The Literary Churchill

The evidence suggests that Churchill had a most prosaic source for phrase that quickly became his, © Fulton, 1946. But his many references to “iron curtain” make for an interesting line of enquiry. It shows (to our surprise) that Churchill used the term at least six times before he arrived to stun the world in Missouri.

Thirty years ago, we made a day-long visit to the Chartwell library. We were booksellers, and had encountered copies of the books Sir Winston’s son had removed. Invariably they contained a small oval label reading: “From the Library of Sir Winston Churchill.” We were anxious to know their origins, and how they fitted into the original scheme of things at Chartwell’s library.

“Moses was the national hero who led the Chosen People out of the land of bondage, through the perils of the wilderness, and brought them to the very threshold of the Promised Land; he was the supreme Law-Giver, who received from God that remarkable code upon which the religious, moral, and social life of the nation was so securely founded.”

The hard-used crocodile did have one favorable reference from Churchill. Britain developed a devastating, tank-like flame-thrower, which blasted flammable liquid with a range of 150 yards. “I am very glad that the Churchill Crocodile Flame Thrower has justified your hopes,” wrote Churchill in 1944. Here at least was one crocodile which earned his approval.

The search for a Churchill maxim on understanding the enemy leads us to an example of Churchill’s fine writing in “The World Crisis.”

Experience gave Churchill both a horror of war and the ability to imagine alternate scenarios. In what he called “the after-light,” it is shocking to realize that the worst possible outcome he imagined after the First World War came to be, just two decades later. Contemplating the causes of the war, Churchill with his historic imagination conjured up a scenario which might have prevented it—in 1863. Suppose, he asks us, Lee had won?

Churchill's best war books: “fascinating products of the human spirit, epic tales filled with the depravities, miseries, and glories of man.”

Despite his encomiums to Joan, Churchill rated Napoleon higher, with Georges Clemenceau a close third—and, a bit farther down, de Gaulle.

I have often wondered however what would have happened if two hundred thousand German storm troops had actually established themselves ashore. The massacre would have been on both sides grim and great. There would have been neither mercy nor quarter. They would have used Terror, and we were prepared to go all lengths. I intended to use the slogan “You can always take one with you.” - Winston Churchill

Whether the product was profound or simple, like his vast correspondence, even his first iteration was close to the mark. Grace Hamblin, a longtime secretary, recalled: “His dictation wasn't difficult because it was very, very slow and he weighed his words. As one knows he had a tremendous command of the English language, but he didn't use it loosely. He considered very carefully what he was going to say.”

I’ve been slogging through the William Manchester Churchill trilogy, The Last Lion. How is Hillsdale’s eight-volume Winston S. Churchill by Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert different?

At Bradford, Yorkshire on 14 March 1912, Churchill made a contentious speech defending Irish Home Rule. Defying his Unionist opponents, he concluded: “If the Government and the Parliament of this great country and greater Empire is to be exposed to menace and brutality [for any] sinister and revolutionary purpose—then, gentlemen, I can only say to you let us go forward together and put these grave matters to the proof.”