Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of Great Britain during WW II and during the 1950's. Generally regarded as one of the greatest orators and leaders of modern Britain.

Had previously been in and out of high cabinet positions in two different political parties (Liberal and Tory) for most of the previous thirty years. Was First Lord of the Admirality during the early years of WW I, was Chancellor of the Exchequer during part of the 20's, etc.

One of the runners-up for "Man of the Century" in TimeMagazine. The source of numerous witty, often sarcastic ChurchillEpigrams.

He was one of histories more famous ManicDepression victims.

If you want to understand Churchill's greatness as a leader, one helpful hint is to read the account of what his own foreign secretary said to his face in the first cabinet meeting after he took over as Prime Minister in 1940, with Britain in desperate straights, soon to stand alone against Hitler. It was mild compared to what he and many others were saying behind Churchill's back - "dangerous maverick" was one of the politer descriptions.

Nowadays, nobody can even remember the name of LordHalifax. At the time, many British people though that he (and the "peace" deal he was secretly advocating with Hitler), and not Churchill, was the sensible option. True leadership is never quite so easy before you've read how it turned out in the history books - or, in Churchill's case, written the history books to your maximum advantage!

I thought I'd look up what his political enemies (mostly fellow Conservatives) were saying about Churchill immediately after he took over. The punchline I found was this: when RAB Butler, a Halifax supporter, really wanted to put the boot in, he called Churchill, whose mother was American:

"a half-breed American whose main support was that of inefficient but talkative people of similar type"

Only after Churchill had proved more efficient than expected in putting paid to Hitler, with considerable help from his rhetorical skills and the American forces, did he become the "GreatestLivingEnglishman?". Another kind of AmericanCulturalAssumption there to ponder?

See the recent book FinestHour by Tim Clayton and Phil Craig, page 21. Ho ho ... this sensitive info is only available in the UK it seems; see WhyClublet for details.

I have a book (Churchill And Secret Service) which chronicles the way in which Churchill made use of secret intelligence during his long political career, including both World Wars - he was the politician in charge of the British Navy in 1914-1915 and again in 1939-1940. -- JohnFletcher

Churchill and Secret Service, David Stafford, publ John Murray 1997; [ISBN 0879519266 ]

On this point, see also AlanTuring and TommyFlowers.

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