When Winston Churchill Became Essential
80 Years Ago
American Spectator,
by
Doug Bandow
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
5/23/2020 12:15:06 PM
Winston Churchill gave his maiden broadcast to the United Kingdom as prime minister 80 years ago May 19. (Snip)
He was a brave, irritating, complex, frustrating, energetic, enigmatic, and confounding figure. He had a storied family background — along with an American mother — but difficult upbringing. He demonstrated his personal courage first in the military and then as a journalist who was captured during the Boer War, an aggressive spasm that showed the British Empire at its worst. He managed an extraordinary escape and reenlisted in the military. He then put pen to paper and wrote about his adventures, demonstrating yet another talent.
He was elected to parliament at age 25
Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 5/23/2020 1:28:28 PM (No. 419815)
I'm a great fan of Churchill, although at times his imperialist, British attitude wears very thin. One thing that many do not fully appreciate is that without the disaster that was Galipoli, and a brilliant military mind like Churchill pondering the issue of landing on a contested shore and prevailing in war, we would never have had the LST, the Landing Ship Tank, and the Higgins Boat, the personnel landing craft, plus a number of variants which made numerous assault landings possible and successful during WW2. Churchill's mind created the Landing Ship concept and it was turned over to British ship designers who built a smallish version. They then asked the US if they could built it, and we examined the concept, decided it was a good idea, but theirs was quite a bit too small, we upsized it a lot and built 670 of them, and they were in huge demand all around the world, often being the key thing delaying or enabling a given assault. There are other examples of Churchill's military genius, and of course, some of his ideas turned out to be hare-brained, as he was not a very technical man, although he loved to learn about things.
I was enjoying the article up until the fool of an author wrote:
"Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tried “appeasement,” a normally sensible policy which could have prevented World War I."
After that bit of written idiocy, I lost interest in the rest of his commentary. I will go back and read the rest of the article later, but with a much more jaundiced eye towards the author's personal views. Anyone who is so totally stupid as to imagine that appeasement will ever get you anything but more strident demands from the one being appeased has never trained a dog, or raised a child - or if so, probably ruined both of them.
Chamberlain was a total fool, and anyone who, especially at this late date, can make that sort of comment about appeasement is really a fool, too.
11 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/23/2020 1:52:16 PM (No. 419843)
FTA:
However, Hitler could not be appeased. His ambitions went beyond human reason: Seizing territories, subjugating nations, enslaving populations, and ultimately slaughtering an entire people. The 1938 Munich conference left his target largely defenseless — leading to its absorption by Berlin early the following year. Yet the Führer was angry about being denied the pleasure of invading Czechoslovakia.
I read the whole thing. We do have the ability to chuck the chaff and keep the wheat… Otherwise we will read only echo chamber material.
I imagine some believe that President Trump is a nationalist with a proud, patriotic American attitude.
6 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 5/23/2020 2:23:52 PM (No. 419888)
"There's nothing more invigorating than being fired upon without effect". Winston Churchill.
6 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
excalgalcg 5/23/2020 2:32:09 PM (No. 419894)
OP I was fortunate enough to read The Splendid and the Vile just as the lock down occurred here in Maine. It was my friend’s copy and you will enjoy it thoroughly. I couldn’t put it down. This is one of Erik Larsen’s best. A great read.
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Luandir 5/23/2020 3:16:19 PM (No. 419924)
I regard President Trump as Churchillian: resolute, somewhat irascible, and absolutely essential to surviving these times.
We stand on the brink of an economic depression which could be far more devastating than the virus that precipitated the shutdown. Socialism and tyranny are embedded within our political structure. I am daily thankful that we are led by a visionary entrepreneur, rather than an opportunistic statist.
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
0658 5/23/2020 4:31:25 PM (No. 419972)
Obviously, the greatest man of the twentieth century. Only a few in other eras come to mind.
Trump is shaping up as such a man but has a ways to go to become a "Churchill"
4 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 5/23/2020 4:48:40 PM (No. 419980)
#3, I read that part. And the fool still said that appeasement was "normally a sensible policy", and basically saying that Hitler's behavior was some sort of an anomaly. I submit that ALL power grabbing international thugs will ALWAYS act exactly that way and Hitler was no anomaly at all. The idea of appeasement ever working is stupid.
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 5/23/2020 5:12:03 PM (No. 419996)
FTA: Churchill quote. “I think the day will come when it will be recognized without doubt, not only on one side of the House, but throughout the civilized world, that the strangling of Bolshevism at its birth would have been an untold blessing to the human race.”
Amen. Perhaps we are witnessing its death throes? There is no one more essential to our American Restoration than President Donald J. Trump. Think of what perfect book ends Churchill and Trump would make to the failed experiment of worldwide communism.
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Luke21 5/23/2020 5:14:57 PM (No. 419999)
I'm a huge Churchill fan, and this piece doesn't do him justice. The constant equating him with the cowardly Halifax and saying the war might have ended the same with Halifax in charge is absolutely false. Churchill alone could have led the British people. There is little drama in this writing. It is dry and dreadful.
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
bpl40 5/23/2020 6:10:07 PM (No. 420044)
The hour, as they say, produces the man. In May 1940, Winston Churchill was definitely the man. But his greatness lies in his multifaceted personality and achievements.- Apart from his historic role as war time world leader and strategist he was an author, historian, orator, painter and one of the nimblest minds and wits of his times. None of his contemporaries could match him. The best quote that I like - If at twenty you are a Conservative you have no heart. If at forty you are a Liberal you have no brains!
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
ThreeBadCats3 5/23/2020 8:18:43 PM (No. 420105)
Making no pretense of authority, recommend “The Gathering Storm” by Winston Churchill (probably have to buy used from Amazon as i did), as a most remarkable book by a person who may be said to have saved the world.
2 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
JimJr 5/23/2020 8:33:59 PM (No. 420113)
Had Halifax become PM, he would have sued for peace, i.e surrendered Britian. The entire global geopolitical situation would be totally different. Ja?
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
DVC 5/23/2020 11:40:52 PM (No. 420188)
Churchill's six volume History of World War II is a long read, but even if you imagine that you really know about WW2, I will tell you that he will fill in a lot of details that you almost certainly never knew. A long read, and it starts well before Hitler invaded Poland, volume 1, is The Gathering Storm before the war started, when Churchill was a lone voice saying that Hitler was a very dangerous man, when everyone else wanted to just "go along and get along" and appeasement was considered a reasonable approach.
Appease a three year old's tantrum for cookies and you might be out a couple of Oreos, appease your dog begging and you could be out a couple of dog biscuits. They Europeans tried appeasing Hitler, but Czechoslovakia and Poland weren't Oreos, and Hitler was NOT appeased, he was encouraged.
1 person likes this.
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Fascinating man. I am waiting impatiently for my hold on an ebook of Erik Larson’s new book The Splendid and the Vile at my public library...