For a time being anyway, hitlers forces could not take the suez canal, could not take the war fields. Even so, the war was far from over. Churchill is no closer to coming into grips with itself with the forces in europe. I believe its 1 30, and i think im supposed to stop. Excellent, thank you so much. Now more from George Mason University at the life and legacy of western churchill. This lecture is part of the Smithsonian Associates seminar series. When churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, he was informed by the chief of staff that any kind of victory. That would only come about through support can United States to win the general in Franklin Roosevelt he did not help the british until after he won a third term, and that was until 1930 and thats because the United States knows because of the isolation movement did not take ocean on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, it was perfectly encapsulated by this cartoon of uncle sam. After, that there was an organization in the United States called America First headed by a certified thrown across the atlantic in 1927 nonstop. America first was extraordinarily influential in political circles. After he found before he could do anything to help the british knowing that there could be backlashthis. In one of the picture magazines of the day life magazine that radio reporters, especially edward r. Murrow was bringing the war of the blitz itself into American Homes opposition to any kind of support for britain was widespread. It is telling that in one poll in late 1940 fully sixty percent of the respond in these are all americans fully 60 of the respondents said that britain was fighting in americas interests. In this war but only 13 wanted to give the british any kind of help. So when looked at from that perspective, it was hard to see how roosevelt was going to be able to move public in a more in a direction. That would be more the british. Whats this story . With the world war i destroyers that they desperately needed to defend their island, as americans had 99 year old on various places in the western hemisphere, which are marked on this map. Its fdr could do this. Because he argued that this was a defensive for the United States. Even then he got a lot of pushback, isolationist, America First, did not believe anything of a kind. They were still dealing with this problem after the election, after the destroy of the bases deal, both churchill and fdr confronted the historic fact which was that britain was literally running out of money to wage war. It was fdr who said he would find a way to take the dollar stein out of this equation. What he came up with was some len lease. Lynn louise, which he proposes in january 1940, one we allow the british to borough mayor can pounce. And much else besides. All of which would be returned to the end of the war. If you think about this for more than three seconds that is crazy. How can you loan ships that are going to be some, planes are going to be shot down, tense theyre going to be blown up. Or bullets theyre going to be fired. When a reporter asked fdr about this, he said it is very simple. We are it is as if a neighbor of yours has his house on fire, and you are loaning him your garden hose to put out the fire. Amazingly, it worked. And congress in march of 1941 past land lease. Land lease was decisive in defining the war. By the end of the war thanks to learn at least not only were weapons being provided to the british and as you can see from this poster to other allies as well but for britain itself and thanks to land at least fully one fifth or 20 of the food that was eaten by britains civilians and military forces alike were provided by land lease. For his part virtual called the unleashed the most on sorted act in history. It would be a mistake though to say that land lease was on a winning streak. He was not. But in the terms of land lease they had to provide, the british david, what they called a reversal and lease. They had to give up all rights on invention such as radar and jet aircraft antibiotics and nuclear research. And to help pay they also had to give up much of the federal reserves. And because of this churchill came under a great deal of criticism than and sense. Because just by reading off the list of those industries, those inventions, it is clear that these were going to be the technologies for the late 20th century. In mid August Churchill took a the step of crossing the atlantic to meet with Franklin Roosevelt. Who came up from maine on his own cruiser, the augusta. To meet off the coast of newfoundland. This was not their first meeting. They met 25 years ago in 1918. When fdr was there is a young assistant secretary to the navy. Churchill did not remember the meeting and fdr did. He felt the churchill had been very dismissive. Called him a real stinker. So this next meeting was going to be crucial. It was important for both men that they get on. And churchill took the step crossing a the uboat infested waters to make it to the coast of canada. On a new british battleship, hms prince of wales. His bodyguard said he was so excited he was like a little schoolboy. The two men met for four days. And this gathering also allowed the meeting of their military chiefs. In particular, those two men standing over churchills left shoulder, the American Army chief of staff george c. Marshall in the then chief of the imperial general staff, field marshal sir drawn dill. These two men, the american war secretary, henry simpson, later said it made possible legal prosecution of war. And it was at this first meeting that they got to know one another. At these meetings, fdr told churchill that he could not declare war on his own. Pointed out to him. But he said he would wage war. He would not declare, but he would wager. It and hope that an incident provoked by the germans would bring america into the war on britain side. The two man also signed the Atlantic Charter adopting, it promising the peoples would be free to choose our own governments. Churchill was a lucky about this, he thought it only apply to occupied your, not to the empire and also became a source of contention in later years. The high point of these meetings occurred on sunday when a sunday Morning Service was held on prince of wales. And the Ships Company of both the american and british navy stood intermingled on the quarter deck. Churchill very carefully chose him for the service. He later wrote about the event. That it was a great hour to live. Before the year was out, prince of wales and hms pulse would be sunk by the japanese, just three days after pearl harbor. Churchill was spending time after dinner on sunday evening when he heard first news reports over the bbc, but the American Fleet at pearl harbor and hawaii had been attacked. He immediately phoned Franklin Roosevelt, fdr confirmed the news, and such a churchill you are all in the same boat now. We tend to forget about the attack on pearl harbor, we tend to forget that it was not an isolated incident, as i pointed out this morning. We also tends to forget that the aim of all of these attacks, on the hong kongs in the philippines in singapore, which to allow companies to take control of the dust dutch east indies. And the oil that can be found there. As soon as churchill heard the news he decided that he would go to washington. I should say here that there are conspiracies stories still circulating to the stay that fdr and even churchill himself had knowledge about these attacks. And that simply doesnt comport with the evidence. If, anything these two man the last thing they wanted was a war in the pacific and asia with the japanese. Their main focus was hitler and europe. When churchill went to bed that night he later wrote that he slept the sleep of a saint and thankful. But in fact these attacks only brought the United States into the war against japan. Once again it was hitler came to the rescue. Four days after pearl harbor. He announced that not see germany and fascist italy would also declare war on the United States. And it was only with that that the United States came to the war against fascism in europe. Even so, churchill was alive to the fact that Many Americans saw japan as the primary enemy. And that explains why he decided to come to the United States in december 1941. And a dress both houses of congress. This was not the only legislative body he address when he was in the atlantic. A few days later he spoke to the Canadian Parliament where he delivered a often quoted or mark that is little understood. And i would like to play it for you here on this last bit. In other military leaders of france at the time of the france collapse, mr. Official said. Misled. Them when i warned them that britain would go down alone, whatever he did, the general told the Prime Minister and his divided cabinet in three weeks, england will have its neck around like a chicken. Some chicken. Some neck. That remark, some chicken, some neck, has been lost was in some way. We are getting that part. At the time, to say that someone had some neck would be akin to somebody saying that somebody had a lot of gall or a lot of nerve. And that is what churchill was saying about the french generals, first comparing britain to a chicken and then saying that they have a lot of nerve to say that. The speech to congress, and before, he traveled to canada to address the Canadian Parliament. He suffered a mild heart attack. In most cases, the standard treatment wouldve been six weeks rest. But he would not hear of it. Even before the United States enters the war, military players have been Holding Secret talks. And these talks agree that if the United States came to the floor, whatever else, germany would be the primary target. Churchill wanted to make sure that these stunning attacks on pearl harbor will not turn americas focus to asia instead. And that they would concentrate on defeating hitler first, before it was too late. He was in washington for a month. Came just before christmas. And state until mid january. And i had a lot of fun with this. I love the score turn of the two men for christmas eve. Churchill was on the same floor living on the same floor as fdr. And became resident of the white house. I dont know that it has ever been true of any other world leader. One of the important results of these conferences was the decision to virtually combine the british and the American Military days and what was called unity of command. For that, we have george c. Marshall to thank. Marshall was actually alarmed at the way fdr and churchill would make decisions without first consulting their advisers. Especially the military advisers. So he answered john dill who is now representing the British Military there in washington came up with the idea of unity of command. What that meant was literally dividing those parts of the world were british and American Forces operated. And having a single overall commander. Sometimes it would be a british commander, some things would be an american commander. No matter what nations the forces came from they would be under that overall commander. This was a decision that i am not aware of ever having taken place before the Second World War. With demand was that the two nations were able to pool their resources. On matters as diverse as shipping, sharing intelligence, the british had made far greater strides in intelligence information famously obliquely park. As well as in technical knowhow. It is no exaggeration to say that the efforts of these two men, marshall and jill, saved countless lives during the war. They also combined the chiefs of staff of both nations. To what was called the combined chiefs of staff. The combined chiefs of staff. Excuse me. Florals. And again, this helped lead to a more smooth operation in the war. That does not mean to say that everybody like dates. It does not mean that it always went as planned. It did not. Nevertheless, as i say, it helped both nations in this war to win much more quickly, and with less loss of life. Churchill himself often found that he was at loggerheads with these military commanders. Not least with chief of the imperial general staff. That man on four pills left, feel marshall sir alan brooke. Brook also was a constant cross hairs with constantly at odds with churchill. He was always trying to play off churchills outrageous air or outlandish plans for the war. In one diary entry, brook road, he is quite the most difficult man to work with. But then he added, what i would not have missed the chance of working with him for anything on earth. Churchills colleagues in government felt the same. Clement at le again seeded here between churchill and Anthony Eaton, later said that we have worked with him, churchill, know how quickly he can change from the great man to a child. In his war memories churchill recalled the period from january 1942 to 1943 as a time when the war turned for almost uninterrupted disaster to almost on unbroken success. And indeed the First Six Months of 1942 were a disaster. For the british anyway it began with the surrender of singapore in february. The largest capitulation of British Forces in history. And for churchill personally, another surrender this time in north africa, when to brooke was seized for a second time. But failed to hold on this occasion, unlike previously. George will happen to be in washington for yet another conference when he received the news of the surrender at sherbrooke. And he was meeting with roosevelt and his advisers, and it was at this meeting that one of the most enduring moments in the two mens relationship occurred. This was highly embarrassing to surrender was highly embarrassing for churchill. But after a stunned silence, the american president to look to the british Prime Minister and other six simple words. What can we do to help . What the americans could do and did do was to send a massive amount of aid to the British Forces still in north africa, the eighth army. Including tanks. And this would make possible the decisive victory at an ember 1942. This vote, sorry, this disaster yet led to yet another vote of no confidence in churchill. We he again barely survived. The vote did show it also being in his favor but he was still in a lot of trouble politically. In august, churchill had to travel to meet stalin for the first time. To give him the news that the annual americans would not be opening the second front. That is, the invasion of france that stalin had been demanding knocked in 1942. The American GeneralDouglas Mcarthur who was never known to be an anglophile was told about the trip and were similarly alarmed at the fact that churchill flew from london to moscow via gibraltar and cairo and irans unheated b 24 liberator bomber which was notoriously uncomfortable in the best of circumstances. Mcarthur said that anybody who could travel 10,000 miles like that deserved the victoria cross. In moscow stolen did not take the news about the second for not being opened very easily. You can see trifle and stalling with the american diplomat avril heron between them and stalins foreign secretary molotov on the other side. When i was in moscow churchill, i encountered several feast banquets with stalin and his cohort. And one of churchills aides said that nothing can be imagined more awful than a kremlin banquet. But this aide says it has to be in george and what he was talking about were the pretty savage amounts of alcohol that they were expected to consume and these banquets would go on until 3 00 in the morning. Despite stalins annoyance, dreadful did manage to make him understand that the second front could not happen. He said in 1942, hopefully 1943. In the meantime he did promise that the british and the americans would scale up their Bombing Campaign of occupied europe. This Bombing Campaign is still controversialis whether or not it was decisive in the war is a question that goes back and forth. It is interesting that one person, at least, did say that it opened up what he called a fourth front during the war. And that was hitlers minister albert scheer. He called the Bombing Campaign decisive. And the feet of naughty or money. Churchill at the time did not have any qualms about the Bombing Campaign and neither did the r of command, general sir arthur harris. He even argue that bombing alone could into the war. In his memoirs, churchill avoided to think about the strategic Voting Campaign and he certainly distance himself from it after the war was over. It must be speaks at the treatment of a veteran was a Bomber Command by the British Government was pretty shabby after 1945. And it was even over 55,000 died in the fighting. Churchill, by 1942, realize that the weight of the war of the dominating forces in the war would soon be the british. Would soon be the americans along with the soviets. And this man that it was important that the british win a decisive victory on the around, before that could happen. The problem was the struggle in north africa seems to be leading nowhere. And in the summer of 1942, tricia went to africa on yet another trip where these two men, harold alexander, to command the British Forces in the middle east, and del mar monte as he was soon, to man the eighth army. Monte gave churchill the victory he needed. At this Little Railroad deborah called ill alemany and egypt. In this battle, which really started in october and lasted until early november, 1942, was said to have ban a world war i battle fought with world war ii weapons. Which is one reason that it lasted so long. In the and the british did win this battle. And that once and for all, ranas plans to take the suez canal in the middle east oil fields. Churchill later said that before alemany, he had never had a victory. And after alemany we never had a defeats. It is not entirely true. But it laila maine was one of the turning points of the Second World War, and is justly famous for that reason. A few days later british and American Forces landed on the other side of north africa, morocco and algeria. An operation choice. It was believed and hoped they would meet up with montgomerys army coming from egypt, and they would drive the access forces out of north africa before the end of 1942. And while they did get into libya before the end of the year, it would not be until may before that happens. In the meantime, churchill and roosevelt met once again. Excuse me. We estimate casablanca. And it was here that two crucial decisions were taken by and their chiefs of staff, you can see, standing behind them. One was that they cannot launch an invasion of europe in 1943. So the second front we delayed yet another year. Theres electrical to push what was called the mediterranean strategy. For the nation of italy. The other decision that was taken was fdrs announcement, suddenly, that the anglo americans would not accept anything short of Unconditional Surrender from the access powers. Churchill never left on that he did not know about this decision before it was made, before it was announced. But it is evidence from his late arriving that he thought it was a mistake. The other problem with these men they had to deal with, especially after they talked a decision to invade a delay, why is that fighting all of these forces had created a shipping stranglehold and the shipping stranglehold was affecting the war efforts across europe. And in asia and the pacific. Wed tend to overlook the fact that the british were fighting the japanese and southeast asia. And grandma. They were still at the gates of india in late 1942. The japanese were. This part of it, of the war, receive little attention at the time as it has the sense. The british soldiers fighting in burma called themselves the forgotten army. The 14th army. Call themselves the forgotten army. When it came to getting supplies from britain itself, they were never higher than fourth on the list. Behind the defense needs of britain itself, behind the war in north africa and the mediterranean. And behind the supplies set to the soviet union. I bring this up because it helps to explain one of the most tragic instances of the war, and that was a terrible famine that occurred in the indian state of 1943 and 44. Official estimates say that up to 1. 5 Million People died during this famine and unofficial estimates put the number at twice as high. Recent commentators have accused churchill specifically and the british in general of committing genocide. What these itics overlook are two very important factors. And that is whether itself which brought on the famine. And a shortage of shipping. The allies simply did not have enough ships to supply every part of the world. And thirdly, when Food Shortages like this happened in this part of the world previously, the british had turned to where they could usually get alternative supplies of food. Now, it was impossible in 1943 and 44, because the japanese occupied burma. Could more have been done to alleviate this terrible famine . Yes. But the fact was that starvation was occurring in many parts of the world, if not a right famine. Places like italy and the soviet union. And it goes up far too far to say that churchill intentionally wants the death of any people in these incidents. While this crisis was unfolding, churchill himself was on the road again this time he traveled with to meet with fdr and stalin at tehran in iran. But the time of the toronto in france it was obvious that britain was ever increasingly becoming a subsidiary member of what was then called the big three. You can get an idea of this and a low contractual space himself. Nevertheless, it is true that until the early months of 1944, the one the, west the war waged by anglo americans in that struggle, the number of forces and the numbers were overwhelmingly british and British Empire forces. Not american. That did not change until the early months of 1944. Nevertheless, the writing was on the wall. And it certainly was, by the time that it came to planning, finally, for the open in the second front. The invasion of europe. Operation overlord, the invasion in normandy. It is no doubt that the man who deserves the lions share of the credit for the success of the day was Dwight Eisenhower. This invasion was an extraordinary feat. Hat in operation largest invasion in Human History still to this day. They had been planning and executing that operation, he was going to take a lot of work. Its meant that it was going to require the combining of the military forces of several nations. And turning this polyglot force into a United Fighting force was very much eisenhowers achievement. Getting these egos to Work Together was, well, it was a feat in itself. We again, americans are speaking american here, tends to overemphasize the american role in the invasion. But if you look at a map of the invasion you will see that of the five invasion beaches, to our american. But to wear british, and one was canadian. It is also worth noting that four fifths of the naval vessels that took part in the dday operation were british. Churchill, by the way, wanted to take part in dday landings. He was so insistent that it took the intervention of george the sixth. Before he went back down. Nevertheless, he did manage to reach the invasion beaches like this one here. And sort about a week or so later to see what was going on. And to see that this victory of the civilized by this poster, was finally on the horizon. These forces, american, british, canadian and others were now fighting their way across france. And through the summer of 1944, it seemed as if the war could be might even possibly end by christmas. That was not to be. Just a week after the dday landings, hitler launched the first of a socalled wonder weapons. This is the one, the pilot less planes that were dropped on dutch cities. On especially on london. These were followed by the v two rockets. The ones, the tragically, once worked. With the v two since they were rockets there was no defense against them. And for the british people, this was a stunning reverse. Thinking that the war was so close to being over and then suddenly being under attack again from the skies. There were a number of suicides in london. But people who just could not take it anymore. One woman wrote in her diary that the war has lasted too long for me when. It is notable that churchill did not deliver any major speeches during the v one and v two attacks. I think he might have realized that rhetoric was not going to work this time that the war had gone on too long. When even with these attacks were, the british and American Forces worked their way across europe and there were some effects. Notably the attempt by British Forces and american paratroopers to take the dutch city of our them in the battle of the bulge. Involving American Forces. Theres some British Forces were also involved. But by late winter the allies in the west were ready to cross the line and churchill made sure that he was going to be in this operation, as you will see from this news reel. Then with this characteristic love of seeing things for, himself mr. Churchill landed on the scene. With general eisenhower he watches the crusaders storm berlin. Perhaps the gesture that captured our imagination most was the report of his cruising up and down the right. It used to be hitlers river. I its a wonderful clip i think. In liberating occupied europe all of the allied forces eventually encountered the system of concentration camps and death camps for which none were prepared. Despite stories that got out of occupied europe, i do not think anyone quite imagined what they were going to run across again i think i spoke about this this morning there was this ongoing controversy about whether or not the allies could have done more. I do not know there is more than i can say about that. In many cases it involves a lot of retrospective second guessing but liberation of camps like major camps like this one at bergenbelsen, they proved to the men who were there that they had seen. And it is sex commentary that even today there are people who questioned these photographs and the news reels that were taken at the time. Churchill and fdr were also not above a second guessing about the last of their conferences with stalin at yalta in february of 1945. It has been claimed that both needed and the best naive and most worst they actively conspired in stalins takeover of Eastern Europe. What these critics forget is that by february of 1945, the right on when he was deep into and to get to the red army out of Eastern Europe would have required a third world war. When the Second World War had not even finished. That brings up the second point which is that at the time one of fdrs main aims at this conference was to ensure that the soviets would enter the war against japan until there was defeated. Something that stalin could be a very invasive about. So it is again one of those controversies at the end of the war that i think is probably fairly retrospective use of it have unfairly attack both churchill and fdr. The war against hitler did and with the berlin falling to the red army and the allies in the west meeting the red army on the el river. Georgia was one of the angle maracas to take berlin but eisenhower wisely, as it turned out police did not cease would make the price of taking berlin bloody and they did. By one estimate, the red army lost over 360,000 soldiers in this last battle but before the war in europe. The of fascism in may, 1940, five was perhaps another one of those high points in churchill s life. There is nothing preordained about it. But it gave the people, as you can see in this photograph, a celebration that none of them could ever forget. Churchill is shown here with ernest bevin and clementa astley. Looking down at the crowds. Sent to the crowd for churchills picking. Saying that the throng of the people going back going, no, it is yours. Potwith the end of the war in europe, the allied leaders met for the last time just outside of berlin at and fdr had died in april. The president was harry truman. Interesting louis, churchill did not come over to the United States for fdrs funeral. There have been a lot of questions about why he did not do so. He certainly regretted it because it would have been an opportunity for him to me to the new american president and possibly to clear up a number of misunderstandings. When the war in japan ended in september, truman suddenly cut off all the to the british which was devastating to them. They were not prepared for it. Youve also been an opportunity for truman and churchill to talk about the atomic bomb. During the war, early in the war, the british were actually ahead of the americans in the theoretical parts of building the bomb and it was decided that they would currently work on the bomb, but churchill initially rejected this option when the british friendly to get back into the project, the manhattan project, the americans were now the not dominating force in that program. So the british very much had to take a back seat and churchill and fdr had an agreement to share the atomic secrets that came out of the manhattan project. The document was never official. And it mysteriously disappeared for a time only to reappear some years later in the archives so after the war the u. S. Congress passed the mcmahon act. That forbade the sharing of anytime excellence with any other nation. And this requires a british to launch their own Atomic Bomb Program in the late 1940s to stay as they said at the top table of all powers. So it was a huge missed opportunity for churchill. In the middle of the conference the british held a general election. There was a fear that there would be a repeat of 1918, and that churchill will try to maintain his coalition in office. I had so both labor and conservatives solar demanded a election. Everyone assume that churchill would handily win the election. But he made a number of mistakes going into the election campaign. One thing, he would not commit to the famous report and the creation of a welfare state. Labor day. He also accused his labor components with whom he had only recently been in government that they would have to adopt the tactics to implement the welfare state which really struck people the wrong way. Churchill wrote earlier on the night before the election he woke up with a sudden start and realize that he had lost. And indeed he had. Not just by a few votes. Labour won by a landslide. And that means that clements would be the new Prime Minister. Clements actually would be the Prime Minister who would see through the last few weeks of the war against japan. When the war against japan and did and there were celebrations in london in may, at le and the government will get on the balcony and take cheers with the audience but the audience also demanded, in its words, we want churchill. So churchill was admired. He had won the war. But they did not believe he was going to win the peace. And that largely explains the election defeat for churchill that Many Americans still have a hard time wrapping their heads around. Now out of office with actually at standing stage, churchill was a leader of the opposition. And with the dropping of the atomic bomb in the ending of the war britain faced a future. This cartoon, again, by david lowe sums up many of the feelings about churchill as a party leader. As a party leader could be very disagreeable and as a statesman he had been, and the words of david lowe here, the leader of humanity. After the war churchill embarked on a war memoir. He would be reelected in 1951 to again be Prime Minister in between he warned the west of the coming cold war in his famous speech at fulton, missouri, and which he used to the image of the iron curtain to send it across europe. The speech was not well received and there were many critics of it in both the United States and britain. They felt this was just virtually warmonger again. Once again a dictator came to his aid in that was stolen with his policies such as closing berlin to the western allies and imposing communist governments all across Eastern Central and Eastern Europe. Churchill, as party leader could sometimes be an absent party leader and a lot of the duties fell to Anthony Eaton who was his long suffering air apparent. When you finally did become Prime Minister again in 1951 he found a very strange world. When he came to washington to meet with harry truman, i had several proposals to put forward in front of the american president. Instead of addressing them immediately, truman said that is very interesting mister Prime Minister, we will be glad to look at them. In other words this was not the relationship that he had had with Franklin Roosevelt in 1841 to 1945. Not because of truman, but because the world had changed. Britain was no longer the power it had been at the start of the Second World War. And this became ever more increasingly i wouldnt as when he met trumans successor Dwight Eisenhower when he became the president in 1953. Churchill continued his Prime Minister until 1955 the night before he resigned. The new Queen Elizabeth came to downie straight for a banquet with churchill and his wife, clementine. Anthony even succeeded him. So either for a, then he probably assumed the office to light. And it was felt by the suez crisis, which unfortunately fills me outside the realm of the stop. Churchill continued as a member of parliament until 1964. Although he was all but absent most of the time. And he died in the 20 tyre january, 1965. When he indicted in many ways his funeral was said to be the closing of the leadership book during world war ii. It certainly was the closing of an age. A nation a country that has already moved along. The pretend of 1965, that sold churchills funeral, was also the burton of the beatles and churchills legacy however was far from over. And there is one more story that i would like to add to this talk about him some. Two years after churchill lost the 1945 election in 1947, a dinner party was being held the family home. And at the very last minute, one of the guests telephoned to say that you could not come. It was too late to change the table arrangements, and that means that there was going to be enough to share at the table. During the dinner at of churchills daughters turned to him and said papa who would you like to have sitting in that chair. And she assumed was going to be one of the famous figures of history like julius cesar perhaps or napoleon. But without hesitating, churchill said, my father of course. And that led to one of the most revealing articles ever written by any political leader at anytime. The article was not published until a year after churchill died. It is called dream. And a story, churchill is in his Artist Studio. Which was on the grounds live he was not in the house itself. Where he was painting. Painting the likeness of his father. Someone, and in my or, it sent churchill a copy of the portrait of lord randolph that was made at the height of the crisis in ireland in the 18 80s. Hes had been damaged, and churchill wanted to see if you could paint a copy of it. In the story, churchill is painting, making the coffee, went as he puts it he got a strange sensation. And looking over, i have easy chair, he saw his father sitting there. And he says, papa. And the operation looks up. Looks over a churchill. At his easel. In size, winston. What are you doing . And he says to the operation i am making this likeness of you. There goes looks over again and says thats not what you do for a living, is it . And he says no, its just a hobby it. And the ghost response, its probably just as well. He looks around, the ghost us, and asks what year is out. 1947, churchill tells. Im 52 years since lowered randolphs death. The ghost and asks winston what has happened since then. Is there still a monarch . Yes, churchill tells him. The ghost displeased. Is there still racing at a person . Yes winston tells him. The ghost is pleased. But then churchill tells him that women have the vote which leaves lord randolphs ghost amazed. Tells lord randolph that ireland has become all but independent. That the empire is fast fading away. Including burma, the lands that lord randolph had taken control of during his brief stint as indias secretary. In the 18 80s. Churchill also says that there is a socialist government. Which amazes lord randolph because he cannot understand how socialist could be loyal to the king. But virtual shorts and that these men are very loyal, and very hardworking. For the country. The apparition listens while churchill recounts all that has happened in politics and churchill says, well pop of, as you tell me, trust the people. And at that the ghost got indignant. He says i never talk politics with you ever. He tells winston. A boy like you . Bottom of his class at barely got through sam hearst. I would never talk politics with a boil like you. There is a stand to silence, and churchill looks over again and starts to tell lowered rand off about the children that he has hands. He has a wife. The ghost displeased. He is also pleased to know that this Artist Studio is not where winston lives. The ghost never asks about his wife. He never asks about churchills brother. Gradually they start to talk about politics again and talks with all the words that have taken place since his fathers death. As i continue to talk, the ghost, in spite of himself, becomes more amazed at churchills knowledge. And how will he can put things. But he is no longer the writer of still letters as he had been as a child. Finally, the ghost despite himself, looks at churchill in size, churchill. He says, winston, the story you told me is amazing. I would not believe it if it had not come from you. After a pause he says, you could have done quite a bit to help matters. You couldve got into politics. But then he pauses again. Because. And he looks at churchill and he says, but you are told for that now. And at that, churchill looked over at him as he goes to a match to land a cigarette and disappears. The ghost was gone. And churchill rounded off the article with an attempt at which, saying that he could not carry on the rest of the day because the ashes of his cigar had fallen into his paints. It is an amazing story. It is a revealing story. That after all those years, after all the accolades, after being Prime Minister when his father had not and after leading his country through a world war, after receiving a nobel prize for literature, none of that seems to matter. In his own heart, he still want to use most the recognition from his father. Fortunately for us, fortunately for us, he had the witch to go on. And for that we should all be grateful. Thank you very much. Wow. What a story to end. Don thank you so much, kevin. Wonderful. We have time for a q a now. , again please feel free to put your questions in the q a box at the bottom of your screen. And lets dive right in. We have someone who asks, had chamberlain lived, do you think he wouldve eventually undercut churchills leadership . That was what he thought was going to happen. When he resigned, he and most conservative mps thought that they would get over this crisis. They are not won an election or anything like that. And that once that ended, they could somehow convince labor and liberal mps that chamberlain should again become Prime Minister. They would just go back to the situation before. But as i said chamberlain had cancer. In order to say do not know what kind of cancer. It was very fast acting. And he died in november. And churchill gave the funeral eulogy, after berlins funeral. And it was quite a moving speech. But he said later, on he said when he asked him how can you do it that was not hard at all. I admire novels characteristics. He said, but they pray to god that i never have to deliver a eulogy for stanley woven. So he really was angry at what walden had done. Excellent. We have another question about chamberlain. It says does chamberlains dismissive remark about not intervening to prevent hitlers advance reflect and isolationist attitude of the general British Population with respect to fighting hitler . And go ahead. Their church will have to overcome a population favoring isolationism and it was astonishing by the time became Prime Minister . Im a little to use that term isolationism regarding the. Government all day long held to the idea of what they called splendid isolation, that as an island they do not have to become concerned about what was going on in europe but there was a long feel strong feeling in britain that they wanted to avoid war at all costs. I wish i had time to go into this, i wish you a time to show it, but there are a number of the documents that show a strong support for isolationism. The government didnt force them to do it. They do the other on accord because that is what the government wanted to see. It was only after munich that you really start to see the swing. Away from appeasement. But in 1933, the student organization, the oxford union, held the date and astounds their elders by announcing that they would fight for neither king nor country. So in essence it was very deep. It took a long time to overcome that. Interesting. We have another question. Even granting churchills unequalled rhetoric, would it have meant anything if they wehrmacht had been able to cross the channel . Sure, it wouldve meant the occupation of the british isles. Churchill was determined on the war. And he said earlier in that speech that if the not stays occupied britain for a large part of, it as he, put it that the war would carry. On the the royal navy would go to canada to carry on the. War and that as he, put it and gods good to time the new world will come to the rescue of the old. But i do not think he ever would have surrendered. For one, thing he would never been allowed to have carried on in office. And the nazism would have put a collaborationist in charge, as they had with them in france. Interesting. You talked a little bit about churchills reflection on world war ii. Does he, did he, when anything about changes he wouldve made looking back in his leadership . Well the world more hour interesting read because they are written with him to use a quote from an analysis of the box, he is fighting and writing the war. And historian named David Reynolds wrote a very good book about this, called in command of history. And what he shows in the book is that churchill was writing with an eye to justifying his own actions in the war. But also with an eye to britains place in the world in 1940s. So for, example he was very careful about criticizing eisenhower. And the americans in general. And there were of course things that he could not, right now. I do not get a chance to talk about this today. Which russia was deeply involved with the intelligence that was going in from bluntly park. The signals intelligence. And he could not write about that. That was not revealed until sometime like 1970s, i think. So the memories are a bit of a justification. And they have very much color to the way we look at the war. He does downplay the soviet contribution to the war. I think stalingrad gets maybe a page. So that was with the cold war coming. I think it is more scenes of than anything else you can criticize folks about. Another president asks if you could expand on your comments regarding the shabby treatment of Bomber Command. Well have all of the major commanders in britain after the war, they all got titles of some sort or another. The one exception was harris. By the end of the war there were a lot of misgivings about the campaign. Churchill was shown some footage of the fire bombing. Afterwards he so he was having misgivings about it by then. But of course he wasnt having misgivings from 1842, 40, 1 40, 3 44, for that matter. So, and there is a statue put up in honor of the men who fought for until a few years ago. So they are largely overlooked. When people read churchill speech when he talks about the few, theres a few of healing conflict never has so much been owed to so many by just a few. People think that he is fighting to about the Fighter Pilot pilots and britain. He isnt. Hes talking about the. So i think he could have done more to defend them and he didnt. Excellent. I want to ask if you could talk a little bit about clementine and her role in his personal political life. And influence during this time . He was a former champion especially at times when he was out of favor, it had a power. And this was especially true during the First World War when he was forced out of government and went to fight on the western front. She was the one who had lunches with asked which who was the Prime Minister would lower georgia, which are, theres trying to convince them that they needed a churchill back. Lord george recognize that. Asked which in her estimate deserted churchill. So neither one of them had anyone feelings about him by the end of the war. You could be very critical as far as their marriage was concerned, it is interesting that they often took separate vacations. Married the youngest daughter sidon there was some neglect of the children. During the Second World War she was her own woman. She organized relief for the soviet union. She was in the soviet union when it detail current. So she did a lot for him. I think early in his life wouldve been very different without him and he knew that. Speaking of time, and the precious commodity that time is, someone asked how to churchill have any time to write . It seems like he was constantly moving and working. You know, i would love to know that myself. He had a very interesting work schedule which the historian william interest are outlined in his second volume of his three volume biography of churchill. He calls it a day of turmoil and talks about churchill getting up and eat in the morning. He would have a small breakfast we, the first of two bouts, and he would do a lot of his work in bed with the secretary seated there. He dictated stuff. He would take it up, he would do some work on a wall he was building. This was in the 1930s. Have dinner, and then it was after dinner that a lot of his work cut down. He would dictate. Articles, books, whatever. To a raft of secretaries who were not paid very well about who also that they wouldnt trade places for the world tour for him. But it was astounding the amount that he put. Out i dont know how he didnt. I would love to know, i would do it myself. Another protests for asked, did the churchill think that the diminishment of power of the British Empire after world war ii was totally the result of the war or for other reasons . Does he read it all about . This no. When you come to washington at a power, he traveled out to missouri with truman, he traveled by train. It was a long trip. One of trumans aides tell the story that churchill said he could be born today, that is the 1940s, he would be what an american. Because america was the future. Britain had had its day. So he fully recognize that. And actually, it wasnt the Second World War with the First World War that destroyed britains financial status as a leading power. So it was the whole course of the early 20th century. And i dont think any one person could have changed that. Absolutely. All right, we received this question a few times but im curious of you have any resources or books or readings that you think our pertinent to churchills right life or do an excellent job of putting his life . There are so many. He is up there with Abraham Lincoln and cheeses her having books written about him on all sorts of issues. So you talk about general biographies, the first recent one was by certainly comprehensive. My favorite is an older one which is just as comprehensive and just as big. Its a doorstop or like roberts book, by roy jenkins. And rejections whats himself a member of parliament and in government. So he can bring to the biography and understanding of what that was like for churchill and away i dont think any other biographer could. If you want a really entertaining book about churchill, you cannot do anything better than the one you wrote himself and that is called my early life. I think in this country it is also called a roving commission. And it takes him from the day that he was, the memory that he had up until the time that he entered parliament in 1901. And it is simply a georgia rage. It is well written because it is run by him and it is just a doria. Four books about the war itself, gosh. You can go through a whole library. I am hesitant to suggest one over another. Absolutely. Well, i think that it is about all the time that we have today. Thank you so much, kevin, for a wonderful lecture. That was the final part of George Mason University, history University Lecture on the life and legacy of british Prime Minister winston churchill. The event was presented as part of the smithsonian summit are serious. It can be viewed in its entirety online at cspan dot org slash history