Stirring Affairs
CLEMENTINE
Winston met Clementine Hozier for
the first time in 1904, but the flame of romance was ignited at
their second meeting in April 1908.
After this second encounter, Winston threw himself into a lightning
courtship. Just four months later, on Tuesday August 11, 1908,
he chose the grounds of Blenheim Palace as the backdrop for his
proposal. On display are the love letters that passed between the
newly betrothed couple. They were married one month later at Saint
Margaret's Church, Westminster, in London on September 12,
1908.
The marriage was a lasting and happy one. Clementine created the
stable home environment that allowed Winston to be so active. They
wrote warmly to one another whenever apart but also had fiery arguments.
Clementine was the critic Winston heeded above all others. Their
letters often end with drawings that illustrate their pet names.
He was her "pug" She was his "cat." They had five children: Diana,
Randolph, Sarah, Marigold, who died in infancy, and Mary.
A Walk Down the Garden Path
In this note written by Winston to Clementine on the morning
after she accepted his proposal of marriage (left),
he suggests a walk in the rose garden after breakfast before
her departure. The note would have been taken by one of Winston's
footmen from his bedroom to the room in which Clementine
was staying. In Clementine's reply (right), presumably
carried back to an eagerly waiting Winston by the footman,
she accepts his offer of a walk and asks for a letter about
the engagement to present to her mother. |
Winston
Churchill to Clementine Hozier,
August 12, 1908.
Holograph letter. Page 2
Baroness Spencer-Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (45.1)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE
|
Clementine
Hozier to Winston Churchill,
August 12, 1908.
Holograph letter.
Baroness Spencer-Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (45.2)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
He Was Her Pug, She Was His Cat
Winston and Clementine ended their personal letters with
simple drawings depicting their pet names for one another.
He was her "pug," she was his "cat." Here, on the final page
of a letter sent by Winston to Clementine from Germany a
year into married life, Winston has drawn a "galloping pug
- for European travel." In the paragraph above he asks Clementine
to kiss the "P.K."--which stands for "puppy kitten"--his
reference to their first baby.
|
Winston
Churchill to Clementine Churchill,
September 15, 1909.
Holograph letter.
Page 1 - Page 2
Baroness Spencer-Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (46)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Winston Churchill and
Clementine Hozier, 1908.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (48)
|
Engagement Photo
Entranced by the beauty, intelligence, and character of
the poor, but well-born, Clementine Hozier, Churchill welcomed
an opportunity to be alone with her. Strolling together on
the Blenheim Palace grounds, they took refuge from a sudden
rainstorm in a small building. There he used all of his formidable
eloquence to persuade her to marry him. She accepted, and
in September 1908, as Winston later wrote, "I married and
lived happily ever afterwards." |
POLITICS AND PROMINENCE
In 1900 Churchill began a remarkable
career in the same political world where his father, Randolph,
had left a brilliant, if brief, impression. Elected to Parliament
as a hero of the Boer War, Churchill soon became known for his
indefatigable energy and rhetorical eloquence. A fervent advocate
of free trade and low tariffs, he switched his political affiliation
from Conservative to Liberal in 1904. Many viewed his action as
disloyal and opportunistic. Churchill's subsequent career, however,
revealed strong inclinations toward social reform and a concern
for the welfare of the less fortunate.
Churchill's ascent to power became even more rapid after the Liberals
won a decisive electoral victory in 1906. In swift succession,
his party's leaders entrusted to him a series of important positions
leading to a seat in the Cabinet. By 1911, at the age of thirty-six,
he was serving as First Lord of the Admiralty--the civilian head
of Britain's navy. On the eve of World War I the young politician
had established himself as one of his nation's most influential
public figures.
His Father's Son
When Churchill returned home from South Africa and prepared
to enter the political world, the press began to compare
him to his famous father. On the left is a caricature of
Winston drawn by "Spy" before his election to Parliament.
On the right is a caricature of Lord Randolph Churchill,
drawn some twenty years earlier by the same artist. Both
images were used to illustrate a continuing series of articles
in Vanity Fair entitled "Men of the Day." The article
that accompanied Winston's caricature stated, "He can write
and he can fight. . . . But he can hardly be the slave of
any party," and ended ". . . his ways and manners are constant
reminders of his father."
|
" Spy" [Leslie Ward]. Winston.
From "The Vanity Fair Album: A Show of Statesmen,
Judges, and Men of
the Day," vol. XXXII, 1900.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (43a)
|
" Spy" [Leslie
Ward]. A Younger Son.
From "The Vanity Fair Album:
A Show of Statesmen,
Judges, and Men of the Day," vol. XII,
1880.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (43b)
|
Winston
Churchill addressing Unionist Party meeting,
August 10, 1901.
Copyprint.
Marlborough Papers,
Manuscript Division (43.1)
|
Rising Conservative Star
Churchill's birth and family connections often provided
opportunities unavailable to other young politicians. This
photograph shows him addressing a large political rally held
in the summer of 1901 at his birthplace, Blenheim Palace.
Seconding a resolution commending leaders of the Conservative
(Unionist) Party, Churchill praised them for having brought
the "colonies into line with the Mother Country" even as
he condemned "the mischievous work" of the deceased Liberal
Prime Minister William E. Gladstone.
|
Teddy and Winnie
Theodore Roosevelt met Churchill in December 1900 while
the brash young English politician was lecturing in the United
States. Roosevelt did not become an admirer. In this 1908
letter Roosevelt says that Winston's father Randolph "was
a rather cheap character," and that Winston "is a rather
cheap character." He would later add that both father and
son displayed "levity, lack of sobriety, lack of permanent
principle, and an inordinate thirst for that cheap form of
admiration which is given to notoriety."
|
Theodore Roosevelt to
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
May 23, 1908.
Page 2
Facsimile of letterbook.
Manuscript Division (49)
|
The Dance of Politics
Imagining that Liberal Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman
would compare the vicissitudes of British parliamentary politics
to a sea voyage, with sudden storms and calms, artist Edward
Tennyson Reed caricatured leading public figures in the cartoon
shown here. Campbell-Bannerman is the large figure in the
left foreground; Churchill, then Under-Secretary of State
for the Colonies (and soon to enter the cabinet as President
of the Board of Trade), is depicted as the small sailor,
second from the right.
|
Edward Tennyson Reed.
Parliamentary
'Liberty Men' Return to
H.M.S. 'Loquacity,' 1908.
Pencil drawing.
Swann Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (53)
LC-USZ62-94829
[Digital ID# cph 3b40997]
|
Winston Churchill to
The Duke of Marlborough,
December 7, 1909.
Printed and signed
check.
Marlborough Papers,
Manuscript Division (54)
|
Churchill Loses A Bet
In 1909 Churchill, then a Liberal, bet his Conservative
cousin, the eighth Duke of Marlborough, that Parliament's
House of Lords would not reject the reform budget as passed
by the House of Commons. The Lords did in fact reject the
measure, precipitating a constitutional crisis. Churchill's
private secretary, Eddie Marsh, sent this payment with the
explanation,"This is for Winston's budget bet. I didn't know
jokes were allowed on cheques." Marlborough never cashed
the check, made out for the amount, "Twenty-five pounds--Cheap
at the price."
|
Budget Crisis
During the Budget Crisis of 1909-1912, Churchill was among
the leaders of a movement to increase taxes on Britain's
wealthiest inhabitants. The Liberal Party, which Churchill
had joined in 1904, desired additional revenue to fund social
programs and increase defense spending. The House of Commons
passed the measure in 1909, but the House of Lords, dominated
by Conservative landowners, rejected the measure and forced
new elections. This early recorded Churchill address gives
a good indication of his progressive political philosophy. |
MP3 - RealPlayer*
(*requires free
RealPlayer software)
Winston
Churchill.
Speech on the budget, 1909.
Sound disc.
Motion Picture, Broadcasting and
Recorded
Sound Division (55.1) |
First Lord of the Admiralty
In 1911 Prime Minister Herbert Asquith appointed Churchill
First Lord of the Admiralty, the civilian head of Britain's
Navy. The caricature displayed here portrays him as he smiles
for a photographer. The man accompanying him may be David
Lloyd George, a Liberal ally. Also shown is a letter to his
young cousin, a naval officer critical of British foreign
policy. Churchill advises him "to preserve a calm and sober
view of men and things, avoiding disproportionate judgments
and extravagant language."
|
Henry Mayo Bateman.
Winston
Churchill Smiles at the Camera,
ca. 1912.
Ink over
pencil drawing.
Swann Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (60)
LC-USZ62-84842
[Digital ID# cph 3b31395]
|
Winston Churchill to Oswald
Frewen,
April 6, 1913.
Page 2
Typed letter.
Moreton Frewen Papers,
Manuscript Division (62)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE
|
"CHEQUERED FORTUNES"
The outbreak of World War I in 1914
offered Churchill his first opportunity to influence events on
a global scale. Dismayed by the development of the bloody stalemate
in Europe, Churchill, the energetic First Lord of the Admiralty,
promoted the development and use of such new weapons as airplanes
and tanks. He also sent an expedition to attack Germany's ally,
Turkey, through the Dardanelles Strait. This military effort failed,
contributing to his fall from power. Widely blamed and thoroughly
disheartened, Churchill volunteered for six months as an infantry
officer on the western front and endured the hardships and dangers
of trench warfare.
In 1917, what he called his "chequered fortunes" changed, and
he was returned to public office. Churchill took charge of Britain's
armaments production and worked closely with his American counterparts
until an armistice was concluded on November 11, 1918.
In peacetime Churchill assumed even more responsible positions.
As his government's special emissary, he had mixed success in coping
with war-related disruptions in such widely separated places as
Russia, Ireland, Palestine, and Iraq. By 1924 Churchill, a Conservative
once more, had become Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post once
held by his father and considered to be second only to that of
prime minister.
The Dardanelles
During the first months of World War I, Churchill energetically
prosecuted the war at sea, but he soon became frustrated
with the emerging deadlock on the Western front. He sent
an expedition to attack Germany's ally, Turkey, through
the Dardanelles Strait. Frustrated by the Navy's indecisive
performance, Churchill drafted this memorandum quoting
Shakespeare and Napoleon in an unsuccessful attempt to
strengthen the resolve of his most senior Admiral, Lord "Jacky" Fisher.
As the displayed letter from Churchill's brother Jack (then
serving with the expeditionary forces) shows, the expedition
was turning into a failure. Consequently, Churchill was
fired from the Admiralty. |
John
Spencer Churchill to the Duke of Marlborough,
July 3, 1915.
Page 2
Holograph letter.
Manuscript Division (63)
© Crown copyright 1915,
Archival Reference # CHAR 13/57/3
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE
|
Winston
Churchill to Admiral Lord Fisher,
April 8, 1915.
Holograph letter.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge. U.K. (63.1)
© Crown copyright 1915
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
H.E.C. Robinson.
Dardanelles,
Sea of Marmara, Bosporus.
Sydney: H.E.C. Robinson,
ca. 1920.
Geography and
Map Division (65)
|
Gallipoli
This Australian-made map of the Gallipoli Peninsula and
the Dardanelles Strait depicts the problems inherent in Churchill's
plan to attack Constantinople (now Istanbul). The extensive
minefields in the narrow waterway were covered by artillery,
making it difficult for British minesweepers to operate.
Amphibious operations were hampered by the rugged terrain
on the peninsula. The map also shows the sites of the landings
by British, Australian, and New Zealand troops, as well as
the places where British and French ships were sunk.
|
New Weapons
Throughout World War I, Churchill pushed for the development
and effective use of new weapons. At the Admiralty, he was
a forceful advocate of military aviation, and he played a
large part in the development of "land ships," later renamed "tanks," in
an effort to deceive the enemy. After he left the Admiralty,
Churchill wrote this memorandum, urging the use of the new "Stokes" mortars
in trench-warfare situations such as existed on the Gallipoli
Peninsula.
|
Winston Churchill to the Dardanelles
Committee,
October 4, 1915.
Printed memorandum.
Manuscript Division (66.1)
© Crown copyright 1915
|
Photograph of ANZAC Beach,
Gallipoli Peninsula.
Copyprint.
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (67.1) © Crown copyright 1915
|
Rugged Terrain of Gallipoli
Churchill had originally tried to force passage through
the Dardanelles Strait by ships alone. When this failed,
landings became inevitable. Allied troops went ashore on
April 25, 1915, and suffered heavy losses. This photograph
depicts the beachhead and hints at the rugged terrain of
the Gallipoli Peninsula that contributed to the failure of
subsequent operations.
|
Churchill Takes Up Painting
Divested of power and responsibility after the Dardanelles
fiasco, Churchill sought outlets for his enormous store of
creative energy. This sketch, by "Artist Unknown"--who may
have been Churchill himself--depicts the ex-Minister painting
the interior of his birthplace and family home, Blenheim
Palace.
|
Anonymous.
Winston Churchill
in Blenheim Palace,
1916.
Page 2
Pencil Drawing.
Marlborough Papers,
Manuscript Division (72)
|
Winston Churchill to the Duke
of Marlborough,
January 12, 1916.
Page 2
Holograph letter.
Manuscript Division (69)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
The Life of an Infantry Colonel
Widely blamed for the costly failure of the Dardanelles
expedition, Churchill was forced out of government in 1915.
In despair he left England and served for six months as a
World War I infantry officer on the Western Front. This letter
to the Duke of Marlborough reveals the dangers he encountered
and his fatalistic determination. He also asked his kinsman
whether he thought he exemplified their family motto "Fiel
Pero Desdichado" (faithful but unfortunate).
|
Thoughts on Grand Strategy
Although the duties of a battalion commander in the Sixth
Royal Scots Fusiliers took up most of his time, Churchill
continued to give careful thought to British domestic politics
as well as the overall course of the war. This letter displays
his disgust with the policies of his former colleagues. The
Germans, Churchill believed, had managed to fool British
leaders into dispersing their forces even as they lured them
into breaking "our teeth on their tremendous defensive lines
in the West & in Russia."
|
Winston Churchill to the Duke
of Marlborough,
January 22, 1916.
Page 2 - Page 3
Holograph letter.
Manuscript Division (70)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Orilux trench torch,
1915.
On loan from the National Trust,
Chartw
ell, U.K. (71)
|
Torch with Shrapnel Damage
This Orilux torch was presented to Churchill by his brother-in-law
Bertram Romilly on November 15, 1915. The torch displays
signs of shrapnel damage incurred while Churchill fought
in the front line trenches during World War I. He came near
to death on the morning of February 16, 1916, when his temporary
headquarters was shelled during his breakfast.
|
The Bolsheviks and the World Crisis
The fifth volume of Churchill's history of the First World
War, originally published as The Aftermath, covered
postwar developments and their wartime origins. The volume
also discussed at length the Russian Revolution and civil
war. Back in power in 1919 as Secretary of State for War,
Churchill advocated intervention in favor of the anti-Communist
forces. In one passage from his book, Churchill describes
Communist leader Vladimir Lenin during the war as "the most
grisly of all weapons," smuggled back into Russia "in a sealed
truck like a plague bacillus" by the Germans.
|
Winston S. Churchill.
The
World Crisis, vol. 5.
London: T. Butterworth, 1923-1931.
Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and
Special Collections Division (71.2)
|
Shane Leslie to Lady Randolph
Churchill,
August 8, 1917.
Page 2
Holograph letter.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (73)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Churchill Becomes Minister for Munitions
David Lloyd George became Prime Minister in 1916. He had
worked with Churchill since 1904. In July 1917 Churchill
was brought out of the "political wilderness" and made Minister
for Munitions. This clearly pleased Churchill's cousin, Shane
Leslie, who wrote to Lady Randolph from Vermont expressing
his pleasure and remarking that Americans looked "on Winston
as 7/8 Yankee and 1/8 Blenheim."
|
Anglo-American Cooperation
World War I gave Churchill his first experience of cooperation
with officials from the United States on crucial matters.
As Minister of Munitions, he worked with his American counterpart,
Bernard M. Baruch, chairman of the War Industries Board.
In this letter he tells Admiral William S. Sims, commander
of American naval forces in Europe, that Anglo-American wartime
cooperation formed "a clear precedent, & one which is
of the highest value to the future in which such vast issues
hang on unity between our two countries in ideals & in
action."
|
Winston Churchill to William
S. Sims,
March
31, 1919.
Page 2
Holograph letter.
Manuscript Division (76)
© Crown copyright 1919
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Winston Churchill, 1919.
Photograph. Pershing Papers,
Manuscript Division (77)
|
Churchill in 1919
This photograph, probably taken while Churchill was Secretary
of State for War and Air, was inscribed and given to U.S.
General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary
Forces in Europe during World War I.
|
"Will America Fail Us?"
After the First World War, Churchill found himself in a
difficult position. As a friend of the United States, he
was called upon to explain to the British people why America
was retreating into isolationism and away from the peace
treaty and the League of Nations that President Woodrow Wilson
had been so instrumental in developing.
|
Winston Churchill.
"Will
America Fail Us?,"
November 30, 1919.
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Typescript.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (78)
|
Winston Churchill and
T. E. Lawrence, 1921.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (79)
LC-USZ62-65460
[Digital ID# cph 3b12983]
|
Reshaping the Middle East
As Secretary of State for the Colonies (1921-1922) Churchill
played a large role in determining the fate of the territories
that had been detached from the Ottoman Empire after World
War I. This photograph shows him during the Cairo Conference
(1921), walking with T. E. Lawrence--"Lawrence of Arabia." During
this conference Churchill helped establish the government,
ethnic composition, and political boundaries of Iraq and
other portions of the Middle East.
|
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In 1924 Churchill returned to the Conservative Party. He
soon reached the highest point in his career thus far--appointment
as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the British government's
second-highest political post. Here, he is shown on his way
to Buckingham Palace to receive the seals of office from
King George V. Churchill's tenure in this office (1924-1929)
was notable for his adherence to the gold standard and for
his publication of a government newspaper, The British
Gazette, during a general strike.
|
Underwood & Underwood.
Winston
Churchill,
1924.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (81)
LC-USZ62-75528
|
Churchill's Hallmark Style
Churchill knew the value of maintaining a strong personal
image. Whether relaxing in his zip-up "siren suit" so called
because it could be put on easily in an air raid, or reviewing
troops in military great coat and peaked cap, he always
stood out from the crowd. Throughout his long career, he
was rarely pictured without a trademark hat, bow-tie and
ever-present cigar. The artifacts displayed here all belonged
to Sir Winston. |
Cotton bow-tie.
On loan from
the National Trust,
Chartwell, U.K. (1.1a)
Silk top hat. "W.S.C." marked
inside rim.
Scott & Co. Piccadilly.
On loan
from the National Trust,
Chartwell, UK. (1.1b)
|
Cigar box made from Kauri
wood inlaid with Pukatea.
The inscription reads "presented
to Winston Spencer Churchill C.B., M.P.,from The Legion of
Frontiersmen, New Zealand Command, for valiant services rendered
in saving The British Empire 1939-1952, God Guard Thee."
On
loan from the National Trust,
Chartwell, U.K. (1.1c)
|
Painting as a Pastime
During the summer of 1915, following his fall from power,
Churchill, discovered the world of painting. He wrote later
that having been forced "cruelly" into inactivity, "the Muse
of Painting came to my rescue." About 500 Winston Churchill
paintings exist. Although confident and self-assured in fields
of politics, oratory, and writing, he was modest about his
achievements as a painter. He sought and accepted constructive
criticism and enjoyed experimenting with new media and techniques.
Churchill once vowed, "When I get to heaven I mean to spend
a considerable portion of my first million years in painting,
and so to get to the bottom of the subject."
|
Winston
Churchill.
Flowers in a Green Vase,
ca. 1930s.
Oil
on canvas.
On loan from Senator John Warner (99)
|
RETURN TO AMERICA
The Conservative government was
defeated in 1929, and Churchill, now out of office, was in need
of income. After an absence of almost thirty years, he crossed
the Atlantic and undertook an extensive lecture tour of North America.
This trip included his only visit to the West Coast of the United
States, where he was lavishly entertained in California by William
Randolph Hearst. Churchill also experienced Prohibition first hand
and was in New York in time to witness the Wall Street crash. The
collapse of the American stock market, in which Churchill had invested,
wiped out any financial gains from the tour.
Churchill was now increasingly dependent on his writing and public
speaking to sustain his lifestyle. He returned to America for yet
another lecture tour in December 1931, but suffered a further setback
when he was seriously injured by a car on New York's Fifth Avenue.
With characteristic resilience, he turned the episode to his advantage
by writing about it for the newspapers.
Winston Churchill to Clementine
Churchill,
September 18, 1929.
Annotated typescript letter.
Baroness Spencer-Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives
Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (84)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Iced Beer
On his 1929 visit to the United States, Churchill entered
the country from Canada via Seattle. In this letter to Clementine,
he recounts the interrogation for liquor by the customs official
enforcing prohibition, before recounting how the same official
joined him for an iced beer: "The Customs gent explained
that the United States was not interested 'in the ultimate
consumer'!" He also describes his son Randolph as his "Gannymede," cupbearer
to the Gods, and makes it clear he was being well-supplied
with alcohol.
|
Traveling in Style
This is the first page of a letter written by Winston to
Clementine from Randolph Hearst's desert villa at San Simeon,
California. Churchill was traveling in style. He rode in
a special railway car provided by the steel magnate Charles
Schwab, and media mogul Hearst introduced him to the glamorous
world of Hollywood. |
Winston Churchill to Clementine
Churchill,
September 29, 1929.
Page 2
Holograph letter.
Baroness Spencer-Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (87)
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE |
Winston Churchill to
Professor
Frederick Lindemann,
December 24, 1931.
Facsimile
of telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (89)
|
Hit by a Car in New York City
December 13, 1931 was an unlucky day for Churchill. He was
seriously injured by a car while crossing Fifth Avenue in
New York. Churchill was left bleeding and bruised and had
to postpone his lecture tour. Yet he refused to accept defeat
and resolved to turn the experience into a newspaper article.
Here he asks his friend, Oxford University physicist Professor
Frederick Lindemann, to calculate the precise force of the
impact.
|
Two Charges of Buckshot
In this telegram, sent in reply to Churchill's inquiry,
Professor Frederick Lindemann estimated the force of the
impact of the car that hit him as being equivalent to two
charges of buckshot fired point blank. The professor cannot
resist teasing Churchill about the mitigating effect of his
weight and congratulating him on preparing a suitable cushion
for the bump.
|
Professor Frederick
Lindemann
to Winston Churchill,
December 30, 1931.
Page 2
Telegram.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K.(90)
|
Winston Churchill. " New
York Misadventure."
Daily Mail, January 5, 1932.
Copyprint.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (91)
|
"My New York Misadventure"
Throughout his career, Churchill wrote popular articles
to supplement his political and literary income and maintain
his lifestyle. Shown here is the first part of Churchill's
article recounting his "New York Misadventure," as it appeared
in the British Daily Mail newspaper.
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