Winston Churchill Society of Michigan Meeting Notes- July 12, 2013

The Winston Churchill Society of Michigan held its second of three scheduled 2013 dinner meetings on July 12, 2013 at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor. A full house of members and guests were in attendance with 12 new members, who were introduced by Dick Marsh, Society President. The guest speaker was Dr. Michael Shelden, who has written the recently published book “Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill”.

Dr. Shelden is a distinguished biographer who has written biographies of literary figures George Orwell, Mark Twain, Cyril Connolly, and Graham Greene. Winston Churchill could certainly be considered a literary figure, after all he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. However, Dr. Shelden’s book is not a literary biography. It covers Winston’s life from 1901 to 1915, when he was 26 to 40 years old. It starts with Winston’s speaking tour of 1900-1901 in the U.S. and Canada and ends with the Dardanelles fiasco and Winston’s dismissal as 1st Lord of the Admiralty.

Dr. Shelden discussed many disparate events in Winston’s early years which helped to forge his character. Aided by many interesting pictures in a power point presentation, Dr. Shelden discussed the life or death decisions Winston had to make as Home Secretary regarding criminals condemned to the gallows; his conflicts with Joe Chamberlain and Arthur Balfour when he left the Conservative Party to join the Liberal Party; and his trust in and loyal support of David Lloyd George even through the Marconi scandal, which support was not reciprocated.

Dr. Shelden also discussed the three beauties who rejected Winston’s marriage proposals before he was married to Clementine Hozier. There was also Winston’s friendship with Violet Asquith, the Prime Minister’s daughter; her reaction to Winston’s engagement to Clementine; and the events that occurred at Slains Castle in Scotland before and after Winston’s wedding. Although these events may seem trivial, they helped to forge Winston’s character and his great resilience which served him so well in WWII.

After Dr. Shelden’s fascinating presentation, Dick Marsh closed the meeting by reciting 12 words, which are the “Moral of the Story” in Winston’s WWII memoirs and which succinctly describe how he lived his life:

In War: Resolution
In Defeat: Defiance
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will