June 1, 2015

Finest Hour 107, Summer 2000

Page 05

QUOTE OF THE SEASON

“The American eagle sits on his perch, a large strong bird with formidable beak and claws. There he sits motionless, and enemies* are sent day after day to prod him with a sharp pointed stick—now his neck, now under his wings, now his tail feathers. All the time the eagle keeps quite still. But it would be a great mistake to suppose that nothing is going on in the breast of the eagle.”
—WSC, HOUSE OF COMMONS, 5 JUNE 1946. *WE SUBSTITUTED “ENEMIES” FOR “M. GROMYKO” IN THE ORIGINAL

Life Was a Carrousel

Country Living magazine declares that during WW2, Churchill ordered the reopening of carrousels, saying merry-go-rounds were needed to boost morale. Learn something new every day…

2024 International Churchill Conference

Join us for the 41st International Churchill Conference. London | October 2024

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Happy May Day

LONDON, MAY 1ST— “Anti-war protesters” placed a strip of turf resembling a green mohawk on the head of Churchill’s Whitehall statue, daubed red paint on his mouth to represent blood, and spray-painted a hammer and sickle on the statue’s coat. We are informed but have not confirmed that a Kurdish slogan was sprayed on the plinth of the statue—interesting, in that Churchill was the only statesman at the 1921 Middle East Conference to hold out for a Kurdish homeland. This was the third such protest in the last year, others occurring last June and November. The Cenotaph (Memorial to the Fallen) was daubed with anti-war slogans and the plinth of Nelson’s Column was sprayed with anarchist messages.

James Matthews, 25, a former soldier who had served in the Balkans, admitted to fouling the Churchill statue but not the Cenotaph, which he said was a monument to ordinary soldiers and beyond the scope of his personal expression: “I thought that on a day when people all over the world were gathering to express their human rights and the right to freedom of speech, I would express a challenge to an icon of the British establishment.” But not, apparently, an icon of free speech.

Matthews informed his countrymen that “…the statue symbolised thuggery against miners in the general strike of 1926, the thuggery shown to thousands of ordinary people in Ireland and the thuggery meted out to suffragettes…If some people have been offended by my graffiti, many others have been offended by such a reactionary politician who was imperialist and anti-semitic.”

The mind reels at Mr. Matthews’ cornucopia of ignorance, recalling as we do the words of Sinn Fein’s Michael Collins on the 1921 Irish Treaty (“Tell Winston we could have done nothing without him”); and Churchill’s 1941 command to bomb Auschwitz—unique, in Martin Gilbert’s experience, among all the war documents he has ever seen (“Get everything out of the Air Force you can, and invoke me if necessary”.)

For his public confirmation of human rights Mr. Matthews was ordered to pay £250 to clean up die mess and sentenced to 30 days: a lighter sentence than what would befall someone defacing a statue of Chairman Mao in Peking.

Amid a storm of condemnation for these acts, Roseanna Cunningham (SNP, Perth), “Shadow Justice Minister” in the Scottish Parliament, said the May Day riot was “nothing out of the ordinary.”

Editorial

What do expressions of outrage accomplish? Ms. Cunningham’s comment was entirely predictable. Some three decades ago it became the consensus that obscene behavior is acceptable because everybody has the right to freedom of expression. It is hardly news when values sacred for generations are lampooned and demonstrated in FH‘s last issue, he is often just plain wrong (e.g., his letter on the PM running from the bombing), and at best he takes facts and warps them out of all recognition. Surely there is a danger in views such as his masquerading as “real” history: some may be deceived. In any case, I don’t think he’s taken too seriously in historical circles: a shock-‘n’-sell man more than a historian. Technically gifted maybe, but much else besides. –Robert Courts, ICS (UK)

Bletchley Churchilliana

BLETCHLEY PARK, BUCKS.— In addition to a fabulous display of Churchill Memorabilia (see “The Churchill Trail” last issue), Bletchley now has documentary material for perusal by visitors: two thick bound volumes by Douglas Hall: “The Churchill Tobies,” illustrating all 24 Churchill toby jugs in colour with provenance and values; and “An A-Z of Churchilliana,” which ranges over a sample of items from ashtrays through bookends, horse brasses and paperweights to teapots and Zippo lighters. These volumes may later be commercially published. The volumes are normally available at Bletchley Park but visitors should check in advance with Jack or Rita Darrah, who are always glad to welcome visiting Churchillians. Write them at 9 Cubbington Close, Luton, Beds. LU3 3XY England, or telephone (01582) 561781.

Can Britain Bridge the NAFTA-EU Gap?

WASHINGTON, APRIL nTH— Two Churchill Center honorary members, former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Robinson and Chairman of the Telegraph Group Ltd. Conrad Black, testified today in favor of Great Britain’s joining the North American Free Trade Association. Their testimony was heard by the International Trade Commission, an independent agency that advises Congress and the President. Two U.S. Senators, Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), have also spoken in favor of the scheme, although there is debate over whether present EU rules allow member nations to conclude free-trade agreements with other organizations.

Senator Gramm, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said that if such rules exist the EU should change them. “I’m a strong supporter of the European Union. It has unified Western Europe economically and it has brought prosperity. But it has increasingly changed Europe into a trade fortress [and] there is a growing movement towards a world where there are regional trade blocks. My goal is not regional free trade. My goal is world free trade.” Gramm said he would even favor the United States joining the European Union to work toward a global free trade area.

“The way to do it,” Gramm continued, “is to have these two nations with a common history and a common vision about economic and political freedom. I see us being the catalyst for breaking down these regional trading blocs.

“I wish Winston Churchill were here. I happen to believe he would be for this.”

Senator Gramm thus violated the Mary Soames Commandment, “Thou shalt not assume what my father would have thought about current events.” Nevertheless, this matter has been brought to our attention by so many Churchillians that we report Mr. Black’s views in detail in this issue.

Errata & Addenda, FH106

On page 12, we referred to Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, in one place as the Glove and Mail. Considering the number of mailed fists raised against Churchill in that newspaper, the typo almost seemed appropriate…And on page 13, we mislabeled the last section “6” instead of “5” and overdid the double-quotemarks of Rick Salutin’s comments within the quoted letter from John Plumpton. Apologies. -Ed.

Pages 32-34: In the reviews of two new books by Inder Ratnu, our sidebar on other Churchill books by Indians omitted Roosevelt, Gandhi, Churchill I America and the Last Phase of India’s Freedom Struggle, by M. S. Vetararamani & B. K. Shrivastara, New Delhi: Radiant Publishers, 1983 (no. 380 in Churchill Bibliographic Data). The late H. Ashley Redburn wrote: “…the authors argue that the Indian struggle in its last stage did not receive meaningful support from Roosevelt, the U.S. Congress, or ‘elite’ groups in the U.S., who rather sympathised with Churchill’s views. A very biased, vicious, anti-British and anti-American book.”