This is Remembrance Day weekend. As we honor those who served in World War II, the iconic name and image of Winston Churchill comes to mind. Who was this British Prime Minister who became the 20th century’s greatest symbol of courage, leadership and perseverance?
The early years
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born in England in 1874 into a wealthy, aristocratic family. His father was English and his mother American. He was christened Anglican but as a youth rejected Christian beliefs becoming an agnostic.
Churchill studied at Sandhurst Academy in preparation for a military career. As a soldier, he served in Cuba, India, Sudan and South Africa (where he became a prisoner of war before escaping). His work as a war correspondent gained him recognition back in England. Throughout his life, writing and painting helped him battle recurring depression (his “black dog”).
Churchill then left the military and embarked on a political career. He was first elected at age 25 and became a cabinet minister at age 33. He would serve as a Member of Parliament for 62 years (some as a Liberal but mostly as a Conservative) and as a cabinet minister in several governments. During World War I, he was blamed for a costly military loss in the Crimean War which dimmed his political prospects.
Churchill was known for his quick wit. Once a lady critic told him that if she were his wife, she would put poison in his tea. He replied, “My dear Madam. If I were your husband, I would drink it!” On another occasion he lost an election while recuperating in hospital. He wrote that he was now "without an office, without a seat, without a party, and without an appendix.”
During the 1940s, Churchill warned of Nazi Germany’s growing militarism and called for British rearmament. It was prophetic and his political star was about to rise again.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few
The war years
Soon after Britain declared war on Germany, Churchill became the Conservative Prime Minister of a union government. He served in that vital role during the war (1940-45) and then later (1951-55) for a total of nine years. He believed destiny was guiding him and that his life had been "a preparation for this hour and for this trial".
His speeches inspired his nation and the free world. In his first speech as Prime Minister he said he could only offer a long, hard road ahead of "blood, toil, tears, and sweat." In a later speech he praised British airmen — “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” He predicted that in retrospect, ““Men will say this was their finest hour.” Even in its darkest hour, he urged his countrymen to “never, never, never give up!”
His speeches began making references to God. He urged his country to fight “with all the strength that God can give us”. And he predicted that military help would come from the New World (America and Canada) in “God’s good time”.
The later years
After the war, Churchill’s Conservatives were defeated in the election of 1945. He began writing books about the war years. He now foresaw a new threat and warned of the expanding “Iron Curtain” (a term he coined) and the looming Cold War. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. He was re-elected to one more term before resigning in 1955 with ill health. Even during the war years he had been treated at times for a heart ailment and pneumonia.
In his retirement, he played the role of senior statesman. Once, when Billy Graham was conducting evangelistic Crusades in Britain, Churchill requested an audience. He asked the young evangelist, “Do you have hope for this world?” Graham assured him that he did and it was grounded in his faith in Jesus Christ and not in politics or anything else. Churchill replied, “I hope you’re right, young man. I hope you’re right.”
Churchill was married to Clementine for 56 years and had five children (four girls and one boy). The tragic death of one daughter at age two to disease left its mark on them both. Churchill died in 1965 at age 90 in London and was honored with a state funeral.
Winston Churchill. Symbol of courage, leadership and perseverance. He had earned the gratitude of his nation… and of the entire free world.
Rob Weatherby is a retired pastor.
