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JANUARY 29, 2015
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39 THE JEWISH HOME
ward Prime Minister Chamberlain. The British knew that they needed domination in Eastern Europe. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in a leader who would fight this enemy with determination and grit. On the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent,” he May 10, King George VI appointed Churchill as prime minister and declared. His speech, made at Westminister College in Missouri with Minister of Defense. Within hours, the German Army began its West- President Harry S. Truman at his side, is considered one of the first ern Offensive, invading the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. opening volleys announcing the beginning of the Cold War. He pointed Two days later, German forces entered France. It was Britain alone that out that like with Nazi Germany, appeasement could be disastrous. In stood up in the face of the Nazi machine. dealing with the Soviets, there is “nothing which they admire so much Quickly, Churchill formed a coalition cabinet of leaders from the as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than Labor, Liberal and Conservative parties. He placed intelligent and tal- for military weakness.” ented men in key positions. On June 4, Churchill addressed the House In 1951, Churchill was once again elected to the prime minister’s of Commons, referring to a recent military failure, encouraging the seat. In 1953, Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He intronation, and warning them of a possible invasion by the Germans. It duced various reforms and improved working conditions in mines and one of his most iconic speeches and the nation was bolstered by his established standards for housing. These domestic reforms, though, inspiring words. were overshadowed by a series of foreign policy crises in the colonies Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous of Kenya and Malaya, where Churchill ordered direct military action. States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all While successful in putting down the rebellions, it became clear that the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall Britain was no longer able to sustain its colonial rule. go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing THE LATER YEARS strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost Despite his strength against his enemies and in his convictions, may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing Churchill was a weak man. He suffered a mild heart attack while visitgrounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight ing the U.S. in 1941 and then again in 1943. In June 1953, at 78, he in the hills; we shall never surrender. suffered from a series of strokes at his office, located at 10 Downing On June 18, just a few days later, Churchill once again addressed Street. The news was kept from the public and Parliament, with the the House of Commons, warning that “the Battle of Britain” was about official announcement stating that he had suffered from exhaustion. to begin. He concluded with the following inspiring words to a nation He recuperated at home, and returned to his work as prime minister in reeling from fresh, oozing losses. October. However, it was apparWhat General Wygand ent even to him that he was physicalled the Battle of France is cally and mentally slowing down. over. I expect that the Battle Churchill retired as prime minister of Britain is about to begin. in 1955. He remained a Member Upon this battle depends the of Parliament until the general survival of Christian civilizaelection of 1964, when he did not tion. Upon it depends our own seek re-election. British life, and the long conOn January 15, 1965, Churchill tinuity of our institutions and suffered a severe stroke that left our Empire. The whole fury him gravely ill. He died at his and might of the enemy must London home nine days later, at very soon be turned on us. age 90, on January 24, 1965. BritHitler knows that he will ain mourned for more than a week. have to break us in this Island Harold Macmillan, who was prime Farewell to a courageous leader or lose the war. If we can stand minister from 1957-1963, wrote in up to him, all Europe may be his diary on that sad day, “England free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit without Winston! It seems impossible. Not even the oldest of us can uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United remember England without him as a considerable figure.” Tony Benn, States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink a fellow Member of Parliament, mourned, “Thus ends the life of one of into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps the greatest Englishmen of our time.” It seemed that when Churchill more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. died, a part of the glory of Britain died with him. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourChurchill were alive today, would he recognize the world that is? selves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a In the 1930s and 1940s, when Nazi Germany was systematically thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.” During the war, Churchill kept resistance to Nazi dominance alive swallowing up countries in Europe and threatening the survival of deand worked to create an alliance with the United States and the Soviet mocracy, Churchill was a brilliant strategist and combatant. He was Union. He had previously cultivated a relationship with U.S. President fierce; he was determined; he was courageous. He was unafraid to take Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, and by March 1941, was able to se- on the Nazi beast. He knew his enemy and was resolute in his desire to cure vital U.S. aid through the Lend Lease Act, which allowed Britain crush them. But our enemy today is hidden in the shadows. They don’t have a to order war goods from the United States on credit. After the United States entered World War II in December 1941 state; they don’t fight a conventional war. Their war is shrouded under following the harrowing events of Pearl Harbor, Churchill was confi- the blanket of religion and in the name of G-d. Westerners can’t fully dent that the Allies would eventually win the war. In the months that understand them. We are taught to enjoy life, to work towards successfollowed, Churchill worked closely with Roosevelt and Soviet Union es. Our enemies are trained to love killing, to maximize the proliferation leader Joseph Stalin to forge an Allied war strategy and helped craft the of terror. How can we fight an enemy who we don’t understand? Perhaps if Churchill were alive today, he would have taken notice of post-war world with the United Nations as its centerpiece. As the war wound down, perhaps seeing him only as a “war-time the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. He was always a student of history; prime minister,” Churchill was defeated in the general election in July maybe he would have seen the few parallels between Nazi Germany and Islamic fundamentalism—the belief in a higher cause, the hatred of free1945 by Clement Attlee. But that was not the end for Churchill. During the next six years, dom, the mass destruction and killings. With his trademark frankness he he became the leader of the Opposition Party and continued to have an would have warned the West of the dangers of terrorism. He would have impact on world affairs. In March 1946, while on a visit to the United been unafraid to speak out against those who preach hate. And he would States, he made his famous “Iron Curtain” speech, warning of Soviet have led England in her fight in the War on Terror.