Winston Churchill's Sense of Humor – Andrew Roberts | Kemper Lecture, Churchill Museum 50th 2019

[Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] in nineteen in 1946 the skulls of seven led by the first Marshall of Westminster College Charles Dobbs dog Lampkin led the processional party which included President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill to this very podium for the green lecture that Churchill had entitled the sinews of peace today the skulls of seven are honored to lead the processional for the Kemper lecture on a historic occasion of the 50th anniversary of the national churchill museum on behalf of westminster college I declare the Enid and our crosby kemper lecture open please silence all cell phones I now invite mr. Bob Mould Hauser to the podium for the welcome please sit on behalf of the Board of Governors of the Association of Churchill fellows and Dr Fletcher Lampkin the president of Westminster College I welcome you to the Enid and art Crosby Kemper lectureship which was established in 1979 before I go further I'd like to introduce Lord Alan Watson who has something special to share with us [Applause] the point about this platform and this Hall is that it has witnessed history and been part of history and remains part of historical memory and it's for that reason that it is so good to be here for this celebratory luncheon today I remember when I first came into the school which is now some years ago I was somewhat taken by surprise I don't know somehow I thought it would have been made into well a sort of memorial of some kind and I was very relieved to see the impedimenta of sports still around in the hall fulfilling its original function and I've always thought how very appropriate but also startling it was that this location was chosen by Winston Churchill for such a momentous speech and the agreement was of mutual satisfaction this location gave Churchill what he wanted and needed in terms of being the sole national and international point of interest in the event what he gave the University of course and this building was participation in the creation of a historical memory and we celebrate both his speech and his memory and I am very honored to be here this morning [Applause] we'll all have the opportunity to hear from Andrew Roberts after lunch but I want to mention that these Kemper lectures have continuously attracted global experts on both English history and Winston Churchill over these past 40 years most of these presentations are available on the museum's website and I encourage you to go take a look at those and chart background pieces on the speakers today or in your programs I am Bob Moe Houser I'm a member of the Board of Governors and a trustee of Westminster College I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I'm absolutely pleased to see all of you we have people from across the United States from several foreign countries we're thrilled to have you with us I know that you will agree that these kind of events don't just happen it takes a whole lot of hard work from a lot of people and I'm a big believer in saying thank you so I'm going to do that the tireless work of Philip Beckman our senior fellow of the Board of Governors Tim Reilly our museum director members of the Board of Governors Nancy Carver dick Mahoney Vaughn Brokaw Suzanne Richardson at least two of the college's Westminister trustees Jim Bennett and Brock Ayers members the museum staff tire Tyler / lag Sam Craig head and Tom Pagano and our crack westminster team led by gina Campania jenny winning Tangela leather it Rob Krauss in Cindy Lampkin and then a big thank you to mother nature for blessing us with some sunshine and Suzanne where are you Suzanne Richardson are you here Suzanne good just stand up for a second please she asked me to please not do this now you may you all may not be able to see it but the woman wears a cape and all of the people that I just mentioned above Suzanne we thank you for your leadership your energy your passion and most of all the unbelievable commitment you make to the museum and to Westminster College thank you [Music] for over 160 eight years Westminster College has been a proud citizen of Fulton Missouri where we have always enjoyed a mutually supportive relationship with this small high-performing city in the middle of these United States now I would like you to meet one of Fulton's most consistently impactful community leaders the mayor of Fulton the Honorable Lau kennel thank you so for those of you don't know I'm kind of brand new at this I've been a month in got elected about like literally a month ago so bear with me I'll do my best spending sort of a whirlwind we've had lots of events meetings I've been meeting lots of new people I did get the chance to meet Tim Reilly and his staff about three weeks ago great people Tim's a great guy wonderful speaker and a great asset to the Churchill no more of the historic Churchill Memorial Museum so with that I was kind of thinking as a local lifelong resident we sort of take this for granted the museum that we have here but the historical significance of it tourism it brings in we're thankful for it and we will always cherish that relationship with with museum and also the college here what Westminster College and William woods University both it's wonderful to have the culture and the education here so one of the things I think about is the church itself when I was in high school some 30 plus years ago I was on the Chamber Singers and one of the things we did during the holidays we would always come out and perform part of that performance we warmed up in the stairwell in the back of the church so it's a big winding staircase and we would go there and just line up those stairs and it was so acoustically different and and you need that that it it was kind of a moment for us to to bond and and it's something that I'll never forget but I'm just honored to be here for the fiftieth anniversary thank you for the opportunity to represent Fulton if you do get a chance to see the city tour it we'd appreciate that one thing to see is our new Nixon forensic Center it's going to replace the old Fulton State Hospital that was a two hundred and twenty million dollar project that we're thankful that got done and the building itself is really one of the most unique and weirdest-looking things that you'll see so if you get a chance get on Fifth Street and head east and just check it out it's pretty cool but other than that just enjoy your time here thanks for coming Thank You mr. mayor next I'd like to introduce bill Piper a member of our Board of Governors who will offer the invocation let's settle our hearts for just a moment in prayer if you will God of justice and mercy thank you for the gift of life and the opportunity to serve help us to act with character and conviction help us to listen with understanding and goodwill help us to speak with charity and restraint give us a spirit of service remind us that we are stewards of your authority guide us to be leaders your people need help us see the humanity and dignity of those who disagree with us and to treat all persons no matter how weak or poor with the reverence of your creation and finally renew us with the strength of your presence and the joy of helping to build a community worthy of the human person we ask this as your sons and daughters confident in your goodness and love and thank you Bill again for your generous and consistent support of the museum enjoy your lunch as I stated earlier the Kemper lectures have continuously attracted global experts in both British history British American history and in Winston Churchill for over 40 years for the last 20 or so we've had the great pleasure of having these guest luminaries be introduced by someone who was well known for his great introductions this man is a is an leading citizen in Kansas City and around the United States someone who needs no introduction ladies and gentlemen I give you fellow Crosby Kemper [Music] so fellow mo Howser Marshall Jones mayor canal secretary Ashcroft senior fellow Beckman fellow fellows members of the Churchill family and ladies and gentlemen thank you all for being here to thrill to have Andrew Roberts bat it's the thrill to be on this stage which recreates the the stage from which Winston Churchill gave the sinews of peace the iron curtain speech I assumed originally that we had moved from the church because I was going to tell some stories about Andrew that were inappropriate from the pulpit but he's told me that I cannot tell those stories though I think I will tell one but in a moment Winston Churchill achieved fame in many ways but not least as a historian his Nobel Prize for Literature was certainly about his great triumph in the writing of history they're still read by us his history of the english-speaking peoples the Second World War and our speaker has revised and extended the first with his own history of the english-speaking peoples since 1900 and provided a brilliant variation on the theme of the second with his storm of war and masters and commanders of course it can't be said of andrew Roberts what Arthur Balfour said of Churchill's history of the first world war the world crisis that it was an autobiography disguised as a history of the universe but Andrews histories and biographies share a relevance with Churchill's in providing a guide to the present and a sense of the character that is needed in our world to preserve the best for our future and for our children I must also say there's no lack of Churchillian personal ambition in this Andrew once said why I hope please God that he remembers he said this to me many years ago at least 15 years ago that he thought it was part of his ambition to be the prettiest historian now that has a wide array of connotations I think and his only rival he said could be Neil Ferguson that may give you a sense of of those connotations and I would say that it is certainly true today that we now know that the beauties of his Napoleon is Churchill his histories of the Second World War and his continued achievements in the sartorial have firmly established his preeminence his genius and I am serious about that I have totally memorized not to worry his genius and I'm serious about that is to use Churchill as historian and biographer to provide a commentary running commentary on Churchill the man that Churchill the statesman and in these unheroic times Churchill the hero Alexis de Tocqueville in one of the most important if less remarked upon chapters of democracy in America writes of the characteristics of historians and Democratic ages the histories in aristocratic ages he says attribute occurrences to the will and temper of certain individuals while the historians of the Democratic age exhibit precisely the opposite characteristics they are historians of great general causes of systems what we would today call the sociology of history the general reasons operating on the many and the multitude there is no question today that most historians would identify Churchill with the age of aristocracy anachronistic aristocratic in need of revision is one of the achievements of Andrew Roberts in this magnificent biography that his understanding of Churchill as a descendant of Marlborough an admirer of Burke the defender of traditions and of himself as the historian and soul of the British Empire became becomes a symbol for something much greater there are two words in Churchill walking with destiny that recur again and again the first is civilization usually in the words of Churchill himself giving giving us what Tocqueville would call the special influences of individuals over and over again Churchill speaks of civilizations and in its defense the critique of everything that comes from the past from our traditions that currently overloads our political and historical discussions is confronted by this Churchill endlessly defending what his about our traditions in our civilization the second word used once or twice by Churchill himself in the biography but throughout the book by Andrew Roberts himself is paladin paladin Churchill is the palate in the medieval might errant of our modern world the individual challenging the system's totalitarian military sorry military bureaucratic sometimes quixotic lee sometimes romantically sometimes successfully always nobly this is a biography of the hero but it is not only an aristocratic Europe but also a democratic Europe with all the contradictions but without irony Andrew Roberts first came to us as the biographer of Churchill's rival Lord Halifax and was the author of a series of brilliant biographical essays eminent or Chileans that were themselves the beginning of a revision of the revisionist historians and with this prize-winning and and with his prize-winning biography of Lord Salisbury he is inaugurated he has inaugurated a new era in which we we may come to see this as the classic age of biography if in the words of Winston Churchill himself that the empire of the future is the empire of the mind the great interpreter of the origins and foundations of that future in words like civilization and paladin will be our paladin of history and Roberts ladies and Edmond it's a great honor to be invited to address you and thank you very much indeed Cosby for that complete stream of total invention I'd like to preface my remarks by saying what an honor and a delight it is to speak in this historic Hall I believe that I'm the only ii crosby lecturer ever to be invited back the first beings martin gilbert and many of us who write about it said of scientists of course that they stand on the shoulders of giants Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and so on with Churchill scholars we are standing on the shoulders of Sir Martin Gilbert he is the Giants and and to be able to stand on here to be able to to come here where he has lectured twice is as I say a signal honor for me and I and I hugely appreciate it if Winston Churchill had not been a statesman writer and politician he would have made a very good living as a stand-up comedian as early as 1947 before he'd even become Prime Minister for the second time wit and wisdom books of his best jokes and quips were already being published he'd also become one of those lucky people to whom witticisms are attributed whether he said them or not a good deal of research has gone into finding out which witticisms Churchill didn't didn't say principally my my friend Richard langworth and the result is that we now know that he has a body of well attributed remarks that easily puts him on a par with these contemporary wits such as Oscar Wilde Hilaire Belloc Dorothy Parker aap Herbert and no coward added to which he also had the comic timing of Groucho Marx which mattered highly to Churchill and he turned it into a very effective weapon in his political armory to charm audiences of course but also to deflect criticism ridicule opponents and sometimes to calm situations that were getting fraught he will understood the need to entertain his audiences if he was able also to instruct persuade and especially in wartime to inspire his use of wit started early when mr. Mayo his Harrow school teacher said to Churchill's class I don't know what to do with you boys Churchill shouted out teachers asked in an interview in 1902 about the qualities desirable in a politician Churchill said the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow next week next month and next year and then to explain why it didn't he could also quip of the job of an MP he's asked to stand he wants to sit and he's expected to lie many politicians of his time indeed of our time too would ponderously start their speeches with a set-piece joke to try and establish themselves as a normal human being before getting down to the serious political part of their addresses by total contrast Churchill would often pepper his serious remarks with witty asides throughout his speeches forcing his audiences to concentrate all the harder as he lightened and then darkened the tone at will ap Herbert another great parliamentary wit of the day pointed out that words on the printed page could not wholly do Churchill's humor justice without quote without some knowledge of the scene the circumstances the unique and vibrant voice the pause the chuckle the mischievous and boyish twinkle on the face even in the darkest days of World War two Churchill managed to inject humor into his speeches indeed as I will argue he did it especially during the darkest days of work to knowing how good it was for the British people to understand that their leader was not demoralized but was instead capable of making jokes however dire the situation got indeed the dark of the situation the funnier his jokes became this would have been impossible in anyone who did not believe that he was walking with destiny and sometimes asked why I subtitled my my biography of him walking with destiny one friend of mine told me was because all Americans were interested in destiny and all Englishmen are interested in walking [Music] Churchill's immediate predecessors as Prime Minister and Tripoli law Stanley Baldwin Ramsay MacDonald and Neville Chamberlain rarely brought witty repartee into the chamber of the House of Commons some because they were simply incapable of it others because they thought it unbecoming again by contrast Churchill with Churchill the expectation of a quotable witticism would fill up the House of Commons chamber as he rose to speak he used his wit to encourage high attendances both for his Commons orations and for his public speeches around the country when he started out on his political career in the days before radio people who came to his speeches would know that they would be the first in the pub or back at home to repeat the jokes that he'd made Churchill honed his wit when he stood for Parliament no fewer than seven times in the eleven years between 1899 and 1910 often by replying to hecklers on the election stump standing as a liberal in the 1908 by-election Churchill asked he said to his audience what would be the consequence if this seat were lost to liberalism now it's always a risk to ask a rhetorical question to a lively audience because during the pause that must necessarily follow the question so that the portent of it sinks in someone might shout out something funny sure enough on this occasion when Churchill asked what would be the consequence if this seat were lost to Liberal a heckler shouted out beer because the tour is war is promising to cut the price of ale that might be the cause Churchill immediately replied I'm talking of the consequence later on another heckler yelled rot at one of his points when my friend in the gallery says rot Churchill reposted he's no doubt expressing very fully what he has in his mind such salads were part of what people had come along for and the word laughter appeared more than 40 times in The Times newspaper reporting of that meeting I can assure you that the word laughter hardly ever appears in the reports of speeches by Andrew Bonner Laurent never Chamberlain let alone 40 times The Times is speechless Churchill also joked during that by-election and takes three columns to express its speechlessness of the Liberal Party's support for Irish Home Rule he said and thousands and thousands of people who never under any circumstances voted liberal before are saying that under no circumstances will they ever vote liberal again the art of the report was central to Churchill's fame as a public speaker and it meant that few wanted to take him on he was once called a dirty dog by a Labour MP Sir William paling and Churchill reported may I remind the Honourable member what dog's dirty or otherwise due to palings he enjoyed playing with the names of people saying of an MP called awesome that he was neither one thing nor the other when Itoh went when he was told that general class terrace which all British generals pronounced plaster arse had become the prime minister of Greece Churchill asked them but does he have feet of clay actually the King's private secretary Tommy LaSalle said that he'd have sooner made that joke than written Gray's elegy the jokes were not always directed against people when the man who was taking the photographs for Churchill's 75th birthday said I hope sir that you I will shoot your picture on your hundredth birthday Churchill replied I don't see why not young man you look reasonably fit and healthy overall of course his witticisms they were directed against political opponents which of course might also go what some way to explain why he was so unpopular during the wilderness years he spoke without a note Churchill said of a Labour MP in 1930 and almost without a point when a Tory MP left the Conservatives to stand as a liberal he described it as the only instance of a rat swimming toward a sinking ship what possibly struck me again and again while researching and writing and my biography of Churchill was how constantly he made jokes throughout the worst crises that my country has ever faced the worst perils in 1940 and 1941 when the Nazis were threatening to invade my country there was no moment so bad that he couldn't lighten the mood and improve the morale of everyone around him through the targeted deployment of humor when he was at number 10 there was always laughter in the corridors recalled his private secretary Jacques Colville even in the darkest and most difficult times just after the Dunkirk evacuation for example when the head of the Royal Navy at Mossad oddly Pound brought Churchill the long lists of all the ships sunk and damaged in the operation Churchill told him as far as I can see we only have the Victoria and Albert left the Victorian Albert ladies and gentlemen was the royal yacht after the fall of Belgium Holland and Luxembourg when Colvin brought him a telegram whilst he was dressing for dinner Churchill said another bloody country gone west I'll bet three days before Paris fell when at the crisis meeting at Briere the French Prime Minister Paul Renault asked Churchill what his defense plans were for the expected German invasion Churchill replied and this is the invasion of Britain Churchill replied I haven't thought that out very carefully but broadly speaking I should propose to drown as many as possible of them on the way over and then knock on the head anyone who managed to crawl ashore he said this in his execrable French frappe seola tete and sadly very sadly history does not relate the French reaction to such Liberty at a calamitous moment for the Allied forces to maintain a sense of humor at such desperate times showed how effortlessly Churchill could lighten tension when needed fortunately he'd left the conference before general vague on predicted to Renault that within a month Britain would have her neck wrung like a chicken in the same speech on the 4th of June 1940 in which he said that in a thousand years maid would still say that this was the Empire and Commonwealth's finest hour Churchill made a joke about the Italian Navy which had perform very badly in the First World War there is a general curiosity in the British fleet he said to find out whether the Italians are up to the level they were in the last war whether they fallen off at all the writer piece of fleming analysed why that particular joke went down so well with parliament and the public and he wrote if he had ended or whether they're even worse he would have scored a hit but by employing a subtler twist of denigration he gave to the passage that characteristic lilt of gaiety and devoting his hearers the agreeable sensation of having been made privy to a personal code of humour this personal code of humor of course had aside that some decried as heartless on the 7th of August 1942 Lieutenant General William got had been shot down and killed in a plane in the Western Desert that evening when Field Marshal Yan Smuts the prime minister of South Africa accused Churchill of not appealing enough to religious motives in politics Churchill replied with mock indignation I've made more bishops than anyone since aunt Augustine it might have seemed insensitive to make a joke on such a sad day but as he wrote years later of that day who in war will not have his laugh amid the skulls if humor had been I didn't he was referring to your skulls here by the way later if humor had been considered unacceptable whenever there had been a tragic death in that war Churchill would have made no jokes at all and as one who had served in the trenches of the Great War and on four campaigns prior to that he knew that humor even in the worst times has always been an invaluable part of soldiers psychological armory very many of Churchill's jokes were self-deprecating as when at a dangerous time for him during a no-confidence motion in July 1942 he was attacked over the very serious shortcomings of the a.22 tank as might be expected he said it had many defects and teething troubles and when these became apparent the tank was appropriately rechristened the Churchill here the key word that makes the joke at work is the self-deprecating work appropriately he knew and admitted that he had his own defects and teething troubles and as a result he won the sympathy and support of the house where a less credible defense of the tank in question might not have got him that Churchill's capacity for using humor to deflect criticism or to change the subject was to serve him well in the war years and beyond it was a marvelous moment when in 1943 when the War Cabinet was trying to decide its policy towards Turkey they very much wanted to get turkey into the war not a very successful policy only owing to the fact that turkey didn't actually join the declare war against Nazi Germany until March 1945 but nothing that's all the way through the war they were trying to get to get turkey into the war and Antony even wanted to use the carrot and Winston Churchill very much wanted to use the stick and and at one point as the argument was getting was getting quite violent incident Churchill this was in the November of 1943 said to said to Eden he was just about to go off to Ankara to negotiate with the Turks he said till Turkey that Christmas is coming the flight of Rudolf Hess to church a Tory to Scotland in May 1941 gave Churchill some opportunities for joking even though it was a very serious moment in the war indeed Hess had landed on the same day that the House of Commons had been the chamber of the House of Commons have been destroyed in an air raid he was amused that when the duke of hamilton and of course it was the duke of Hamilton's estate that Hess was trying to fly to Duke of Hamilton told him that the deputy Fuhrer had chosen to fly to that escape estate in Scotland because Hamilton was lord steward of His Majesty's household he taken it to be a real HESA taking it to be a real rather than an honorific title and therefore would be able to urge his peace message upon the king who Hess had wrongly thought might be in favor of the idea I suppose he thinks that the duke carves the chicken Churchill joke to his entourage and consults the king as to whether he likes breasts or leg the consequences were not so humorous of course Churchill didn't want anyone in Britain America or Russia suspecting that he or his government was interested in peace negotiations at lunch explaining the whole bizarre story to the king Churchill joked that he would be very angry if Beaverbrook or Antony eden suddenly left here and flew off to Germany without warning Churchill would not mind waiting for the perfect opportunity and sometimes waiting for years for the perfect opportunity to make a joke after one of the budget speeches in 1920s Lord Mansell congratulated him on a crushing retort and asked him how he did it Bobby it's patience Churchill explained I've waited two years to get that one off his mastery of what one could get away with saying in the chamber and his sense of comic timing evidence when he told the Labour Party who were bearing him of course it's perfectly possible for honourable members to prevent my speaking and of course I do not want to cast my pearls before those who do not want them the word swine to describe one's political opponents was of course banned under the parliamentary rule book on that occasion labour members last first laughed for such a long time after that joke that when the debate was resumed they quite forgotten why they were bearing him in the first place budget speeches were and indeed still are typically very boring in British politics being all about finance but in a typically Churchillian way he turned them into spectacles so much that the galleries were packed during his budgets and even the Prince of Wales came to one turning it into a fashionable occasion in society in the budget debate in April 1931 when some MPs on the other side of the house complimented him on his chancellorship he replied I suppose a favorable verdict is always to be valued even if it comes from an unjust judge or a noble umpire when he said in another debate we've all heard how dr. guillotine was executed by the instrument that he invented and Sir Herbert Samuel shouted out he was not Churchill replied well he ought to have been there are certain topics during World War two on which he taught his listeners to expect jokes which included his own liquidity his appalling French and any mention of Benito Mussolini he once said of Charles de Gaulle that now that the general speaks English so well he understands my French perfectly his description of Charles de Gaulle as being like a llama surprised in her bath his principally funny I think because he made the llama feminine I of course am exceedingly Pro French he once told his entourage unfortunately the French are exceedingly Pro voguing when on another occasion he's his friend Brendan Bracken said that de Gaulle regarded himself as the reincarnation of Joan of Arc Churchill growled yes but my bishops won't burn him sadly though he did not say the heaviest cross I've had to bear as the cross of Lorraine which was actually said by General Louis Spears the British representative to the Free French from wildin quips to English high irony to ruthless ridicule Churchill's capacity to joke was a powerful weapon that he deployed very regularly he rarely resorted to set-piece gags much preferring to riff off any situation he found himself but an exception came during a period of heavy criticism after defeats in the Western Desert in late 1941 when he joked how there was a custom in Imperial China that anyone who wished to criticize the government had the right to and provided he followed that up by committing suicide very great respect was paid to his words and no ulterior motive was assigned that seems to me he said to have been from many points of view a wise custom but I certainly would be the last to suggest that it should be made retrospective Churchill deployed understatement to excellent effect especially if his listeners were expecting something portentous in February 1943 he read out General hat Harold Alexander's splendid message that His Majesty's enemies together with their impedimenta have been completely eliminated from Egypt sarin Ayaka Libya and Tripolitania I now await your further instructions Churchill telling the House of Commons this then added well obviously we shall have to think of something else when Churchill's Vallot Frank Sawyer's accompanied him on a flight from Algiers to England in February 1943 he said to him you're sitting on your hot-water bottle that isn't at all a good idea idea replied the Prime Minister it isn't an idea it's a coincidence later on that year on the way to Roosevelt's residence at Hyde Park Churchill and his daughter Mary visited the Niagara Falls which he'd last seen in 1900 do they look the same our stay not particularly bright journalist whereupon Churchill replied well the principal seems the same the water still keeps falling over of course Churchill's detractors unable to match him in wit try to use his sense of humor against him inclined that his jokes meant that he was not a wholly serious politician many of the letters and diary entries that echoed Neville Chamberlain's can claim to Lord Halifax of August 1926 his features are extraordinarily brilliant and men flocking to hear him as they would to a first-class entertainment as a theater the best show in London they say and there's the weak point so far as I can judge they think of it as a show and they're not prepared at present to trust his character and still less his judgment there was a political price that Churchill had to pay in having a sense of humor someone that funny Chamberlain was implying could not also have good judgment on d-day over 160,000 men landed in Normandy in 24 hours parachuted from planes and landing on the 5 invasion beaches although there were over 8,000 casualties that day of whom around 3,000 were killed this was at the lowest end of the spectrum of what had been feared yet for all these grim thoughts Churchill never lost a sense of humor when an MP asked him On June the 8th d-day +2 to promise the house that he would ensure that the same mistakes were not made after victory in the Second World War that had been made after the first the Prime Minister replied that is most fully in our minds I'm sure that the mistakes of that time will not be repeated we shall probably make another set of mistakes on the afternoon of the 1st of May 1945 the day after Hitler's death the Commons chamber was full of MPs expecting the announcement of victory in Europe I have no special statements to make about the war position in Europe Churchill said except that it is definitely more satisfactory than it was this time five years ago as well as understatement English high irony was another favorite genre of Churchillian humor on the 20th of July 1944 a small group of German generals tried to kill Hitler in his East Prussian headquarters the roof Sun Sun and on the 2nd of August Churchill joked of what he called corporal history Hitler even military idiots find it difficult not to see some faults in some of his actions altogether I think it's much better to let officers rise up in the proper way the next month asked to give a that give the House of Commons a categorical denunciation of the prime minister of the collab America collaborationist a Vichy regime Pierre Laval Churchill replied I'm afraid I'd rather exhausted the possibilities of the English language as well as Britain's enemies Churchill also ridiculed his own political opponents relentlessly a favourite but was an R in Bevin the Labour MP forever Vale who kept demanding Churchill's resignation during the war and after it he said that Tories were quote lower than vermin unquote on the issue of Britain finally recognizing Red China diplomatically in July 1952 Churchill said if you recognize anyone it doesn't necessarily mean that you like we all for instance recognize the right honourable gentleman the member throwerw veil Churchill was particularly good at Punk - Punk puncturing the pomposity of oleaginous enemies when during Prime Minister's Questions one Tory MP suggested that the house should toast death to all dictators and long life to all liberators among whom the Prime Minister is the first Churchill phlegmatically replied it's very early in the morning when a famously long-winded MP called for a national day of prayer and asked will the Prime Minister assure the house that while we have quite properly attended to the physical needs of Defence and of our other problems we should not forget those spiritual resources which have inspired this country in the past and without which the noblest civilization would decay Churchill replied I hardly think that that's my exclusive responsibility when he used the Latin expression Prima's interpares first amongst equals a Labour MP shouted translate Churchill said certainly I shall translate for the benefit of any old Etonians presence returning to the opposition benches in 1945 for the first time in 14 years Churchill had endless opportunities to use his humour to criticize the Atlee government which he used unsparingly on occasion he came however to his opponent Clement Atlas defense as when Stalin accused actly of being a war monger over the Korean War and Rhee armaments Churchill retorted that as Labour was intending to call him Churchill a war monger in the next election Stalin has therefore been guilty not only of an untruth but also of infringement of copyright the time earlier of this speech has come I'm afraid that when with a heavy heart I must disappoint a large number of you by telling you some of the very large number of very good and funny jokes that Churchill did not say Richard langworth has trolled all the sources long and hard as have I and in a chapter entitled red herrings in his book Churchill in his own words he lays out ten pages of false attributions Richard and almost all other Churchill scholars have not been it know Churchill scholar has been able to find the moment when Churchill told Lady Astor or anybody else that if he were married to her and she poisons his coffee then he would drink it nor did he say that if you're going through hell keep going he never mentioned called at Mayor Clement Attlee a sheep in sheep's clothing nor did he say an empty car drew up and clement attlee got out he never said that Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language or I know of no case where a man added to his dignity by standing on it or a fanatic is someone who won't change his mind and won't change the subject it's a great shame that among the red herrings the Churchill's one of my favorite Churchill stories I can't man weather I told it last night did I tell the Ribbentrop story last night no okay good I'll tell you I'll tell you it now but but as I say I'm afraid it lives in the apocrypha rather than in the rather than the actual text itself was when the yoke in Rome Ribbentrop the Nazi foreign minister in London when he was ambassador to London Wong Churchill that in the next war Italy was going to be on the side of the Third Reich and Churchill replied but it seems only fair we had to have them last time as a drinker smoker and carnivore outliving teetotalers and vegetarians never fail to give Churchill huge satisfaction as he said I get my exercise as a pallbearer to my many friends who exercised all their lives some decried Churchill's use of humorous flippant others as a cynical weapon to win popularity and deflect legitimate criticism but it also reflected his extraordinary coolness under pressure as well as his refusal to be cast down and his belief in the necessity of maintaining morale it's it came as I say I believe from his his true sense of his own private and personal destiny he was an epigram artist to rival Samuel Johnson and Sydney Smith but unlike that unlike those two he was witty while also saving his country during a world war on terror Charles death in January 1965 Clement Attlee said I recall the long days through the war the long days and long nights in which his spirits never failed and how often he lightened our Labor's by that vivid humor those wonderful remarks he would make which absolutely dissolved us all in laughter however tired we were ladies and gentlemen Winston Churchill might have offered his country nothing but blood toil tears and sweat but they weren't all tears of pain and loss sometimes when they were least expected but also most needed they were tears of laughter - thank you very much indeed [Music] well thank you Andrew as you rightly noted you are only the second historian or distinguished guest to give the Kemper lecture twice I think you may be the first to give it thrice thank you we're welcome back I think as we reflect upon the history of America's national churchill museum and the 50th anniversary celebrated here today i'm reminded on a daily basis that one of our charges here at Westminster College in this historic place is to preserve and promote artifacts letters paintings speeches that were associated with Winston Churchill his life and his times it's also part of our charge and duty to preserve and protect the largest work in our collection Saint Mary the Virgin aldermen Barry the model of which stands in the gymnasium here today that's the original model that was at the groundbreaking in 1964 designed by hallmark and one of the ren stones that was moved from London to Fulton but not used in the reconstruction I invite you all to look at it more closely these objects are eyewitnesses to history they inform and they inspire us every day and increasing numbers they inform and inspire visitors I'm happy to say in the last two years our visitor ship here is up 27% [Music] it's proof positive that Winston Churchill still has things to say his words from this historic lectern resound still in this space and beyond but in addition to objects and spaces there are people that help tell the story historians like Andrew thank you family members Edwina Emma Soames Jack churchill duncan sands thank you for being here and sharing your stories of your family's terrific legacy but there are a couple of other individuals I'd like to recognize too who are eyewitnesses to history first talked about the church we have was a monumental undertaking to bring that church from London to Fulton Sir Christopher Wren is the architect of record it's a great sign in the 60s when the church was being built a Construction sign that said you know honorary committee Jack Kennedy honorary committee Harry Truman people who helped make this happen and on top it said architect Christopher Wren another gentleman whose name was on that list was st. louis-based Architect Frederick Sternberg and two of his daughters have joined us today from different parts of the country Betsy Kanaga and Linda shirk I know you're here thank you for being with us and we thank your father for his role in the establishment of the memorial we also have with us a gentleman whose grandfather arguably started it all here at Westminster College with that typewritten letter sent in the winter of 1945 from Westminster College and Fulton to Winston Churchill inviting him to come and speak here I was westminster college president and frank McClure his grandson Richmond McClure is here today Richmond [Music] and finally last night we were able to meet and hear from captain Mort Harris Mort we're glad you're with us again today thank you for your tremendous service in the Second World War for our country for those of you who weren't with us last night Mort Harris flew 33 combat missions over France and Germany in Europe and did some tremendous work during during during the war we're glad you're here today it was an honor sir to show you through the museum [Music] and finally on the subjects of eyewitnesses of history we have three individuals here three here today who are returning to Westminster College in Fulton just as they did on March 5th 1946 when they were here to hear Winston Churchill and Harry Truman from this stage they are first of all Earl Harbison from st. Louis oral are you with us there he is welcome back a row now I'll tell you quick a very very quick story Earl did not have a ticket to get into the gymnasium that day and he heard the speech from the loudspeakers outside am I correct I'm glad you're inside today the other two gentlemen who did make it into the the gymnasium and are back here with us today rob Linda Meyer Rob are you here Westminster alumnus he was outside too okay good I'm glad you made it in this time and of course one gentleman who I know for certain was inside the gymnasium he was a member of the skulls of seven we saw the processional he led the persona of the prisoners processional led President Truman and Harry Truman to the stage welcome - welcome welcome please welcome him back Baxter Watson Baxter Thank You Baxter so these individuals like all of you are eyewitnesses to history and help support and sustain our mission and purpose without you we couldn't do what we do and we're very very grateful for that thank you for helping us commemorate helping us celebrate and relish in all things Churchill we've got work ahead in the next 50 years but I know together we will as Churchill said from this space in 1946 take the high roads of the future with that I thank you I hope you've enjoyed your lunch and about a little under a half hour 2:30 we'll begin a parade in in downtown fold and I invite you to participate to to watch that great parade we have some of the same units who are here in the dedication some of the same units marching the parade we are in 1946 it will be a great day to be in Fulton once again thank you [Music] this fine institution whereas both the Church of st. Mary the Virgin aldermen berry in Fulton Missouri and the museum and its undercroft form America's National Church views America's National Church Hill Museum the only organization recognized by Congress as America's permanent tribute to Winston Churchill and whereas America's national churchill museum is both the living history and erect representation of the life of Winston Churchill and the beginning of the Cold War and whereas the museum's breakthrough sculpture by Edwina Sandy's granddaughter of Winston Churchill includes a portion of the Berlin wall that signifies the end of the Cold War and whereas former president Harry Truman invited Winston Churchill to give his famous speech on the campus of a college in Truman's home state of Missouri and where as you know there's an awful lot to talk about what happened here because of your ancestor Edwina whereas the 17th century church is the stunning and monumental memorial to Winston Churchill and his sinews of peace iron curtain speech made on the campus of Westminster College in 1946 and whereas America's national church shield Museum is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the rededication of the Church of st. Mary of the virgin alderman Berry in Fulton Missouri and is the only British heritage Church in the United States physically relocated from the City of London to its new home on American soil whereas the museum provides an innovative and interactive opportunity for visitors to experience the life leadership and legacy of Winston Churchill therefore it is now proclaimed that May 7th 2019 to be Sir Winston Churchill day in Missouri [Music] thank you very much we will we will place this with pride in the museum later this afternoon may 7th is the actual 50th anniversary date and we very much appreciate that so everyone happy anniversary

Channel: Westminster College

Views: 2,035

Rating: 4.5714288 out of 5

Keywords: ANCM, 2019, Missouri, National Churchill Museum, Fulton MO, America's National Churchill Museum, Churchill, Winston Churchill, Fulton, 50th Anniversary, Westminster College, Kemper Lecture, Humor, Humour, Andrew Roberts, Walking with Destiny

Id: GWWbgkakaD8

Length: 61min 26sec (3686 seconds)

Published: Tue May 14 2019