CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON negotiating establishment of the Irish Free State but also supporting Allied intervention against VLADIMIR LENIN’s Bolshevik Russia. For a man of Churchill’s ambition, the interwar period was one of political setbacks and disappointments. He quit the Liberals in 1923 and was reelected as a Conservative the following year, but was never really trusted by that party again. He nonetheless served as chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister STANLEY BALDWIN and orchestrated Britain’s return to the gold standard. This only exacerbated the nation’s economic troubles, and in 1926 Churchill further alienated himself from voters by deploying troops to defeat a nationwide general strike. His controversial nature and tempestuous disposition finally resulted in a 10-year exile to Parliament from the ministry. Here he preferred remaining in the House of Commons, which wielded real power, to serving in the aristocratic and largely symbolic House of Lords. Throughout the 1930s, Churchill further eroded his popularity by bitterly opposing home rule for India and for constant attacks upon Baldwin, a fellow Conservative. However, he became aware of the dangers posed by ADOLF HITLER long before it was expedient to do so. Moreover, Churchill railed against the appeasement policy adopted by Prime Minister NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN and called for comprehensive national rearmament. Churchill, after two decades in the political wilderness, finally established his niche as a formidable spokesman for freedom and democracy. His vitriolic wit and classical elegance made him a symbol of British resistance to tyranny. When World War II broke out in September 1939, Churchill joined Chamberlain’s government as head of the Admiralty. Like many contemporaries he made his share of military blunders but his sheer doggedness inspired those around him. Following France’s collapse in May 1940, Churchill took Chamberlain’s place as prime minister. His ascent at this crucial time proved fortuitous for Great Britain and the free world. Hitler seemed unstoppable on land and was massing his forces for the inevitable assault upon England. But Churchill proved as indomitable as he was defiant. He rallied the British people throughout this bleak period in their history, ruthlessly appointed, fired, and reappointed military leaders based on their performance, and oversaw the miraculous evacuation of Dunkirk and the aerial Battle of Britain in 1940. These defeats negated Hitler’s plans for invading Britain, and thereafter Churchill
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brooked no delays in signing the important Lend-Lease Agreement with President FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT for navy destroyers and other armaments. He also weathered stormy relations with General CHARLES DE GAULLE, commander of the Free French forces. When the United States finally entered the war in December 1941, Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Soviet Union’s JOSEPH STALIN formed the “Big Three” in the fight against fascism. Churchill personally loathed communism and distrusted Stalin, but he realized that the war could not be won without Russia. Churchill committed serious strategic blunders in the Mediterranean and sustained serious losses at the hands of imperial Japan, but otherwise the war went increasingly well for the Allies. Hitler was defeated in May 1945, and Churchill incessantly tried to convince Roosevelt of the dangers Stalin posed to the postwar world. However, in August 1945 the Conservatives were unceremoniously defeated by the Labour Party under CLEMENT ATTLEE. Churchill, one of the leading architects of victory, played virtually no role in settling the war he worked so hard to win. For six years Churchill remained as head of the opposition in Parliament, but he was primarily concerned with publishing his memoirs and other historical treatises. In fact, he was regarded as an outstanding historian with a superb flair for writing; in 1953 he received the Nobel Prize for literature. Churchill continued warning about the danger of communism to world peace, and in 1946 he toured the United States declaring that an “Iron Curtain” had descended across Europe. The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 confirmed this risk for British voters, and the following year they returned Churchill to power. Plagued by poor health, his second tenure in office was far less dramatic than his first, although the nation made marked strides in terms of economic recovery. Britain also began to acquire its own nuclear arsenal. But Churchill’s plans for a united Europe and an end to the cold-war tensions met with disillusionment. He barely survived a third stroke at the age of 81 and was finally replaced by ANTHONY EDEN in April 1955. For his remaining life, Churchill concentrated on his writings and basking in the glow of international celebrity. He died in London on January 24, 1965, and was accorded a massive state funeral, attended by many heads of state from around the world. Churchill’s career in public life had not been uniformly successful, and he endured defeats and setbacks that would have effectively ended the careers of lesser men. But he put his indelible