November 2, 2016

Watch the archive of the conference sessions at C-SPAN

The 33rd International Churchill Conference took place at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. on October 27-29, 2016. The conference coincided with the opening of the new National Churchill Library and Center (NCLC) at The George Washington University on October 29, 2016. 

The full programme of events is listed here. Click each image to watch the full session at C-SPAN.

Opening Remarks

• David Freeman, Conference Chairman
• Lee Pollock, Retiring ICS Executive Director
• Laurence Geller, ICS Chairman
• Michael Bishop, NCLC Director and ICS Executive Director

Conference Chairman David Freeman opened the conference, followed by retiring Executive Director Lee Pollock introducing The International Churchill Society (ICS) Chairman Laurence Geller. At the end of Geller’s remarks, he introduces Michael Bishop, the newly appointed Director of the NCLC and Executive Director of ICS. 

Laurence S. Geller CBE, is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Churchill Society and Chairman of Geller Capital Partners. An accomplished businessman and entrepreneur, he has more than forty-five years experience in the lodging industry having led multi-national, hospitality corporations. Mr. Geller serves on the board of Michels & Taylor (U.K) and previously served as Chairman of the IREFAC for six non-consecutive terms. Mr. Geller is active in many philanthropic organizations including service on the boards of Choose Chicago, Children’s Memorial Hospital, British American Business Council, and the American Jewish Committee. He is also Chairman of the UK Dementia Appeal Board. A graduate of Ealing Technical College, Mr. Geller is Chancellor of the University of West London. On 31 December 2011, Mr. Geller was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
You can also read International Churchill Society Chairman Laurence Geller’s opening remarks here.

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Winston Churchill and U.S. Presidents

Historians discussed former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s relationship with U.S. presidents during his tenure.

• Dane Kennedy, Moderator
• Nigel Hamilton, “Franklin D. Roosevelt”
• Alonzo Hamby, “Harry S. Truman”
• William Hitchcock, “Dwight D. Eisenhower”

Churchill and the Monarchs

Eminent historian Sir David Cannadine discusses “Churchill and the Monarchs” with an introduction by Catherine Katz. 

Sir David Cannadine FBA is Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University. He is the author of numerous books, including The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy, Class in Britain, Ornamentalism, Mellon, and The Undivided Past, and has just completed a biography of King George V. Sir David is a Trustee of the Wolfson Foundation, the Royal Academy, the Library of Birmingham, the Rothschild Archive, the Gladstone Library, and the Gordon Brown Archive. He is Vice Chair of the Westminster Abbey Fabric Commission and a Vice President of the Victorian Society. He is Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, sits on the Editorial Board of Past & Present, and is a member of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee and the Editorial Board of the History of Parliament. Sir David makes frequent appearances on radio and television in the UK.

Hero of Empire

Author Candice Millard discusses her new book, Hero of the Empire about Winston Churchill during the Boer War conflict in South Africa with an introduction by Mary Jo Binker. 

Candice Millard is a former writer and editor for National Geographic magazine. Her first two books, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey and Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine & the Murder of a President both made the New York Times bestseller list and were named among the best books of the year by both the Times and the Washington Post. Destiny of the Republic also won the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the PEN Center USA award for Research Nonfiction, the One Book-One Lincoln Award, the Ohioana Award and the Kansas Notable Book Award. Millard’s work has also appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, and Time Magazine. Her new book is Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill. She lives in Kansas City with her husband and three children.

Churchill and the Europeans

Lord Watson of Richmond comments on “Churchill and the Europeans” Introduction by Allen Packwood. 

Alan Watson is a broadcaster the author of Churchill’s Legacy: Two Speeches to Save the World. Additionally, he is High Steward of Cambridge University, former President of the Liberal Party, former President of the English Speaking Union and a public relations consultant. An accomplished public speaker, presenter, campaigner, and consultant, his fascination with Churchill has been lifelong. His enthusiasm for Britain at the interface of Churchill’s three circles—Europe, America, and the English-speaking world—remains unmatched.

Churchill’s Financial Team

David Lough, author of No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money, talked about Sir Winston Churchill’s financial situation with an introduction by the Executive Director of the Marshall Foundation Rob Havers. 

David Lough won an open history scholarship to Oxford University, where he gained a first class degree. He then turned to a career in financial markets before founding a private banking business, Heartwood, that advises British families across the range of their private affairs, including investments, tax affairs, and estate planning. He was a Fellow of the Chartered Securities Institute, a member of the London Stock Exchange, and acted as a “blind trustee” for government ministers during their period in office. Following the sale of Heartwood in 2013, he returned to history full-time, using the experience gained in his private banking career to piece together the untold story of Winston Churchill’s precarious personal finances from archives around the world. In 2015 he published No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money.

Winston Churchill’s Great Contemporaries

• Ted Bromund, Moderator
• Kevin Ruane, “John Anderson”
• Terry Reardon, “W. L. Mackenzie King”
• Dr John H. Mather, “Lord Moran”

Winston Wept

Andrew Roberts talked about the romantic imagination and sensitivity of Sir Winston Churchill in his talk, “Winston Wept: The Extraordinary Lachrymosity and Romantic Imagination of Sir Winston Churchill” Introduction by Megan Spilker.

Dr. Andrew Roberts has spent nearly thirty years researching, writing and broadcasting extensively about Churchill and the Second World War. His first book, The Holy Fox, was a biography of Churchill’s foreign secretary Lord Halifax. Since then he has published—amongst many other books—Eminent Churchillians, Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership, Masters and Commanders: How Roosevelt, Churchill, Marshall and Alanbrooke Won the War in the West 1941–45 (which won the ICS Emery Reves Prize), and The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War (which won the British Army Military Book Prize). Dr. Roberts is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society, the Lehrman Institute Distinguished Lecturer at the New York Historical Society, a visiting professor at the War Studies Department of King’s College, London, and the chairman of the judges of the Lehrman Institute Military Book Award.

Churchill in Washington, D.C.

Christopher H. Sterling, “Churchill in Washington, D.C.” with an introduction by Churchill Society Academic Advisor Professor James W. Muller.

Born in Washington, D. C., Chris Sterling returned as a member of The George Washington University community in 1982. He served thirty years as a faculty member and a dozen years as an associate dean before retiring at the end of June. He previously taught at Temple University before moving to Washington in 1980 to become a senior staffer at the Federal Communications Commission. While his professional field was telecommunications/electronic media history and policy (about which he authored or edited more than twenty-five books from 1973 to 2011), he has been an avid Churchill book collector for several decades. A contributor and book reviewer for Finest Hour, Chris chaired the Churchill Conference held in Washington in 2013. He is also a past chair of the Washington Society for Churchill.