman

John Maurer on Teaching

WESTON, MASS., MAY 4TH— A score of New England Churchillians gathered at the home of Richard and Peggy Batchelder for a talk by Professor John H. Maurer: “Teaching Churchill: Studies in Statesmanship and War Leadership.” Maurer is a member of the Policy and Strategy Department, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. He teaches an elective course on Winston Churchill to officers from all branches of the military, individuals from the State and other government departments, and officers from allied navies.

Military officers need to be aware of strategic and policy factors that determine not merely how to win the war but how to win the peace. Students examine the strategic and policy issues Churchill faced, starting with the preGreat War naval arms race with Germany and ending with the Cold War. Learning how Churchill faced current dangers and anticipated future threats and changes in warfare gives students the opportunity to think about the current strategic environment and imagine future environments.

Professor Maurer related how one student, a naval officer from a Far Eastern country that had only recently become a democratic state, took the Churchill course because he wanted to see how a great leader directed a democracy in a desperate struggle by sustaining the people’s morale and crafting a winning strategy. It was no surprise to learn that students come away from the course with an enthusiasm for Churchill and appreciation of his contemporary relevance.

Guests enjoyed a buffet supper and the opportunity to view Richard Batchelder’s collection of Churchill books and memorabilia. At the host’s suggestion, attendees contributed books and other Churchilliana for a silent auction that raised $200 for The Churchill Centre and augmented several collections.

Post-War Summitry

WASHINGTON, MAY 21^st— For a brief two months in early 1953 there was a chance that Churchill’s push for a BigThree summit meeting might have some effect. Stalin had died in March and the new Soviet leadership, less sure of itself and more flexible, might have been willing to meet with Churchill and newly-elected U.S. President Eisenhower. So suggested Dr. Klaus Larres in remarks to the Washington Society for Churchill at a dinner on May 21st. Holder of the Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress in 2002-03, and taking up the Chair in International Relations and Foreign Policy at London University in this autumn, Larres is the author of the well-received Churchill’s Cold War. He spoke to nearly 30 interested listeners about Churchill’s postwar push for continued summitry. A fuller account of his remarks will be published in the Chartwell Bulletin #4, which will appear this summer.

The Past is Back

WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND, MAY 1ST— After discovering that they could not teach the historical fiction books in their lessons without delving into the history of World War II, Winfield Elementary School language arts teachers Rona Haddaway, Cathy Stephens and Melanie Dorsey produced a WW2 USO (United Service Organizations) show with fifth-grade students. Putting together a show that touched on the historical figures of the war, the stories the classes had read about children affected by the war and the music, advertisements and propaganda of the era would tie the unit together, the teachers said.

They taught students to swing dance, make hand-drawn flags and battleship posters, and write their scripts after researching books and the internet. The performance was part of a Carroll County elementary school’s tribute to war veterans.

The skits and performances told of a life that may seem almost foreign to today’s elementary school pupils. They used puppets to depict the famous radio broadcast speeches of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. They used a game show to share facts about the “victory gardens” that many people planted after governments encouraged them to grow food, enabling more supplies to be shipped abroad to the troops.

Boys, some in camouflage fatigues, recited by memory a torrent of statistics about the size, markings and firepower of the lumbering battleships and aircraft that took center stage during the Second World War. Girls wrote a commercial in which jeans- and bandannaclad women who went to work in airplane factories during the war tried to persuade a group of housewives in kitchen aprons to make sacrifices.

Zack Merritt, 11, said that he “learned about battleships and what happened back then and what the war was about. It was about the Germans, Italians and Japanese forming the Axis Powers, and there was a whole lot of people against them because they were destroying things and killing Jews because the Nazis thought Germans were better than everybody and Hitler was the main guy.”
—Jennifer McMenamin, Baltimore Sun.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Churchill Weekend

MILTON KEYNES, AUGUST 30TH— Bletchley Park’s Second Annual Churchill Weekend opens to visitors through August 31st. It commemorates the close link between Bletchley Park and Churchill, highlighting his support for and enduring reliance on secret intelligence. This weekend will also portray the close cooperation between Churchill and Roosevelt. New this year are unique papers from the Churchill Archives and the Cabinet War Rooms. The International Churchill Society of the UK will support the event with a special display of memorabilia.

On both days at 14:00, there will be topical lectures. Dr Brian Oakley will discuss Churchill and Bletchley Park, while Peter Wescombe (Bletchley Trustee) will speak on how the Churchill-Roosevelt relationship fitted into Allied Intelligence systems. On Saturday and Sunday at 12:00 and 15:00, Churchill’s former footman John Gibson will be available to explain his exhibition of original memorabilia in a question and answer forum.

Special displays in and around the Mansion include the exquisite Darrah-Harwood Churchilliana collection on permanent display, a painting of the launch Havengore, which carried Churchill’s coffin on 30 January 1965, a 1935 Rolls-Royce supposedly used by Churchill to travel between Charrwell and Westminster, a collection of Churchill stamps, cartoon and artwork displays, and films on WSC’s life and times in the Enigma Cinema.

For information contact Christine Large, telephone (01908) 640404. For tickets and parking permits for journalists telephone (01908) 647269.

Elderhostel Programme

Members are invited to join Elderhostel for a remarkable program, “Churchill and Roosevelt: the Atlantic Alliance,” on August 31st through September 5th. Through a special arrangement with Christ Church, Oxford University. Elderhostel has created a unique program that examines the alliance made by Churchill and Roosevelt as they embarked on their wartime campaigns.

Participants will explore the dynamic relationship as they attend the Atlantic Alliance conference at Christ Church. Internationally renowned speakers include Sir Michael Howard, Dr. Geoffrey Best, Professors David Reynolds and Warren Kimball. The programme further examines Anglo-American cooperation through field trips and lectures in London, Chartwell, Bletchley Park, Blenheim, Bladon, and Oxford.

This program represents an extraordinary opportunity. Space is limited and we anticipate great interest, so call Elderhostel at (617) 457-5422, or email cheppner@elderhostel. org now.

APSA Panel and Dinner

PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST 29TH— The annual academic panel and dinner held by the Churchill Centre as a related organization of the American Political Science Association warmly welcomes members and guests. The panel is tentatively scheduled at 2:15 p.m. and will last just less than two hours. The subject is “Winston Churchill’s Savrola.” WSC’s only novel will be analyzed from various points of view in anticipation of the new definitive edition of the book edited by Patrick J. C. Powers.

The panel is chaired by William Ives, Churchill Centre President. The presentations are “Savrola: An Early Expression of Churchill’s Philosophy on Life,” by Douglas M. Brattebo, United States Naval Academy; “Politics and Romance in Churchill’s Savrola” James W. Muller, University of Alaska, Anchorage: and “Savrola: Churchill’s First and Only Novel,” by Patrick J. C. Powers, Magdalen College.

The exact location of the panel may be determined by calling (888) WSC-1874 at or after noon on August 28th, or will be sent by e-mail on that day to those who have subscribed to the dinner following the panel.

The annual academic dinner, with its customary collegial mixture of academic and lay Churchillians, will be held at the Union League, 140 South Broad Street, Philadelphia on Friday evening, August 29th. Dinner subscriptions are $75; dress is black tie or coat and tie. Parking is available at a garage adjacent to the club. The program for the dinner will be announced on the invitations, which will be mailed to members in Pennsylvania and surrounding states, but any other Churchill Centre member who might like to attend and who wishes to receive an invitation should telephone The Centre at (888) WSC1874 after July 15th.