August 1, 2013

Finest Hour 122, Spring 2004

Page 17

BY DANIEL M. MYERS, PHOTOGRAPHS BY VIRGINIA IVES

CHURCHILL, SUMMITRY, AND THE GREAT REPUBLIC

Over 200 Churchillians took Bermuda by storm in November to attend the International Churchill Conference at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel. It was hard to miss our presence: The Royal Gazette, the daily newspaper in Hamilton, and the weekly Mid-Ocean News ran front page and feature articles every day we were there.

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The conference began on Wednesday, November 5th, with the usual flurry of set-up, registrations, and organizing of rooms, people and papers in preparation for the three-day event. Co-chairs David Boler and Randy Barber had spent considerable time and effort in paving the way with local contacts in Bermuda, resulting in a substantial underwriting of conference costs by four very generous local organizations: XL Capital Ltd. and XL Foundation Ltd., with additional support from Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. and Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group. Their financial support helped The Churchill Centre add more elaborate programs and more educational offerings for our members and guests.

The conference proper began on Thursday morning, November 6th, with a book discussion led by Professor Jim Muller of the University of Alaska, Anchorage and chairman of the Centre’s Board of Academic Advisers. Prof. Muller assembled an excellent panel to discuss Volume III of Churchill’s memoirs of the Second World War, The Grand Alliance. In the afternoon, David Boler introduced Carole Kenwright, property manager at Chartwell, who led us through “Our Vision for the Gardens of Chartwell,” illustrating with beautiful pictures the plans of the National Trust for the future development of the grounds of Winston Churchill’s beloved home.

Next, Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge, wove a tale of Churchill’s encounters with Bermuda dating back to the early Twenties, when WSC was Colonial Secretary. These were gleaned from thousands of documents in the Archives’ possession. Mr. Packwood also brought copies of many documents and photographs, which were on display throughout the conference and subsequently donated to Bermuda schools.

Churchill visited Bermuda twice. In January from North America after consulting with President Roosevelt and addressing the U.S. Congress and the Canadian Parliament. His second visit was the better-known Bermuda Summit of fifty years ago when Churchill, in his second premiership, met with President Eisenhower and French Premier Laniel in an effort to recreate his successful summit diplomacy of World War II.

Other than a frequently published photo showing Churchill’s silhouette as he sits behind the controls of the “Berwick” Boeing B314 Clipper flying boat from Norfolk, Virginia, heading back to England, few photos were thought to exist of Churchill’s 1942 visit. After some research and local digging, David Boler was able to locate several photos of Churchill with the Bermuda Governor, Viscount Knollys, and members of his family. A photo of Churchill addressing the Bermuda Assembly and Legislative Council was also uncovered.

All of these magnificent photos, some from the Imperial War Museum and others from the personal album of the current Viscount Knollys, together with copies of documents from the Churchill Archives Centre relating to the 1953 Summit, were compiled into a special keepsake book produced for the conference, entitled Churchill and Bermuda. With a narrative by David Boler and Max Arthur and an introduction by Sir Martin Gilbert, this volume, presented to each attendee, will surely become a collector’s item. (NB: Extra copies are available from The Churchill Centre in Washington, DC, for $10 postpaid.)

On Friday, conference participants were joined by over fifty high school students from five Bermuda schools as the academic seminars commenced. Warren Kimball, Rutgers University; and David Reynolds, Cambridge University, discussed “Wartime Summits.” The second panel, on “Postwar Summits,” featured John Ramsden of Queen Mary College, University of London; and William Roger Louis from the University of Texas, Austin. A better galaxy of distinguished academics could not have been found.

On Friday afternoon, everyone loaded into taxis for a trip to Government House. Here at his home His Excellency Sir John Vereker officially welcomed us with tea under the shade of the Juniperus bermudiana (Bermuda cedar) that Churchill planted in 1942.

Although Government House lost over 700 trees when struck by Hurricane Fabian only two months before, the Churchill tree was, as Sir John noted, “bloodied but unbowed.” Our Patron, Lady Soames, planted a new cedar on the grounds of Government House, using the same spade her father had used sixty-one years before. In return, Sir John presented Lady Soames with a branch from the original tree bearing a special commemorative plaque that he had had created. Lady Soames accepted it on behalf of The Churchill Centre.

A gala black tie dinner was held Friday night at which over 300, including special guests from Bermuda led by the Governor, members of the government, and senior executives from XL Capital Ltd., XL Foundation, Axis Capital Holdings, and Jardine Lloyd Thompson, were treated to the same menu enjoyed by the three world leaders fifty years before: Le Cocktail de Crevettes, La Vichyssoise en Tasse, Le Poisson Bermuda Bonne Femme, Le Tourendo Grille Maitre d’Hotel, Les Pommes de Terre Sautee, Les Petits Pois a la Francaise, La Salade de Saison, Creme Glace Tutti-Frutti, Le Cafe Royale. Of course, there was an ample supply of Pol Roger Champagne for the loyal toasts.

The evening was capped by a keynote speech given by the Right Hon. The Lord Heseltine CH, former Secretary of State for Defence and a leading figure in many posts in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Lord Heseltine’s remarks were delivered in Churchillian fashion: he said what he thought, challenging conventional beliefs and provoking critical discussion on the current policies of the U.S. and Great Britain in the Middle East, with which he disagrees. Churchill’s famous Rule of The Other Club was here applicable: “Nothing in the rules of the Club shall interfere with the rancour and asperity of party politics.” Lord Heseltine was warmly received, and the only regret was that the evening was so long that no time was left for a dialogue.

For Saturday morning’s seminars we again met our guest academics, who were paired up to discuss “Special Relationships in the Churchill Era” (David Reynolds and William Roger Louis) and “Special Relationships from Churchill to the Present” (John Ramsden and Warren Kimball). Our student participants returned and it was a genuine pleasure to see a young high school student stand up in the midst of this intimidating crowd and pose an insightful question for Professors Ramsden and Kimball was the “special relationship” built more on personalities or on the needs of the two countries?

On Saturday afternoon, we again embarked by multiple taxis for the thirty-minute journey across the island to the Mid Ocean Club, venue for the 1953 Summit and at which the three world leaders stayed during their visit. A luncheon on the lawn was followed by a moving presentation by Professor Reynolds that brought tears of remembrance to our Patron’s eyes.

The conference concluded Saturday night with an Awards Dinner. Professor Ramsden received the 2003 Fred Farrow Award for his seminal work, Man of the Century; Fiona Reynoldson, author of Churchill in the Heinemann Library Leading Lives series for young readers, received the 2003 Emery Reves Award for literary accomplishment; and Professor Paul Alkon of the University of California, Los Angeles, received the first Finest Hour Journal Award, which recognizes the best contribution to Finest Hour during the preceding four issues. Dr. Alkon was recognized for his erudite articles on Churchill and T. E. Lawrence in Finest Hour 119.

John Plumpton, coordinator of the student education program, announced that the girls from Bermuda High School had been collecting “Intellectual Pin-ups” at their school. Over the course of the conference, they had been voting on which should go up on their board. The voting came down to a tight race between Professors Warren Kimball and David Reynolds, with Reynolds edging Kimball in the final tally. The evening ended with a slide show presented by John and conference chairman Col Nigel Knocker, on the Twenty-first International Churchill Conference in Portsmouth, England, scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, 23-26 September 2004.

As we departed Bermuda, the consensus was that the Conference had been a well-organized, enjoyable and enlightening event. Organizers and sponsors alike had gone all out to make it a truly memorable experience. Special thanks go to CC governor and conference coordinator Judy Kambestad for her hard work in putting the details together, planning the events and meals, coordinating the transportation, and all of the myriad other duties that are required to execute an event of this size.

Each year, one wonders whether the conference can be topped. Next year’s holds great promise to again be a stellar event. And many registrations for 2004 have already been received—don’t miss it!