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Great Contemporaries: Philip Sassoon – A Friend at the End of an Era
Throwback to vanished age, Sassoon served his country in war and peace, and entertained the glitterati at his palatial mansions. He died too young.
Churchill and the Presidents: Dwight Eisenhower, Sentiment and Politics
In wartime, Eisenhower related to Churchill as junior to senior. As President, the relationship vastly changed, but ties of sentiment were still there.
Churchill and His Autumn Years: Ways to Live a Long life
The “golden years” are not always golden, but Winston Churchill’s long life offers perspective and encouragement to those of “a certain age.”
Churchill and the Litigious Alfred Douglas: Two Trials and a Sonnet (Part 2)
How Lord Alfred Douglas was convicted and sent to jail, but was mollified by later events; how he praised his former enemy, and was forgiven.
Churchill and the Litigious Lord Alfred: Two Trials and a Sonnet (Part 1)
How Winston Churchill was invited to opine, and Lord Alfred Douglas was affronted by what he saw as an obvious conspiracy with Jewish financiers.
Painting à deux: Churchill’s and Alexander’s Portraits of Lake Como, 1945
Churchill rarely painted scene with someone else, and only once with a field marshal. Their Lake Como oils offer a glimpse of friendship and technique.
Great Contemporaries: Sir Harold Alexander, Churchill’s Favorite General
Among his generals, Churchill thought Alexander “the best we had.” Alex for his part was ever faithful, saying, “I can’t simply refuse Winston.”
“What Purpose History?” an Analysis of Churchill and Caesar as Writers of History
Churchill and Caesar both wrote literate war memoirs. Was this special pleading, or was there a higher purpose? For Churchill, there certainly was.
“In Defeat—Defiance.” The Java POWs and a Work of Art and Resistance
A chapel in Java built by Allied POWs included national symbols, in which Winston Churchill was surreptitiously added under the noses of Japanese guards.
Winston Churchill and Julius Caesar: Parallels and Inspirations
“In my mind’s eye I invest him with the robes of Caesar…. The lives of the great are an inspiration to their posterity.” —Lewis Broad
Social Reform in a Changing World: Churchill’s Battle with Socialism
Through education, Churchill strove to elevate the individual. Through labor exchanges, he strove to promote natural market functions. Through unemployment insurance, he paired the virtue of thrift with an encouragement of personal responsibility to strengthen the individual and curb the effects of uncontrollable misfortune. Churchill recognized an end; he saw a means and pursued it.
Great Contemporaries: Sir Ernest Cassel: “A Few More Years of Sunshine”
The Churchills, father and son, had close friendships with prominent, talented Jews. One was Nathaniel Mayer “Natty” Rothschild, First Baron Rothschild, head of the British branch of the famous banking family. He was the first Jewish member of the House of Lords. Another was Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, also of Jewish origin, though he became a Catholic in 1880. A renowned merchant banker and financier, Sir Ernest was young Winston’s mentor, financial consultant and lifelong friend.