August 3, 2013

Finest Hour 122, Spring 2004

Page 47

I attended a book event at The Eisenhower Center which featured Walter Isaacson, former editor of Time, speaking about his latest book, Benjamin Franklin. Of course I accosted him about Time’s cop-out choice of Einstein as “Person of the Century.” We had a friendly exchange which continued after his presentation. He was about to step into an elevator when I said to him that his very description of Benjamin Franklin applied exactly to Winston Churchill. He immediately jumped off the lift and, quite good naturedly, acknowledged that I could be correct—and that it had never occurred to him until that second! He then realized that he was about to fall into a lengthy conversation, gathered himself and got on another elevator as he loudly asked me to call him so that we could continue this conversation. I will do so!
CRAIG HORN, LAUREL, MD.

Please do! Mr. Isaacson was a distinguished editor at Time, but its performance over its “Person of the Century” showed it to be hopelessly Politically Correct and out of touch with historical reality. (See “Time’s Long March to Person of the Century”, FH 105: 21, Winter 1999-2000.) So I didn’t bother to read his Franklin biography— who was not exactly PC.

Isaacson argued that Churchill was disqualified for Century honors because he said something unkind about Gandhi, “opposed the women’s-rights movement, other civil rights crusades and decolonization”—which only displayed how little Mr. I. knew. After the India Bill passed Churchill wished Gandhi success improving the lot of Indians; early on he opposed women’s suffrage but reconsidered quickly, and in 1910-11 promoted legislation granting widows the same pension and inheritance rights as widowers. As for decolonization, he was born in 1874 for heaven’s sake! Churchill wrote Shall We Commit Suicide?, warning of a future nuclear holocaust, eight years before Einstein sent his famous letter to FDR warning of the same thing. Somewhere along the line, in 1940, Churchill saved civilization. Congratulations. RML