May 15, 2013

FINEST HOUR 140, AUTUMN 2008

BY RICHARD M. LANGWORTH

ABSTRACT
HOW THE NAME OF SIR WINSTON BROUGHT OUT SO MANY OF THE GOOD AND THE GREAT

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A fortieth anniversary is a good time to recall our early conferences before they fade into history. Full disclosure: Barbara Langworth chaired three conferences between 1985 and 1995; I was the one who accompanied her to them, and I enjoyed myself.

Our first “event,” at the Churchill Memorial in Fulton in 1983, attracted two Canadians, the Fulton postal clerk who processed the Churchill first day cover in 1965, and this writer. Friends at the Memorial were amused. We regrouped and decided not to call this our first conference.

I TORONTO, 1984: Our first real convention (as they were then called), chaired by the late George Temple, was held in conjunction with the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy, who invited Martin Gilbert and us to dinner. During the day, we had a reception for then-American Ambassador to Canada Paul Robinson. Most of us had never met an Excellency, but Paul was very keen, became a Trustee, and his friendship stood us well on many occasions over the years.

II BOSTON, 1985: We hosted a cabinet official in 1985 under Barbara Langworth, who invited U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger to the Parker House in Boston. The President and Secretary Schulz were in Geneva with the Russians, Secretary Weinberger was the senior cabinet officer in the country. His remarks, “Churchill: An Uncomfortable Hero,” recalled what Churchill had meant to a young soldier in distant barracks during 1940.

Security was high. The Secret Service closed a street so they could use it driving in from Logan Airport, and marched him up the stairs, shunning the lifts. When we next met at a dinner at the House of Commons a few years later he had left office, and I asked him if he missed those bodyguards. “That,” he said, “was the best thing about giving up the job.”

III VANCOUVER, 1986: Back in Canada, we were hosted by the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill Society of British Columbia, our first encounter with the pomp and circumstance of those famous Canadian dinners, with a resplendent M.C. banging a mace on the floor to Pray Silence of Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen. Our speaker was William Manchester, who read the lyrical prologue to The Last Lion, then still unpublished. It was the beginning of a long friendship; Bill allowed us to publish two advance excerpts of his Volume III (page 35) and was our guest again in Boston nine years later.

IV DALLAS, 1987: Under co-chairmen Naomi Gottlieb and David Sampson, we gathered at the famous Adolphus Hotel, deep in the heart of Texas. Our guests were longtime Churchill secretary and first Chartwell administrator Grace Hamblin (“Chartwell Memories,” page 34), WSC’s onetime hostess Wendy Reves, and Congressman Jim Courter. A gadfly from The New Republic befriended people, took notes, then wrote a nasty attack piece about cigar-puffing reactionaries mourning the “damp seam of détente running through the Reagan Administration.” We reprinted his article, footnoting all the inaccuracies, in FH 51.

Incidentally, smoking after dinner stopped stone dead in 1991. We never heard of it again, though we do provide after-dinner cigar smokers for the unreconstructed.

Owing to our inexperience, and what is known as “creative billing” in the hotel business, Dallas ran up an $8000 loss. We were living “mouth to hand” in those days, but somehow treasurer George Lewis scraped the money together. One director complained (rightly) that the treasury should not be financing good times for a few at the expense of all. We vowed never again to lose money, a vow we kept through the period in this account.

V BRETTON WOODS, 1988: Barbara Langworth’s second event was held at the majestic Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. We nearly had President Reagan, and we did get Alistair Cooke and then-Governor John Sununu, with over 250 at each dinner. Sununu spoke off-the-cuff, proudly recalling that his bellwether state of New Hampshire had made Sir Winston an honorary citizen before the U.S. Congress. Alistair Cooke was superb, recalling the Churchill of his youth in England (page 33). This was the first conference addressed by the academics—Ray Callahan, Hal Elliott Wert and Ted Wilson. Scholars have contributed to every event since. Ray Callahan was with us in Vancouver twenty years later.

A notable faux pas was when the head table (which we have since dropped in favor of spreading around our celebrities) marched in and John Edison’s trousers fell down. Bill Ives, next in line, grabbed them and held them up while John demurely took his seat and reconnected his braces. The Mount Washington was being renovated, and many of us had rooms not redone since the 1944 Bretton Woods Monetary Conference! Another lesson learned: check all the rooms they intend to put you in….

VI LONDON, 1989: This was mainly a dinner with Maurice Ashley, Churchill’s literary aide on Marlborough, and Robert Hardy, the greatest Churchill actor ever, during the fourth Churchill Tour, with the tour party and UK members. We dined at the Waldorf Hotel on what Mr. Hardy described as a “hot Egyptian evening.” We announced that the Americans might remove their jackets, the British would have to keep theirs on, and the Canadians could do as they pleased as usual. Maurice, the author of Churchill as Historian (page 23), gave a delightful talk on his experiences, though his wife fainted in the heat and cigar smoke. Happily, she quickly recovered! It was our Patron Lady Soames’s first conference, and we are happy to look back now on ten events buoyed by her presence.

VII SAN FRANCISCO, 1990: As Saddam Hussein was invading Kuwait, we invaded San Francisco in a conference chaired by Merry Alberigi. (The word “conference” was her idea, substituting for “convention.”) We enjoyed three memorable days with Lady Soames and Robert Hardy at the Fairmont Hotel. There were a wine tasting, a cruise of San Francisco Bay, excellent scholarly papers, and some good debates with such scholars as Larry Arnn. Robert Hardy’s speech (page 34) was a classic. We hosted over 275, an attendance record for conferences up to that time.

VIII AUSTRALIA, 1991: Our Down-Under conference was held in conjunction with a Churchill Tour of Australia, including a dinner with Australian members in Melbourne organized by Peter Jenkins, and another with members of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra. Ambassador Melvin Sembler (now Ambassador to Italy) told us that the cornerstone to the brick colonial-style U.S. Embassy was laid on (wait for it) 7 December 1941. The then-Ambassador wired home saying, more or less, “What do we do now?”

The answer he received was: “Build the rest of it in a hurry, lest the Aussies think we’re on the run.”

IX SURREY, ENGLAND, 1992: The village of Effingham Park was our country venue, and our speakers were Professor John Charmley and Enoch Powell. The former gave us a dose of the thesis of his upcoming book, Churchill: The End of Glory: that Churchill should have backed away from the Hitler war in 1940-41. Thoroughly pleasant, Charmley was fun to debate. Conversely, we expected fire and brimstone from Enoch Powell, but instead he gave a modest speech about “Churchill from the Dimension of Time,” which we duly published, and which is now on our website.

X WASHINGTON, 1993: We met at the Mayflower Hotel, chaired by Merry Alberigi, with a reception for Lady Thatcher at the British Embassy, attended by General Powell and Secretary Weinberger. Lady T stayed up all night reading her copy of The Dream, which she said she was unable to put down. David McCullough spoke eloquently about Churchill and Truman. Celia Sandys, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Winston Churchill and Jack Kemp were speakers. “What did Lady Thatcher say?” Kirkpatrick asked me. “She said some people were not on her side over the Falklands, but Cap Weinberger was.” Jeane replied: “I was one of those people.” (Ulp.) I took a chance: “But you were wrong, weren’t you?” “Perhaps,” she said…. (Relief!)

Ambassador Alan Keyes, who thought of taking up opera, sang five national anthems (including God Defend New Zealand). Later, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in freezing cold and without musical accompaniment, he sang every verse of the Battle Hymn of the Republic: a bravura performance that none present would ever forget.

XI CALGARY AND BANFF, 1994: In 1994, ICS Canada hosted yet again, with starting events in Calgary and the grand finale at the fabulous Banff Springs Hotel, with Lady Soames and Celia Sandys our guests of honor. Celia gave the keynote speech at the first dinner, attended by members of the Calgary Society, who unfortunately did not follow us to Banff, which was the scene of more action. We visited Lake Louise, the venues painted by Churchill, and Celia’s car was gored by a rutting elk, which added a novel twist to our enjoyment of local fauna.

XII BOSTON, 1995: Returning to Boston, Barbara Langworth’s third conference was held at the Copley Plaza, from which we have just returned from Conference XXV under Joe Hern. Lady Soames was guest of honor and the speakers were Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., William F. Buckley, Jr. and William Manchester. There was a visit to the Kennedy Library (where the Honorary Citizen papers were laid out for us); Cyril Mazansky’s tour of “Churchill’s Boston” and student presentations. New England Patriots conditioning coach Johnny Parker spoke on WSC’s inspiration to football players. Ken Rendell brought exhibits from his Museum of World War II, and the Harvard Glee Club sang Harrow songs. It was a financial success despite a $65 registration fee. The serious bills were paid by corporate sponsors and the generosity of nearly thirty benefactors who contributed $2500 per couple, most of it tax-deductible. With guests like these, you can build a nice margin into your dinner ticket. About 350 people attended each of two black tie dinners.

Humor moment: conference chief of staff Parker Lee, in the days before cell phones, was on the street with a walky-talky when green trolleys arrived to pick people up for our Boston harbor cruise. “There are 150 people and only three trolleys,” he called to us in our room. “We are out of seats.” “Have them take the first group over and come back for the rest, and we’ll hold the boat,” Barbara said. The green trolleys had no sooner departed than a fleet of orange trolleys arrived—we had hired the orange ones! We never did find out who ordered the greens…and they never billed us.

The Churchill Centre was founded at the 1995 conference. I was president during the next five conferences and was proud to be associated with every one of them.

XIII EAST SUSSEX, ENGLAND, 1996: David Boler managed a most successful UK conference at Ashdown Park Hotel in Ashdown Forest. We hosted a tour for a record eighty people which, as an adjunct to the conference, hosted an unbelievable dinner with the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough in the Grand Hall of Blenheim Palace. The location helped, because it was a resort package, much cheaper than London. Speakers included David Stafford on Churchill and the “Secret Wars”; and Bill Deedes, who had riveting memories of his years in the postwar Churchill government. David also laid on the best dance band we have ever heard. A big hit…

XIV TORONTO, 1997: John Plumpton and Randy Barber co-chaired a committee they called the “Dream Team” for a large conference at Toronto with Celia Sandys the guest of honor. John Ramsden spoke on Churchill’s honorary U.S. citizenship; Hugh Segal on “Churchill as a Moderate”; John Mather on WSC’s hardiness and resilience. The scholarly subject was Churchill on India, which was diffidently and differently examined by Kirk Emmert and Clifford Orwin. This must have been the first of Celia’s speeches on “Memories of Grandpapa.”

XV WILLIAMSBURG, 1998: In 1998 under John Mather and Craig and Lorraine Horn, we hosted U.S. Ambassador to Britain Raymond Seitz for the First Churchill Lecture. With the support of William and Mary, Jim Muller put together an excellent student seminar on The Age of Revolution. Celia Sandys and Lady Soames both attended. Speakers included Matt Wills on Harry Hopkins and Manfred Weidhorn on Churchill the writer. Colonial Williamsburg, which WSC, Clementine and their daughter Mary had visited, was a unique and special venue.

XVI BATH, 1999: We were at Bath, England under ICS (UK) and chairman Nigel Knocker. No hotel was big enough, so we had to spread business around, but the result was satisfying. The beautiful city had Roman baths to drink Pol Roger in (better than the water). The American Museum, where young WSC gave his first political speech, was venue for its reenactment by Celia Sandys’ son, Dominic Walters. Paul Courtenay gave a fine talk on Churchill and the man he admired most of all: Jan Smuts.

XVII ANCHORAGE, 2000: Jim and Judith Muller chaired an ambitious event in Alaska, which was well attended despite its remote location, giving many an opportunity for a wonderful Alaskan cruise. It was also special owing to the presence of Lady Soames and Martin Gilbert, who delivered a powerful triptych of speeches on “Churchill and Russia.” There were Harrow Songs and spectacular excursions. The Mullers planned a low break-even point, ended up with more than that, and for the thirteenth year in a row, kept the conference in the black.

We look back at these conferences with pride and gratitude, not only for the dedicated people who ran them, but because most of them had certain qualities in common: individual event prices that allowed attendees to pick what they wished, very low break-even estimates (we were only caught napping once), a good mix of ages, non-peak timing, tight-fisted conference chairmen; and saturation coverage of Winston Churchill.

Repeated surveys tell us what members consider most important: price, location, speakers. Another point of interest: until 1995, when the theme was the end of World War II, none of the conferences had a theme. We would try first to get the best speakers we could, and then see if there was some unifying thread to build a theme around. If there wasn’t, we simply wouldn’t declare one.

I used to think it was vital for conferences to make money. I no longer do. If a conference can break even, while allowing the Centre to “take home” some tax-deductible donations, it is a success. Our members take a keen interest in conferences they attend, and communicate their thoughts and advice, which are invaluable. Never fail to think and rethink, because in change lies improvement. Above all, remember Winston Churchill. 

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