On Churchill and his detractors; the GOP and economics; an American (mis)pronunciation; the late, great Jerry West; and more
When I was growing up, people admired Lincoln and Churchill, almost universally. (I should say “when I was growing up and where I was growing up.”) In general, they admired FDR too. There were critics of the New Deal. But most people admired FDR’s wartime leadership and overall spirit.
I’ve always liked what Churchill said about FDR (I paraphrase): “Being with President Roosevelt is like opening a bottle of Champagne.”
For some years, many, many Americans believed that FDR had engineered the attack on Pearl Harbor, so as to get us into the war, at the bidding of international Jewry. I have met such people. I have known them personally. But very few people must hold that view today.
When I was in college, I suppose, I became aware of anti-Lincoln people. Some were on the left. Some were — elsewhere. There were Lost Causers, neo-Confederates, overall cranks.
In recent years, I think, neo-Confederates have come out of the woodwork — along with America Firsters, Franco-ites, and the rest. The diversity of this country is really spectacular, in all sorts of ways.
As I became aware of anti-Lincoln people, I also became aware of anti-Churchill people — plenty of them. Again, some were on the left: Churchill was an imperialist, a racist, and so on and so forth. These people disliked the West, and Winston Churchill was an embodiment of the West.
There were other anti-Churchillians too. I had a co-worker, a thoughtful guy in his early 20s. (Same age as I.) He liked to read Roman history — written by Romans themselves. A bookish, very pleasant guy.
And he was anti-Churchill. He was the type who thinks that Churchill was a warmonger — bloodthirsty. Churchill fought Germany unnecessarily and harmfully (according to this view). My co-worker had read the works of John Charmley, a leading anti-Churchill historian.
In my experience, Lincoln-haters and Churchill-haters go together. Rarely does a person hate one and not the other. A classic example of the Lincoln-hater and Churchill-hater would be Patrick J. Buchanan — the spiritual father of the present-day populist Right in America.
This type tends to admire Vladimir Putin, too. (As PJB does. He’s three-for-three: anti-Lincoln, anti-Churchill, and pro-Putin.) Other people, however, mix and match. Let me share with you an item from a column of mine published in September 2016:
Over in Britain, UKIP has a new leader, Diane James. She counts Vladimir Putin as one of her three political heroes, along with Churchill and Thatcher. I wish the dead leaders were alive to speak about this. Of course, their lives, and their careers, speak for themselves.
Ms. James is the type to defend and justify Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
And here are her words, about her hero: “I admire him from the point of view that he’s standing up for his country. He is very nationalist. He is a very strong leader. He is putting Russia first.”
That language is pretty much identical to Trump’s. Diane James would be right at home in today’s GOP, the Trump GOP. In my view, America needs and deserves a better Right.
Yes, I think so.
(People still hold to the view that Putin is “very nationalist” — even though he is probably the leading imperialist in the world today. With violence, he is trying to rebuild as much of the old empire as he can.)
Now I come to some recent news from the BBC.
A Reform UK candidate has apologised for claiming the country would be “far better” if it had “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality” instead of fighting the Nazis in World War Two.
Reform UK, by the way, is the current party of Nigel Farage. It is the vehicle of the populist Right, broadly speaking, in Britain.
Anyway, the candidate who issued the apology is Ian Gribbin. Two years ago, Mr. Gribbin wrote the following:
Britain would be in a far better state today had we taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality…. but oh no Britain’s warped mindset values weird notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people.
This is a very, very common sentiment. I hear it around me all the time.
Mr. Gribbin also wrote,
In Britain specifically we need to exorcise the cult of Churchill and recognize that in both policy and military strategy, he was abysmal.
How about Putin? What does Ian Gribbin think of him? Here is that BBC report:
In the run up to the invasion of Ukraine, he praised President Putin, writing in January 2022 that he had “shown a maturity of which we can only dream of”. [That’s one “of” too many, but be that as it may.]
He “understands the bonds that create more stable societies; the hypocrisy of the West is preposterous as we stare in the face daily the enormous economic equalities created by our deluded neo liberal ideas”, he wrote.
In February, Mr Gribbin wrote “if only the West had politicians of his class”.
Oh, we do, I’m afraid. We do.
Back to Lincoln and Churchill. I don’t believe these men are beyond criticism. They themselves would choke on such an idea — they were democrats. They were human beings and they were politicians, and they made mistakes. They were also great and indispensable, in my judgment.
The Reaganites I admired, admired Churchill. I think in particular of Cap Weinberger — Caspar W. Weinberger. I am not necessarily a letter-saver, but I saved one from him: a warm and smart letter, totally Cap-esque. He was a trustee of the Churchill Centre. To read about him, in relation to Churchill, go here. I have linked to an article by Richard M. Langworth, the founder of the Churchill Centre.
What did that British populist say about Putin? “If only the West had politicians of his class.” I think the same about Winston S. Churchill.
• In Britain, Reform UK is the populist-Right challenge to the Conservative Party. There is no need for such a party in America — because the Republican Party is that party, by and large. It is Farage-nik. What we could use is a conservative party.
Let me illustrate. A spokesman for the Republican National Committee said, “The notion that tariffs are a tax on U.S. consumers is a lie pushed by outsourcers and the Chinese Communist Party.”
I was a Republican for many years — from 1983, I believe, to 2016. We were not perfect, heaven knows. But we did not reject basic economics.
• Maybe we could touch on sports — in the form of a golf note. Risen to prominence is Matthieu Pavon, from France. He finished tied for fifth in the U.S. Open on Sunday. He won a tournament on the PGA Tour in January. The guy is really good — the son of a former pro soccer player, Michel Pavon.
Their name means “peacock.” A proud name to bear.
• During the Open, a broadcaster said “heighth.” I am spelling it that way to emphasize the pronunciation. The man pronounced “height” “heighth.”
I grew up with this pronunciation, I’m pretty sure. “Length,” “width,” “heighth.” It was a natural mistake, so to speak. When did I stop saying “heighth”? I’m not sure. But I bet I said it well into my teens.
And when the announcer said it, during the Open, it sounded to me like the most natural thing in the world.
• As you know, Jerry West, the great basketball player, died last week. He was 86. I spoke with a close friend of mine — Coach Ed Klum — about him. In the 1950s, Coach Klum scouted West. West was playing for WVU, i.e., West Virginia University. Their opponent was Stanford. The game was part of a tournament in California. Coach Klum reported back: “Best player I’ve seen. Will be very hard to stop.”
He was.
Coach Klum was born about ten years before West. Last week, I had an article about George H. W. Bush, on the occasion of his centennial. What does that have to do with the price of eggs? Well, I mentioned that Bush met Babe Ruth — so did Coach Klum (in Benton Harbor, Mich.). Ruth had lived a hard and rough life, obviously. But there was a touch of nobility about him, Coach Klum says. An unforgettable figure, larger than life (though sickness had shriveled his body).
See you soon, everyone. Thanks for joining me.
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