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Truths and Heresies
The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College > Truths and Heresies
“Churchill Always Admired and Offered Peace to Mussolini”
06
Feb
2024
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
One tends to say polite things about a nation’s leader when he has promised to pay your country a lot of money. Things changed when Mussolini declared war on the Allies in June 1940. Three years later he was deposed, and Churchill told Parliament. “The keystone of the Fascist arch has crumbled.” Long before then, Mussolini had long gone from “renowned chief” to “hyena” in the Churchill lexicon.
Video: The 20th Century: Its Promise and Realization, M.I.T., 1949
18
Dec
2023
1
By WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
“No technical knowledge can outweigh knowledge of the humanities.... Those whose minds are attracted or compelled to rigid and symmetrical systems of government should remember that logic, like science, must be the servant and not the master of man. Human beings and human societies are not structures that are built or machines that are forged. They are plants that grow and must be tended as such.”
The Modern Middle East: How Much is Churchill’s Fault?
06
Nov
2023
2
By DAVID FROMKIN
The Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman Empire for almost 500 years, but by 1918 it was occupied by a British army of one million. No other major military force was on scene. British plans were in shambles: subversive foreign plots were suspected. At this truly horrendous moment, Lloyd George in effect turned to Churchill and said, in effect: You deal with it. Britain would often do that when all else had failed and other policies had proven not to work.
“Churchill Sank the Lusitania to Get America into the War”
19
Oct
2023
1
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
For a century now, rumors have swirled that “Lusitania” was deliberately sacrificed by the British, chiefly Churchill. His alleged aim was to so infuriate the Americans as to bring them into the war against Germany. More recently, critics charged that Churchill’s Admiralty conspired to steer the ship into harm’s way. Scholarly testimony to the truth exists—but lacking glitz and pathos, it tends to be ignored. Yet the facts refuting this slander have been known for decades.
Churchill: A Great Reformist Chancellor of the Exchequer
24
Aug
2023
By NICK BOSANQUET AND ANDREW HALDENBY
The truth needs to be recognized: Winston Churchill was the first Chancellor of the Exchequer whose policies explicitly aimed at promoting economic growth. He was the first to institutionalize protections for widows, their children and the aged. His Local Government initiatives spurred the growth of hospitals. His scheme of “derating” initiative was the first move by a Chancellor to manage an economy—not just to manage a budget.
Napalm: An Example of Churchill’s Disdain for Terror Weapons
27
Apr
2023
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
“I do not like this napalm bombing at all. A fearful lot of people must be burned.... If people have to go to their work every day and live in their homes, they have not much choice of dwelling.... I do not see how Press articles and jabber of that kind compares with splashing about this burning fluid on the necks of humble people living where they have to.” —WSC
Churchill and Company: Great Scholars Consider Uncancelled History
20
Mar
2023
1
By DOUGLAS MURRAY
“I will take away from Uncancelled History what the Hillsdale College historian Bill McClay said about Theodore Roosevelt, about some of these other historical figures who’ve been torn down, lambasted and attacked: History is like a great attic of belongings and inheritances. And if you chuck everything out of that attic—if you clear the whole thing—you might clear away things we may need some day.”
Winston Churchill and the Etymology of “Iron Curtain”
19
Jan
2023
1
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
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.
Did Churchill Waffle in 1938?: The Tale of Hubert Ripka
08
Dec
2022
By Richard M. Langworth
“Every one of us leading politicians has to ask ourselves whether we have the right, whether we can in all conscience force our country into war….[But] Masaryk was right. Death is better than slavery. [If war does come] “we’ll smash them to smithereens so they don’t trouble us for a century or more.” —WSC to Hubert Ripka, 22 June 1938
Rumbles on the Right: The Raico Case Against Winston Churchill
27
Sep
2022
By MICHAEL MCMENAMIN
Libertarian disdain for Churchill stems from his 1940 premiership, without which, they believe, America would not have gone to war with Germany. Could they have lived with the consequences of a Nazi triumph? Churchill prevented that consequence. The world which resulted from his stubborn courage is better for it—and perfectly willing to accept the judgment of history.
Churchill on Amritsar: An Imperialist Speaks Out for Human Rights
12
Aug
2022
1
By Martin Gilbert
“What I mean by frightfulness is the inflicting of great slaughter or massacre upon a particular crowd of people, with the intention of terrorising not merely the rest of the crowd, but the whole district or the whole country. We cannot admit this doctrine in any form. Frightfulness is not a remedy known to the British pharmacopoeia.” —WSC
Winston Churchill, Algernon West and “Superfluous Millions,” 1898
11
Aug
2022
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Churchill’s did tell West that “a philosopher,” not himself, might be unmoved by the loss of “superfluous millions.” That doesn’t altogether divorce him from what must seem a heartless remark today. In 1898 he was very young. Few of us would welcome hearing some of our words at age 24 represented as our lifetime philosophy. And Churchill is one of the most quoted historical figures.