Book Review...The Great Republic: A History of America

It is not generally known that Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) possessed considerable American credentials. The 102 passengers on the famous Mayflower (1620) included not one but three ancestors on his maternal side. They were among the 53 pioneers who survived that harrowing first winter in New England. His mother, Jenny Jerome Churchill, was an American. (The beginning of this book includes a two-page Mayflower genealogy of his family.)

Churchill fondly referred to America as "the Great Republic." He undertook 15 visits to the United States over a period of 65 years, including one extended lecture tour. He even surveyed several Civil War battlefields as part of the research for one of his history books.

His grandson, Winston S. Churchill (editor of The Great Republic, 1999, 2002, Cassell & Co., London) wrote: "Churchill's love of America endured throughout his lifetime, until by the chance of history, it fell to him to provide the leadership at a critical juncture in the greatest war in history [World War II], that crucially enabled Britain to hold out, though the rest of Europe had fallen under the Nazi jackboot, until in the fullness of time the United States was able to join the conflict" (p. xiii).

In writing about America and Britain in 1936, Churchill referred to "our common duty to the human race" and that Anglo-American unity "might well notably influence the destiny of the world." Today, even though under great pressure, that unity continues.

On Abraham Lincoln

In this book Sir Winston's assessment of Abraham Lincoln is one of the most insightful looks into this president's character ever written. Both men assumed critical leadership roles in periods of great national crisis.

Churchill wrote of Lincoln: "His spirit was sustained by a deepening belief in Providence. When the toll of war rose steeply and plans went wrong he appealed for strength in his inmost thoughts to a power higher than man's. Strength was certainly given him.

"It is sometimes necessary at the summit of authority to bear with the intrigues of disloyal colleagues, to remain calm when others panic, and to withstand popular outcries. All this Lincoln did... Fortitude was written on his countenance" (p. 183).

On Franklin Roosevelt

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was one of Churchill's Great Contemporaries, another remarkable book written in the 1930s. After Roosevelt's death, Sir Winston said in his tribute speech in the British House of Commons:

"President Roosevelt's physical affliction [crippling polio] lay heavily upon him. It was a marvel that he bore up against it through all the many years of tumult and storm. Not one man in ten millions, stricken and crippled as he was, would have attempted the plunge into a life of physical and mental exertion and of hard, ceaseless political controversy.

"Not one in ten millions would have tried, not one in a generation would have succeeded, not only in entering this sphere, not only in acting vehemently in it, but in becoming indisputable master of the scene" (p. 365).

Churchill called Roosevelt's courage "an extraordinary effort of the spirit over the flesh, of will-power over physical infirmity." Solomon said: "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" (Proverbs 18:14, KJV).

In summary

This 450-page work generally covers the period from the beginnings of the original British colonial incursion into America until the early years of the Cold War. Certainly many other good histories of the United States have been written. This book's main benefit lies in Churchill's almost spiritual insight into American heroes, history and politics—ably expressed in his own inimitable way with the English language. His words transcend the passage of time.

In speaking of the enduring partnership of America and Britain, he wrote: "Ought we not to take counsel with one another? Ought we not when necessary, to be prepared to act together?" (p. 317). —WNP