Remembering Churchill 50 years after his death
In the mid-19th century, Thomas Carlyle postulated what came to be known as the Great Man Theory of history, namely that the unfolding human drama is shaped by the actions of supremely talented individuals not by abstract social and economic forces.
It’s a point of view that London’s flamboyant mayor, Boris Johnson, shares as evidenced by his new book on Britain’s wartime leader, Winston Churchill. At the beginning of The Churchill Factor, he states unequivocally that, if Churchill had not assumed power in 1940, Hitler would have won the Second World War with all the ensuing dire consequences. “Churchill matters today because he saved our civilization. And the important point is that only he could have done it.”
Jan. 24, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s death and Johnson’s book is in part a commemoration of the event, but when it was published in the U.K. many wiseacres on Fleet Street saw it also as a shameless attempt by London’s mayor to hitch his political wagon to the legacy of the Greatest Englishman Ever (from Boris’s perspective, at least). And Johnson’s timing is, well, timely as he segues to national politics as a lead-up to his possibly challenging David Cameron’s leadership of the Tory Party.
But is Johnson’s aligning himself with Churchill really that presumptuous? Both are maverick politicians. Both were gifted journalists before entering politics. Both have wonderfully eccentric personalities. And both, frankly, have outsize egos, though Churchill likely trumps there. “Churchill did possess a titanic ego,” observes Johnson, “but one that was tempered by humour, and irony, and a deep humanity.”
At one point Johnson cunningly speculates that Churchill likely had a secret syllogism in his head: Britain=greatest empire on earth; Churchill=greatest man in British Empire; Therefore Churchill=greatest man on Earth.
He then proceeded to test his theory on fellow journalist Andrew Roberts who replied, “You’re right, but too modest. The correct syllogism should be: Britain=the greatest empire the world has ever seen; Churchill=greatest man in British Empire; Therefore Churchill=greatest man in the history of the world.”
After finishing his book, I had the feeling they were on to something. But if there was ever a man who backed up a titanic ego with titanic accomplishment it was Churchill. At one point, Johnson amusingly quotes Ronald Reagan: “They say hard work can’t kill you — but I figure why take the chance?” By that metric, Churchill was the anti-Reagan. His work ethic was Brobdingnagian.
Here’s a bit of prima facie evidence to prove it: “Churchill had written five books, and become a member of Parliament, and reported from multiple war zones, and written innumerable articles, and given many well-paid lectures, by the time he was twenty-five.”
That monumental output would carry on over the ensuing six-and-a-half decades. The man held high political office, off an on, from 1905 to 1955, a half-century. His writing career, a sideline, was equally stellar: 30 books, 18 volumes of published speeches and the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature.
But Churchill will be most remembered as the man who rallied Britain to resist Nazi tyranny. During the Battle of Britain, England stood alone in its “finest hour.” But ultimately victory was only possible because Churchill successfully “dragged” America into the war through a combination of guile, cunning and charm. And his charm offensive took many turns.
Once as a weekend guest of the Roosevelts, writes Johnson, “Churchill contrived to exhibit himself naked to FDR. ‘The British Prime Minister has nothing to hide from the President of the United States.’ ”
Churchill’s becoming PM in 1940 was not a foregone conclusion because many of his colleagues thought him a “doublecrossing, self-centred bore.” And his political “cock-ups,” which Johnson dutifully records, were as plentiful as his triumphs. But after years of appeasement, ultimately who else was there but Churchill, early on Hitler’s singular Anglo nemesis. “The last thing Britain or the world needed in 1940 was someone who was going to sit back and let things unfold,” observes Johnson. “It needed someone with almost superhuman will and courage.”
Johnson’s book verges on hagiography at times, but so what. He admirably breathes fresh life into the truly heroic Churchill saga. Robert Collison is a Toronto-based writer and editor.