Peggy Noonan in today's Wall Street Journal

[Cita Stelzer]

Shame on her: to quote:

“Mr. Johnson’s [Boris] admirers have the gyrating habit of comparing him to Winston Churchill, a flawed outsider with imperfect judgement but the right man for 1939. But Churchill was an authentic genius who wrote a masterpiece of the English language while drunk and went to war hung over. He was a gigantic character. Boris Johnson is merely a big one, and a showman.  …

 

Haven’t we had enough of the old myth of WSC as a drunk?

[Jonathan Hayes]

I am always reminded of the probably apocryphal story that someone told Lincoln that "Grant drinks".  Lincoln supposedly replied "Find out what brand and send a barrel to my other generals."  What is important is what Churchill accomplished.  In this politically correct era, i am surprised no one has taken aim at his cigar habit.

Jonathan Hayes

 

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[Richard Langworth]

Letter to the Editor, WSJ (if anybody sees it in print, let me know; not holding breath)

FYI: Noonan's article is at https://www.wsj.com/articles/england-needs-a-slap-and-so-does-china-11560465724

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A fine writer like Peggy Noonan should not blithely repeat such empty canards about Winston Churchill as she offered on June 15th ("England Needs a Slap, and So Does China.") 

Churchill had flaws, but he did not write "a masterpiece of the English language while drunk." Nor is it true that he "went to war hung over." 

His alcoholic capacity was considerable, and he fanned the image. But his legendary highball was a tumbler of water with an ounce of of whisky, "Scotch-flavored mouthwash."  His champagne was diluted by stretching his habitual pint over a three hour dinner. 

One doesn't conduct 900 meetings of the War Cabinet and Defense Committee drunk. In forty years of research I found just one instance where anyone found him the worse for drink. That was at Teheran in 1943, when a bodyguard helped him back to the British Embassy after a late night of toasts with the Russians. Even then, he said, "the PM was still walking, and upright."

Ms. Noonan is right to say that Boris Johnson is not Churchill. (Perhaps there should be an article, "Stop Comparing Churchill to Everybody." No one else served in four wars and wrote five books by age 25, held all but one major office of state, was twice prime minister, wrote 50 books and won a Nobel Prize.)

That makes him quite incomparable, despite the ignorant plaints of muckraking authors and social media. Ms. Noonan is not among those.

Respectfully

Richard Langworth

Richard M Langworth CBE
Senior Fellow, Hillsdale College

 Churchill Project

winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu

Moultonborough, New Hampshire
richardlangworth.com 

[Sandy Finlayson]

Dear Richard

Many thanks for writing this. I hope they publish it.

Is there any news on when the next Churchill Documents volume will be released?

Cheers.

Sandy

-------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Sandy Finlayson
Director of Library Services &
Professor of Theological Bibliography
Westminster Theological Seminary
Philadelphia, PA

"Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers.

A librarian can bring you back the right one.~ Neil Gaiman

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