The father knew and his ancestors were first from the island. Either as islanders. Leonard returned. And the conspirators of the union club. When a that had been placed. The first ocean. In a dramatic race. Covered and skipped the first flight of 90,000. 1871, in 1873 having been presented with the prince of wells in 1873, jennie and mother were invited at the invitation of Queen Victoria posessed son on the ship, hms on the 12th of august, 140 years ago. What is remarkable is we have the invitation still both that jenny and lord randolph kept. Jenny was 19. Randolph, 24. He arrived from the royal yacht steps to get onboard the ship to see jenny and her sister talking with a merry group of people. Both were dressed, adorned by fresh flowers. Randolph arranged an influction. Though he suffered headaches while dancing, something that carries on in the family, he asked jenny to dance of which he was unsure of the steps. Afterwards they sat out and talked and talked sipping champagne. Randolph was captivated by the gray eyed beautiful jenny. Her affect on him was powerful and she in turn was captivated by the young aristocrat. It was love at first sight. Jennie convinced her mother to invite lord randolph to dinner at the rented villa. Randolph, of course, was delighted to accept. The dinner was a success. The jeromes kept a french cook so the food was excellent. The night was beautiful with an occasional breeze and bright stars in the sky. Afterwards, jenny confided in clair eata saying she had a presentiment this was the man she would marry. Many years later, jenny recorded that they had spent a very pleasant evening, my sister and i playing duets at the piano and chatting merrily. Randolph after they left, randolph confided to his friend that he would like to make the dark one his wife. Jennie jennie and randolph met the next day by accident. When she took her daily walk along the street and he walked his pug dog. But mrs. Jerome refused to allow jenny to invite him to dinner. However, jennie implored and that following day was the last. Mrs. Jerome relented. Randolph received a calling card from mrs. Jerome and the mr. Jerome with her handwritten intitation on the back. I should be most happy to see you at dinner this evening, truly yours. It was once again a bewitching evening at the villa. Play the piano and she later described randolphs proposal to her at this their third meeting. She wrote that she and randolph had walked in the garden when finding themselves alone for a moment he asked me to marry him and i said yes. We agreed not to say anything to my mother. As she would not understand the suddenness of it. They were engaged to be married within two days of meeting. Randolph i think can you see why randolph was seeking to propose to jennie. She was such a beautiful girl. Jennie and randolph met the next day. Randolph was meant to leave the following morning but postponed his trip sending jennie this note. Dear miss jennie i miss my boat , and have not been able to go. Shall not start until early monday. Thank you so much for the photograph which is much better than the others. Shall hope to see you after church tomorrow. You see, i keep turning up like a bad chili. Randolph kept the invitation card in his black metal box amongst his most treasured possessions for the rest of his life. Bank jennie also cap kept her invitation to the dance on hms and marked it up to meet randolph. Randolph although the power of love, they agreed that for the time being it must remain secret. Randolph postponed his departure another four days. Jennie before randolph finally left, jennie told her mother about the engagement. Where mrs. Jerome heard the news, she was not at all pleased. She believed that a second son like randolph was not much of a catch and felt her daughter could do so much better. Mrs. Jerome told her she could never agree to anything so precipitous precipitous. Jennie wrote to her father in new york saying she was engaged. He replied saying, provided always, he is not a frenchman or any of those continental cusses. Jennie wrote to randolph that same evening. I cannot bear to have you leave without a last goodbye. I have told my mom who although she likes you very much wont hear of it. But im sure we shall easily get her on our side later on when we see new london or perhaps here. Randolph randolph was equally optimistic and wrote next morning to jennie telling of how , her note which he had received just as he was leaving had cheered him up wonderfully. I can not think, he continued, your mother will really not hear of our engagement. Only i am sure she thinks she knows we have only known each other for too short a time. You and i dont think so. But its natural your mother should. You would miss her, he added and he would certainly visit her in london. Jennie there was further consternation when randolph broke the news to his mother at the palace. The duchess formally lady francis ann, third daughter of the third mark of london was a commanding woman. She was most displeased that randolph should have done something so contrary to her own ambitions for him. The very idea of marrying an american was in and of itself immensely displeasing. For him to contemplate doing such a thing after such a short acquaintance was folly. Randolph despite his mothers displeasure randolph was deeply , committed to his intended bride. Had forbidden jennie to correspond with him but he , wret passionately. About it second day of separation, he was miserable and missing her. He wrote, my own darling jennie, i cannot let another day pass without writing you to. I could not think ive ever had such a day as yesterday. Such melancholy journey away from you and then to have to listen to the gossip of my mother and sisters when my heart and thoughts were elsewhere. It is so curious that my rooms and my things and my occupation here which i used to take an interest in are quite hateful now and all i can do is keep rereading your letter and looking at your photographs until i get quite stupid. I do not think dearest you have any idea of how much i love you or what sacrifices i would not make to call you my own. My whole life and energy should be devoted to making you happy and protecting from you harm or wrong. Life should be to you like one long summer day. Then randolph wrote to his father, i do not think that if i were to write pages i could give you any idea of the strength of the feeling of my affections for her. All i can say is that i love her better than life itself. And that my one hope and dream now is that matters may be so arranged that soon i may be united to her by ties that nothing but death itself have the power to sever. He understood that his father might be very much surprised but he added that despite the repidcy of his decision, it is one he believed in absolutely. Jennie the duke, unconvince the unconvinced by his sons letter delayed the reply while he made inquiries are Leonard Jerome. Beenally, never has there an illustration of adage love is blind. For you seem blind to all consequences in order that you may pursue your passion. Matters went from bad to worse when hearing of the dukes opposition for the union leonard went into a rage and wrote, my concerned with the drawn. The european arrest our structure see aristocracy impressed london less than they impress themselves. Meanwhile, a chill descended on them, what exactly were americans, rebels against the British Ground . Didnt want to marry them but randolph bore the duke down. First a ceremony was delayed for a year then only until after the general election in february 1874. Randolph became the mp for woodstock and jenny became Lady Randolph churchill at a ceremony in the British Embassy in paris of the 15th of april, 1874. Winston was born on the 30th of november that year. Randolph to quite their son, sir Winston Churchill, where does the family start . It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl. No superior alternative has yet been found. Thank you, jennie. Well done. [applause] randolph so what an extraordinary chance meeting two of individuals from such vastly different cultures who fell in love and became engaged in such fine style. The jenny jerome that lord randolph met was strikingly beautiful and captivating and at 19 years of age she spoke languages fluently. A constant pianist and she could ride as well as any man. But what of her ancestry . Jennys father Leonard Jerome pictured here with a very splendid cigar, mustache and theres a second painting there which is a lovely portrait. Im lucky enough to have at my home of the great Leonard Jerome. Leonard came from well to do pioneering stock. However, there was little money and he was the fifth of eight brothers and there was also one sister. Leonard was a young man in a hurry who learned to live by his own achievements. His four elder brothers went to princeton but then the money ran out. Leonard was sent to a Village Store on a salary of 1 a week. When his elder brother earned enough money to pay for him, leonard spent one year at princeton. He arrived with nothing but a brave heart and a keen brain. Leonard was an intelligent man with great sporting process and prowess musical skills, being a violinist of high repute. Many of the talents were pass to his daughter jenny and then on to her grandson, winston. He always believed passionately in his daughters abilities and talents as jennie would believe in her sons. Leonard came from a long line of pioneering ancestors. Sim timothy jerome, the first to become american was a protestant who left france in 1710. He settled in england in 1717 but then sailed from the island of white to set until connecticut. It was through Leonard Jerome that churchill was extremely proud of his revolutionary blood. Churchill claimed he had two forebearers that fought against the british. One great grandfather served in the militia while another major of the fourth massachusetts regiment marched and fought with George Washingtons army at valley forge. Furthermore, his paternal grandfather served as a lieutenant in the connecticut in the new york regiments. Leonard met claira hall and leonard said Good Initiative here. Heres a lovely drawing of clara. And they were clara was one of two orphaned sisters. And she luckily came with a very decent sized dowry. Their churchill thought he was descended from the indians alone can to respond to roosevelts account and how the family arrived from europe with a reply, my relatives were there to greet you. In fact, clara, who was brought up by her aunts were nicknamed sitting bull and hatchet. Whether or not churchill had native American Heritage he , certainly had strong north american pedigree with ancestors who could trace back to the earlier settlements and who would subsequently fought alongside washington in the war of independence. Leonard and clara had four daughters. One of whom sadly died at the age of eight. Jennie, her second daughter was of january,nine 1854 at 426 henry street in the cobble hill district. House was sunday. It is a very beautiful area. The difficulty was with the huge snowstorm that in fact jennys uncle lived around the corner and some doubters to which house she was born in. , theresso of interest no record of her birth. One day i would love to look at the records the local churches to see what detail there is yet. We havent got around to looking at that. Clara recently returned from the mediterranean port. Leonard had been the chief principle. Clara had been captivated by europe but leonard loved new york and delighted being back in the city. Although he returned to find the family Stock Broking firm failing, having left it in the hands of his brother addison. The familys fortunes began to increase again. Turn older sister often appeared laiden with gifts. Jennie would spend summers with her family newport where leonard kept a yacht. Life would change again for jennie when at the age of four she moved to paris at the age of four. Leonard left his young family in paris. In 1860 he built himself a magnificent mansion on madison and 26th street which is on madison gardens. This was the mention that leonard built. You had the stables for his 40 horses. The stable housed carriages and horses. It was suitably magnificent. When jennie and her family returned to new york, im afraid it was to manhattan rather than brooklyn. The lovely image from jerome park. There he is taking his family and friends race at engineer aem race park which he founded. The next slide shows the racing jerome park. Park, which is now a reservoir. Leonard jerome in the New York Times and with his Business Partner founded the jockey club. He purchased 230 acres outside new york to build a racecourse. Jennie attended the first race meeting at jerome park in september 1866. Jennie jenny was always delighted to visit Jerome Parker with her father. Not only was leonard heavily involved with horse racing but also a prominent member of the new York Yacht Club and spent much time racing his yacht. He was certainly a man of great passion and zest for life. And then we have a lovely image of the three beautiful jerome daughters with jennie on the left, leoni and clarita. Leonards wife was not enamored. Clara, leonards wife, was enamored with European Society and would return to pair witness her daughters. Leonard made the sea crossing with the family but returned to new york alone. It was in parent paris that their mother arranged intensive course of studies for her daughters. Life for the wealthy was centered around the court of the emperor and the emperors. She made her debutante appearance at the royal court in 1869. This carefree existence came to an abrupt end in 1817 when france went to war with this ands prussia and clara jerome daughter left paris taking with them only what they could carry. They arrived in brighton, england from where they traveled to london staying at browns hotel. When jenny later returned to paris, when she was 16, she wrote there was ruin everywhere. The sight of the hotel made me cry. Some of our friends were killed, others were wounded and all broken hearted and miserable. Hiding in their houses and refusing to be comforted. Jenny now witnessed the darker side of life and became more worldly for her young age as a result. Clara and her daughters return to live in a very different and depressed paris. All the social structures were disintegrated. Circumstances. E in 1873, clara took her daughters to the island of white without leonard who suffered huge financial losses with the crash of the state sponsored railroads. Having met lord randolph in 1873, jennie gave birth to baby winston on the 30th of november, 1874. Do we have an image of the palace . Fine. Jennie already stood out, not only because of her beauty, talent and natural intelligence, but also because of the way she had shoed snobbery and tradition, two qualities that would serve her well all her life. Let me give you an example. In 1876, as a result of her husband lord randolphs fourth right fuse, the couple were banished along with the entire family from the court circles of the english high society. Lord randolph made the mistake of publicly accusing the prince of whales of double standards and so they moved to dublin where lord randolphs father was was made by troy. Roy. Ice jennie was not happy with how they were banished of which she paid a full part. But she got on with it. At the time in ireland there was great poverty and famine and lord randolph stood up against the absentee english futile landlords and accused them of neglect. Jennie and him through themselves into helping the destitute. Jennie under approval visited prisoners to see and campaign against the appalling conditions they suffered. With lord randolphs parents the duke and duchess, they raised a vast sum for the relief of poverty that made a great difference to the poor. Now work there was recognized by Queen Victoria who made a donation to the fund herself. I would argue that the compassion, care and good will towards other people, that churchill developed was a direct result of his mothers can do attitude to life. Jennie was fearless of authority and did what they believe is right in life, something churchill was never unsteady about. As a mother in an era where children were cared for by others until they were presentable, jennie might be thought distant from young winston. He was brought up by his nanny but jenny would always help him. When she discovered he had been beaten at school, she wasted no time in removing him from that school. With the death of his father, lord randolph, jennie became churchills greatest supporter and advocate. During the marriage to lord randolph when churchill was , seeking commission in the army, it was jennie who got the colonel to arrange for the duke of cambridge for him to fulfill a vacancy in the regiment. It was all through her american friend, cochran, that he was introduced to new york high society. He was clearly impressed with his mothers hometown though he disliked the dollar bill and the newspapers. Churchill, here he is in his uniform, like his jerome grandfather, a buccaneer keen to make a name for himself of the himself. Jennie was his literary agent when he was in the army. Gained him contracts with the publishers and proofreading articles and placing them in papers. Winston bored with regimental life and churchill turned to his mother. He was firmly told he could not join the expedition to quell the tribes that murdered general gordan at the famous siege. Lord kichener, the commander in the force expressly refused churchills request to join them because winston had been critical of military policy on the northwest frontier of india and kichener was having none of it. To rectify the position, jenny discussed this with the general of the army, and churchill was assigned to the sudan expedition. As a officer, serving at his own expense, he ingratiated himself further by delivering a report to kichener personally on his magnificent white charger. He remarked on his mother, she left no wire unpulled and no stone unturned and no cutlet uncooked. The year after he was dispatched as a journalist to south africa to the confrontation boiling against the early dutch this was , an unpopular war it was a typical colonial british war. Churchills younger brother was commissioned where he served alongside churchill. Meanwhile, jennie and i think this is so new york style, jenny jennie refused to be idle. She raised money from american friends and she paid and organized to go to south africa to care for the injured. In the next picture shows jennie in the middle as chief nurse on board her own hospital ship she had organized. I think that takes quite a lot of courage to do that. Unfortunately, winston was looking after his younger brother jack and winston took his younger brother jack to go see action. Within 15 minutes, jack was shot in the neck and here is jack being cared for by his mother on board her hospital ship. Indeed, jennies work in the south African Campaign was so admired by the soldiers that a huge cannon was renamed the Lady Randolph churchill. On the underside is written, the Lady Randolph. It was a role jennie also reprized during First World War and persuaded the famous american, mr. Paris singer, the famous sewing Machine Company to offer his residence for use as a hospital. It was turned into a well equipped 255bed hospital which included operating theaters, throwing herself into raising money for the americans womans fund to finance the hospital, jennie became chairman of the committee and paris singer was the vicechairman of the hospital. There was a staff of 151, which included eight surgeons, 15 american nursing sisters and 17 english sisters and 21 probationers. Can we go back . In this photograph here, this is an image of jennie helping winston become elected to parliament. Theres winston and jennie standing on top. In those day it was very unusual for a woman to take to the stand. It shows how brave she can be. As we can see, jennie was multitalented. There is no doubt that churchill inherited his literary and political skills from his maternal lines as well as his paternal. Jennie published of articles of trans atlantic publication called the anglo saxon review, though she could not stand for parliament or vote, there was no doubting how powerful the political stage, at least initially, she was as famous as her son and personally canvassed for her husband, lord randolph in 1880s then helped winston win his first election. She remained vital to the political careers of both father and son. This image here shows she wrote and put on her own plays in the west end. This was her second husbands name. Jennie also remained a great beauty all her life and she was very comfortable with it. She later married George Wallace west and then a gentleman when she was 64 years old and porch was 42, younger than her son, winston, who was then 44. That did create a bit of a stir for her family. And i must say she remained a complete star. When jennie was 67, she fell down the stairs and contracted gangrene. Even then her instructions were brave and precise. Make sure you take the leg off high enough up. And here we have jennies obituary, which makes clear she was the best ambassador the u. S. Has. She was honored by Queen Victoria and andrew the seventh with five medals which my sister is wearing tonight. The was awarded to jennie in first recognition for her work with helping women. On the fourth of december, 1885, sticking the pin into jennies flesh. Second medal was awarded to jen jennie for services on board the American Hospital ship. Conferred upon her a lady grace of st. Johns jerusalem. The third medal also presented to jenie by king edward was the order of the royal red cross and the other two medals would commemorate coronations. My great great grandmother represents so much of what made your country great. She has a zest and determination for life and success. She was passionate about caring for disadvantaged and suffering and a woman of action. She did not care for social snobberies and not shy about entering the political fray. She was a very modern woman who stood on her own two feet for what she cared about and believed in. Her greatest trait was freedom and liberation pioneered by the early americans. It is not surprising her father was a king and ancestors were fighters for independence. In the modern world, there are no more Important Documents for freedom and liberty than the british magna carta of 1215 and the declaration of independence of 1776. Churchill deliberately lit them in his great history of English Speaking people. Two 115 will be the cash to thousand 15 will be 2015 will th anniversary of the magna carta and also the 50th of my great grandfathers death and 75th of his finest hour. Is it not ironic that without the birth of jerome in brooklyn, the shrines of hard earned freedoms might have been forgotten and troubled under foot. And the world we live in now might be still in a long dark abyss. Tomorrow, our family is having an immensely proud day. Churchills bust to be unveiled in the Nemesis Capital in the presence of secretary kerry and your four house leaders. The speaker of the United States house of representatives john boehner in support of the resolution authorizing the placement said that Winston Churchill was the best friend america ever had. I would love one day to see a memorial in new york city to the daughter of that great city, who gave to her mother country a son who stood resolutely in the face of evil and preserved our inheritance and was such a fantastic person for the city. In my view, the strength and enduring qualities of churchills character can be largely be attributed to his mother. Her character resonates in the history of world war ii. In war resolution and in defeat defiance and victory and in peace goodwill. I firmly believe that churchills greatness was a gift born on the bedrock of your great city. Thank you. [applause] that was wonderful. [applause] good evening, in the interest of time because randolph has to go to washington, were going to skip the q and a. I am the director of the Writing Center at hunter college. A few minutes ago i received a telegram i would like to read to you. It says, dear louis, thanks so much for cohosting this splendid evening in the series with president rob and was about house. If im not mistaken it was in the hunter Writing Center that i first delivered the admonition to one of your students ending a sentence with a preposition is something with which i will not put. In any event, please tell my great grandson randolph that he gave a superb talk tonight and clement team and i does clementine and i are proud of him. My thanks also to tina santa flarty for her kind words and underwriting the series. I was always fond of tina and regarded her as my great god daughter once removed. In any event, i know randolph has to fly to washington directly after this event to be there tomorrow when john boehner, secretary kerry and other dignitaries install the new oscar neiman bust of me in the capital. I wont ramble on. Thanks to louis to be the key note speaker at the writers conference this coming june. Unfortunate i cant make it but , James Mcbride and baker area are terrific replacements and good get with my old friend sir harold evans as one of your great thinkers in the spring. Is he still married to tina brown . Please send harry and tina my best and remember me to your lovely wife. Signed, winston. Thank you very much for coming. Randolph thank you. It has been wonderful. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] up in a fewoming minutes, at 9 00 a. M. , we join the Churchill Center for live coverage of their churchill conference at the Mayflower Hotel in washington, d. C. Those historians will discuss churchills contemporaries. Moran, churchills personal physician. Andrew roberts give a lecture he titled weston wept. Ps several books on churchill and the world war. Christopher stirling will explore churchills time in washington, this is coming up live. We await for the conference, lets head to london, england to watch a brief portion of the celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of world war ii. Randolph churchill delivers a speech and then a look at the churchill statute. We will be back in a few minutes with a live coverage. Signed the act of Unconditional Surrender of all forces in europe to the allies. Today is victory in europe today. Officially will end at one minute of the midnight tonight. ,n the interest of saving lives the ceasefire starting yesterday to be summoned all along the front. And our islands are also to be freed today. War is at an end after years of intense preparation, germany at the beginning