Often
accompanying elegant oratory or prose, great wit, and statesmanship, and
even a large cigar, the familiar adjective churchillian commemorates
British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965). “On the 30th of
November at Blenheim Palace, the Lady Randolph Churchill, prematurely, of
a son,” read the one line notice in the London Times announcing his birth,
but Churchill’s life was to fill volumes. Soldier, journalist, writer, and
statesman, his brilliant public career included service as home secretary
of state for war, and chancellor of the exchequer. Yet all his life, he
felt, was merely a preparation for his crucial prime ministership during
World War II. Some have gone so far as to say that England would not have
survived the Blitz of 1940-41 without his leadership. Great Churchillian
words and phrases include the much quoted, “I have nothing to offer but
blood, toil, tears and sweat;” “Never in the field of human conflict was
so much owed by so many to so few;” “The soft underbelly of the Axis;” the
“iron curtain;” and his words on the fall of France: “Let us therefore
brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British
Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say:
“This was their finest hour!” On April 9, 1963, Winston Churchill was paid
the unique honor of being proclaimed a citizen of the United States.
Reads the U.S. proclamation declaring him a citizen: “In the dark days and
darker nights when Britain stood alone – and most men save Englishmen
despaired of England’s life – he mobilized the English language and sent
it into battle. The incandescent quality of his words illuminated the
courage of his countrymen . . . Given unlimited powers by his fellow
citizens, he was ever vigilant to protect their rights. Indifferent
himself to danger, he wept over the sorrows of others. A child of the
House of Commons, he became in time its father. Accustomed to the hardship
of battle, he has no distaste for pleasure. By adding his name to our
rolls, we mean to honor him – but his acceptance honors us far more. For
no statement of proclamation can enrich his name – the name Sir Winston
Churchill is already legend.