September 4, 2021

Political Science Panel Examines Churchill at War

For more than two decades, the International Churchill Society has been a related group of the American Political Science Association (APSA), which holds annual meetings in major cities in the United States and Canada. Each year, beginning in 1998, ICS has sponsored a panel discussion at the APSA annual meeting, featuring original research papers on a theme related to Churchill. In addition to the panel, the ICS related group hosts its annual black tie academic dinner in conjunction with the meeting, with a guest of honor who speaks after dinner about Churchill.

These panels and academic dinners have proved popular not only with political scientists attending the meeting, but also with ICS members who live nearby. From Professor Eugenia Kiesling at the U.S. Military Academy, who described Churchill’s experience at Omdurman at our first academic dinner in Boston on September 2, 1998, the centenary of the battle, to historian Andrew Roberts, who spoke on Churchill’s appeal to young people today at our most recent and largest academic dinner in Washington, D.C., in 2019 before the pandemic, our academic dinners have featured outstanding speakers. They allow professors who gather for the meeting to enjoy a civilized meal as they mingle with local civic leaders and Churchill admirers from many walks of life.

Our related group panels have continued even through the pandemic, with appreciative audiences who join us online. This year’s panel, “Churchill on War on Land and at Sea,” is on Sunday, October 3, from 2.00 to 3.30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. It features papers by Daniel J. Mahoney, senior writer at Law and Liberty and Professor Emeritus at Assumption College, “To Conquer Without Forgetting Chivalry and Mercy: Churchill on the River War”; Paul A. Rahe, Professor of History at Hillsdale College, “Sea Power in Churchill and Mahan: Pioneering Work of Barbon and Montesquieu”; and John H. Maurer, Professor of Sea Power and Grand Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, “The Gathering Storm in Asia: Churchill and War with Japan.” The discussant is Will Morrisey, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Hillsdale College, and the panel is chaired by James W. Muller, Professor of Political Science at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. ICS members are warmly welcome to attend the panel, and ICS will publicize the necessary link.

This year, for the first time, the APSA required each related group like ICS to have thirty-five dues-paying APSA members who joined the related group on the APSA website. Appealing to academics who had participated in our programs over the years, ICS succeeded overnight in getting enough APSA members to sign up in support. But there is still time for other APSA members who wish to join the ICS related group: contact ICS executive director Justin Reash for instructions.