Arnn Larry P. - Churchills trial : Winston Churchill and the salvation of free government

PRAISE FOR CHURCHILLS TRIAL

In a scholarly, timely, and highly erudite way, Larry Arnn puts the case for Winston Churchill continuing to be seen as a statesman from whom the modern world can learn important lessons. In an age when social and political morality seems all too often to be in a state of flux, Churchills Trial reminds us of the enduring power of the concepts of courage, duty, and honor.

Andrew Roberts, New York Times bestselling author of Napoleon: A Life and The Storm of War

Larry Arnn has spent a lifetime studying the life and accomplishments of Winston Churchill. In his lively Churchills Trial, Arnn artfully reminds us that Churchill was not just the greatest statesman and war leader of the twentieth century, but also a pragmatic and circumspect thinker whose wisdom resonates on every issue of our times.

Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University

In absorbing, gracefully written historical and biographical narration, Larry Arnn shows that Churchill, often perceived as inconsistent and opportunistic, was in fact philosophically rigorous and consistent at levels of organization higher and deeper than his detractors are capable of imagining. In Churchills Trial Arnn has rendered great service not only to an incomparable statesman but to us, for the magnificent currents that carried Churchill through his trials are as admirable, useful, and powerful in our times as they were in his.

Mark Helprin, New York Times bestselling author of Winters Tale and In Sunlight and in Shadow

Churchills Trial, a masterpiece of political philosophy and practical statesmanship, is the one book on Winston Churchill that every undergraduate, every graduate student, every professional historian, and every member of the literate general public should read on this greatest statesman of the twentieth century. The book is beautifully written, divided into three partswar, empire, peaceand thus covers the extraordinary life of Winston Churchill and the topics that define the era of his statesmanship.

Lewis E. Lehrman, cofounder of the Lincoln and Soldiers Institute at Gettysburg College and distinguished director of the Abraham Lincoln Association

Yet another book on Churchill? Yes, and a very important one. Dr. Arnn has provided insights into Churchill's thinking and his doing. His thinking about modern war, the characteristics of leadership, the role of civil servants, the need for political compromise to achieve significant objectives, and so much more.

Churchills Trial is an invaluable volume from an author who has committed much of his life to maintaining Churchill's reputation as the outstanding statesman of the twentieth century.

Read it and refer to it. It is full of insights that will remind you of his greatness, and the subtlety of his thought. Well done, Dr. Arnn!

Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D., retired president of The Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC

2015 by Larry P. Arnn

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

ISBN: 978-1-59555-531-1 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943635

ISBN: 978-1-59555-530-4

15 16 17 18 19 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Sir Martin Gilbert, Master Teacher

CONTENTS

I have used American spellings throughout the text, except in the case of proper nouns. Following the Chicago Manual of Style in use with my publisher, they and I have not capitalized many titles, offices, and official bodies that are commonly capitalized in other works.

The career of Winston Churchill presents a rare opportunity. From classic times people have thought that the virtue proper to the statesman is prudence, and prudence involves calculating and ordering many things that shift and change.

The story of Churchill provides unsurpassed material for this kind of study. His career was very long: he was active in politics for more than fifty years. Those years spanned the most traumatic events so far in history: the greatest wars, the greatest depression, the greatest political transformations, the greatest social upheavals, the greatest advancements of technology and therefore of human power. Churchill wrote with ability and in quantity about his doings, and he lived in a time when information was beginning to be preserved in profuse detail. He left, therefore, one of the richest records of human undertaking.

This record is an opportunity and a problem. It is so large and is involved in so many contradictory necessities that it is difficult to discover the theme in it, if indeed that theme exists. One can find so many things in Churchill: bellicosity and balm, fixity and flexibility, contention and caution. He protected the free market, and he helped to found the welfare state. He thrived in war, and he feared it. He was the grandson of a duke, and he was a democrat. This is part of the reason Churchill has the reputation of opportunism. It is also why many think that his achievements during the greatest period in his life, World War II, called out an aspect of his character and ability suited for that unique circumstance, but not for most others in which he lived. In other circumstances, his life was, if not a study in failure, at best a story of many failures that stemmed from his nature.

The claim that Churchill was simply an opportunist presents certain difficulties. Churchill was very careful to record the reasons for what he did and to preserve his papers. He often said that there would be a historical record, and he said as often that he would be the author of that record. But this was at least partly a joke, because he knew very well that the views of his many opponents would also be preserved.

This effort of Churchill to write and preserve goes much beyond the normal, even for people in the public eye. He said and wrote that he was trying to impart something consistent. This book is an attempt to discover that something. If it is there, it may be of use to us today.

Churchill was a man of our time in at least two respects. In his lifetime, scientific weapons of the worst kind we know today were invented and came into use. In his lifetime, the comprehensive administrative state came into being in his country and most of the Western world. The world wars that Churchill helped to fight and lead are long past, but war is constant today, with potential destruction significantly worse than Churchill knew. World conflicts may become actual again. In Britain and the Western countries, generally, governments have grown beyond the size that Churchill saw and feared. These things grew up with Churchill, and they gave his career its shape and its great occasions. He had interesting things to say about these developments, and his actions in regard to them are among the most famous deeds of modern times.

There are practical reasons, then, to know the story of Churchill. There are lessons to be learned, both positive and negative, that can help us live our lives, cope with our problems, and serve the cause of our country as it appears today.