A concise look at the achievements of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill held many government offices during his political career which spanned sixty years. He had a number of failings during this time and a remarkable number of achievements.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE | MAJOR INITIATIVES* | RESULT* | BOOKS PUBLISHED |
---|---|---|---|
(Note: Ministers must be Members of Parliament – MPs) | Elected 1900 as a Conservative; in 1904 switched to Liberal Party | Success | The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898) |
None (1900-1905) | Success | The River War (1899); Savrola (1899) | |
(Member of Parliament) | London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900) | ||
Ian Hamilton’s March (1900) | |||
Mr. Brodick’s Army (1903) | |||
Colonial Under-Secretary 1905-1908 | Transvaal constitution | Success | Lord Randolph Churchill (1906) |
For Free Trade (1906) | |||
President, Board of Trade | Labor dispute mediation | Success | My African Journey (1908) |
1908-1910 | Arbitration courts | Mixed | Liberalism and the Social Problem (1909) |
(out of Parliament 24 Apr 1908 – May 09) | Labor Exchanges | Success | |
Minimum wage | Success | ||
Home Secretary | Strike intervention | Mixed | The People’s Rights (1910) |
1910-1911 | Home rule for Ireland | Inconclusive | |
Prison reform | Mixed | ||
Insurance Act | Success | ||
Labor and Shop Acts | Success | ||
First Lord of the Admiralty | Naval staff reorganization | Success | |
1911-1915 | Fleet power conversion (coal to oil) | Success | |
Naval Air Corps | Success | ||
Ship development project | Success | ||
Tank development project | Success | ||
Dardanelles | Failure | ||
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | Only serious duty is to appoint County magistrates; a sinecure. | ||
28 May 1915 – 11 Nov 1915 | |||
None (1915-1916) | Battalion commander, France | Success | |
(Member of Parliament) | |||
Minister of Munitions | Streamlining of ministry | Success | |
1917-1919 | Output increases | Success | |
Secretary of State for Air & War 1919-1921 | Russian intervention | Failure | |
Demobilization | Success | ||
Colonial Secretary | Home Rule for Ireland | Mixed | |
1921-1922 | Middle East reorganization | Success | |
Out of Parliament | 1924 Returns to Conservative Party | The World Crisis (vol. 1 & 2/5) (1923) | |
16 Nov 1922 – 29 Oct 1924 | |||
Chancellor of the Exchequer | Gold standard restoration | Failure | The World Crisis ( vol. 3 & 4/5) (1927-29) |
1924-1929 | Income tax reduction | Success | |
Sweeping tax reform | Failure | ||
Coal strike mediation | Failure | ||
General Strike 1926 | Mixed | ||
None (1929-1939) | Opposed India Bill | Failure | The World Crisis ( vol. 5/5) (1931) |
(Member of Parliament) | Campaign for rearmament | Failure | My Early Life: A Roving commission(1930) |
“Wilderness Years” | Defended Edward VIII | Mixed | India (1931) |
Thoughts and Adventures/Amid These Storms (1932) | |||
Marlborough: His Life and Times(1933-38) | |||
Great Contemporaries (1937) | |||
Arms and the Covenant/While England Slept (1938) | |||
First Lord of the Admiralty 1939-1940 | Norwegian offensive | Failure | Step by Step 1936-1939 (1939) |
Attacking German Fleet | Success | ||
National Broadcasts | Success | ||
Prime Minister and | Mobilized English Language | Success | Into Battle/Blood Sweat and Tears(1941) |
Minister of Defence | WW2 – vs. Germany/Italy | Success | The Unrelenting Struggle (1942) |
1940-1945 | WW2 – vs. Japan | Success | The End of the Beginning (1943) |
Opposed Soviet hegemony | Failure | Onward to Victory (1944) | |
Prime Minister 1945 | Caretaker Government | The Dawn of Liberation (1945) | |
None | Tory domestic policy | Success | Secret Session Speeches (1946) |
Leader of the Opposition | Warned of Soviet threat | Success | The Second World War 6 vol. (1948-53) |
(1945-1951 | Supported Labour’s Foreign Policy | Mixed | Sinews of Peace (1948) |
Europe Unite (1950) | |||
Prime Minister 1951-1955 | Cold War mediation | Failure | In the Balance (1951); Stemming the Tide (1953) |
None 1955-1964 | Intercedes with Eisenhower over Suez | Failure | History of the English-Speaking Peoples 4 vol. (1956-58); The Unwritten Alliance (1961) |
(Member of Parliament) | Winston S. Churchill: The Complete Speeches 8 vol. (1974) | ||
The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill 4 vol. (1975) |
*Major initiatives and evaluations compiled by Steven F Hayward, from his book Churchill on Leadership (Rocklin, CA: Prima, 1998). p.24, and Richard M. Langworth, former editor, the International Churchill Society. May be reprinted for educational purposes, but only with attribution to Steven F. Hayward and The International Churchill Society.