Monday, January 23, 2006

The Chruchill Series - Jan. 23, 2006

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Sir Winston S. Churchill died January 24, 1965 at his home in Hyde Park Gate, London, following a massive stroke on January 12. He was age 90. At his bedside were Lady Clementine Churchill and his youngest daughter, Mary.

Almost two year before, on April 9, 1963 at a White House ceremony, President John F. Kennedy read a proclamation granting Churchill honorary American citizenship. Only one other person, the Marquis de Lafayette, had previously been so honored.

Age and ill health prevented Churchill from attending, but special arrangements were made for a live satellite broadcast direct to his home where he watched the ceremony.

Kennedy first read the proclamation a unanimous Congress had authorized. The president then spoke some words of his own. They were brief, graceful, and left no doubt Churchill deserved the honor he'd just been awarded.

Churchill's son, Randolph, then read a statement on his father's behalf. It too was brief and graceful. And it left no doubt that, even in the winter of his life, Churchill was strong for the things he had always valued and fought for.

Below, courtesy of The Churchill Centre, are the full texts of the citizenship proclamation and President Kennedy and the former Prime Minister's remarks.

At the end of the post you find a link to a Library of Congress online version of its recent exhibit concerning Churchill's many connections to America.
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION


WHEREAS Sir Winston Churchill, a son of America though a subject of Britain, has been throughout his life a firm and steadfast friend of the American people and the American nation; and

WHEREAS he has freely offered his hand and his faith in days of adversity as well as triumph; and

WHEREAS his bravery, charity and valor, both in war and in peace, have been a flame of inspiration in freedom's darkest hour; and

WHEREAS his life has shown that no adversary can overcome, and no feat can deter, free men in the defense of their freedom; and

WHEREAS he has by his art as an historian and his judgment as a statesman made the past the servant of the future;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOHN F. KENNEDY, President of the United States of America, under the authority contained in an Act of the 88th Congress, do hereby declare Sir Winston Churchill an honorary citizen of the United States of America.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-seventh.

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY
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Remarks by President John F. Kennedy at
The White House, Washington D.C., April 9, 1963


We meet to honor a man whose honor requires no meeting -- for he is the most honored and honorable man to walk the stage of human history in the time in which we live.

Whenever and wherever tyranny threatened, he has always championed liberty.

Facing firmly toward the future, he has never forgotten the past.

Serving six monarchs of his native Great Britain, he has served all men's freedom and dignity.

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 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 hardships of battle, he has no distaste for pleasure.

Now his stately Ship of Life, having weathered the severest storms of a troubled century, is anchored in tranquil waters, proof that courage and faith and the zest for freedom are truly indestructible. The record of his triumphant passage will inspire free hearts for all time.

By adding his name to our rolls, we mean to honor him -- but his acceptance honors us far more. For no statement or proclamation can enrich his name -- the name Sir Winston Churchill is already legend.
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Sir Winston's response
28 Hyde Park Gate, London, April 6, 1963

As read at the White House
by Randolph S. Churchill, April 9, 1963


Mr. President,

I have been informed by Mr. David Bruce that it is your intention to sign a Bill conferring upon me Honorary Citizenship of the United States.

I have received many kindnesses from the United States of America, but the honour which you now accord me is without parallel. I accept it with deep gratitude and affection.

I am also most sensible of the warm-hearted action of the individual States who accorded me the great compliment of their own honorary citizenships as a prelude to this Act of Congress.

It is a remarkable comment on our affairs that the former Prime Minister of a great sovereign state should thus be received as an honorary citizen of another. I say "great sovereign state" with design and emphasis, for I reject the view that Britain and the Commonwealth should now be relegated to a tame and minor role in the world. Our past is the key to our future, which I firmly trust and believe will be no less fertile and glorious. Let no man underrate our energies, our potentialities and our abiding power for good.

I am, as you know, half American by blood, and the story of my association with that mighty and benevolent nation goes back nearly ninety years to the day of my Father's marriage. In this century of storm and tragedy I contemplate with high satisfaction the constant factor of the interwoven and upward progress of our peoples. Our comradeship and our brotherhood in war were unexampled. We stood together, and because of that fact the free world now stands. Nor has our partnership any exclusive nature: the Atlantic community is a dream that can well be fulfilled to the detriment of none and to the enduring benefit and honour of the great democracies.

Mr. President, your action illuminates the theme of unity of the English-speaking peoples, to which I have devoted a large part of my life. I would ask you to accept yourself, and to convey to both Houses of Congress, and through them to the American people, my solemn and heartfelt thanks for this unique distinction, which will always be proudly remembered by my descendants.

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
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The Library of Congress exhibit online, Churchill and the Great Republic may be viewed here. You may want to set aside a few hours for viewing. It's extraordinary.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There were men of great import throughout the 20 century. There were great strides in medicine and science that have saved uncountable lives and formed the bases for the advancement sure to come for the salvation of many more. There were political movements and social changes that have been beneficial to all and some great men that initiated them.

Atop them all stands the spectre of Winston Churchill. No man did more than he to save the hearts and spirits of mankind worldwide. He inspired not only those at dire straits, but others at a remove enough to heed his words and avoid the direst of straits. Even though his own countrymen did not heed his wisdom, others did and still do nearly 131 years after his birth.

I have no doubt his stirring oratory and indefatigible confidence in ultimate victory did as much to sustain the spirit of my own country as they did his. How could we, unprepared as we were, but relatively spared the horrific hardships that England endured from 1939, do less, strive less hard, or endure less bravely when Churchill stood in defiance against the mightiest military juggernaught the world had yet seen? He stood and through the strength of his words his people stood and refused defeat when words were the strongest weapon in Britain's arsenal. A lesser man of less determination could not have pulled an entire people into stubborn, virtually unarmed defiance. His example required no less of his late arriving ally, if only to avoid being shamed in the face of such courage and inspiration.

Churchill's contribution to the world as an example of what a free man should be transcends, in my mind, any of the other great accomplishments of the 20th century. I could not find argument in my heart or head if he were to be considered the greatest man of that century.

Anonymous said...

'The greatest man of the 20c" is a term my mother has used several times in discussing PM Churchill, as if there could be no doubt.
I have heard her use it in the sense that many of her fellow Americans would accede to the accolade. But her time is not our time.
She was born in 1919. Her high school class was nearly wiped in the D-Day invasion.