Did Churchill have depression (“the Black Dog”)?

Today (January 24) in 1965 Winston Churchill died. About a dozen years earlier Jock (John) Colville (Churchill's secretary) brought a minor matter of state to Churchill who was shaving; Churchill said to Colville, “Today is the twenty-fourth of January. It is the day my father died. It is the day that I shall die too.”

On January 9, 1965 Churchill went to bed without eating supper and never got out of bed again, by the twelfth, Dr. Moran diagnosed his last stroke, at which time Churchill was already unconscious; doctor thought the worst will come any moment soon; but Churchill lingered until January 24.

Churchill gave his six-volume WWII memoir to Anthony Montague Browne (another secretary) as Christmas gift in 1964. Montague Browne asked Churchill to sign his full name, by the sixth volume he could only scrawl “W”.

A few days ago a friend sent me an email, in which Churchill is described the greatest depression victim in British history, according the Lord Moran's (Churchill's personal physician from 1940-1965) diary.

This statement was disputed by two of Churchill's personal secretaries and many of the books I read about him, including William Manchester's The Last Lion.

Lord Moran (Dr. Charles MacMoran Wilson) is Churchill's personal physician and friend of 25 years. Nobody suspected him making up sensational stories to sell books. He claimed he had Churchill's permission to publish the book, which was not published until after Churchill's death. Churchill's son (Randolph) said sometimes the doctor may not see Churchill for 3 months at a stretch.

I checked out this book which had a title of “Churchill Taken from the diary of Lord Moran” from Carnegie Library several times over the years. The second edition apparently has a new title of “Churchill: The Struggle for Survival 1940-1965”. I didn't get an impression that depression was an issue at all. If Churchill ever felt depressed, it was probably few and far between. One of Churchill's daughters, Diana, did commit suicide in 1963.

When Lord Moran's diary was out, there was a book review on May 16, 1966 NY Times with a title of “The most fabulous invalid”.

If you read what Churchill did during the war (1939-1945) you would agree that he had no time to get depressed. After his retirement Churchill kept a very active life that both John Colville and Anthony Montague Browne expressed difficulty catching up, going to Sicily, Morocco, the French Riviera numerous times, also the Italian Riviera, Paris, Rome and New York. They once had to politely decline JFK's invitation to stay at White House for a few days. Churchill boarded Onassis' yacht Christina eight times, at times entertained by Maria Callus and Greta Garbo. It once encountered a fury storm on the way to the United States, during which Churchill insisted on sitting atop a piano in the lounge, supported by four strong Greek seamen, so he could watch the fury storm on the sea; he was 86 years old then.

His 8^th (and the last) sail on Christina was in late 1963; Jacqueline Kennedy (the the First Lady) was the guest on Christina right after Churchill got off the yacht. The rest is history.

Churchill also finished his six-volume “Memoirs of the Second World War” and four-volume of “A History of English-speaking People” during his retirement.

Churchill's family said that Lord Moran was not around to see how Churchill lived his active life. My own theory is that doctor tends to observe the “illness” (the depression or dubbed as “the Black Dog” in Churchill's case) of any given individual and may miss out the obvious (his active life).

An interesting side story is that current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, announced in 2016 that after the DNA test, it confirmed that his biological father is Sir Anthony Montague Browne, Churchill's secretary. His mother also worked for Churchill during the war time.

Archbishop Welby said, “I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.” 

Archbishop of Canterbury to the 86 million Anglicans in the world is what Pope is to the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world.  On a light moment Churchill once offered FDR the prestige of being the Archbishop of Canterbury should he lose the election.  I forgot what position FDR offered Churchill; Chairman of the Federal Reserve? (I recall it was a non-elected position.)

A tale of two busts: Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr.

Charles sent me an email about Nigel Farage (the leader of BKip or Independent Party) suggested President-elect Donald Trump to take Churchill Bust back to the White House and Trump thought that was a good idea.

We have read so much news about the coming and going of Churchill Bust over the years and it is getting difficult to tell the truth from the fake news.  I’ll try to tell the story as I think it right.

The Bust of interest is the one that came to White House Oval Office in 2001 when George W. Bush took office; it was supposed to be a loan from Tony Blair’s government during Bush’s presidency, which lasted for 8 years.  If it were true, then no one can blame Obama to return it to the owner.

Obama went to Britain to urge British not to leave E.U. saying it would be a mistake; this irked many Brexit promotors, especially Boris Johnson (then London Mayor, now Foreign Minister, and almost Prime Minster) who said the reason why the Bust was removed from the Oval Office is because it is “a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire—of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender.”

During a news conference Obama said there is a Churchill bust in the door entering his upstairs private office, called Treaty Room, and he sees it every day.  He also said his predecessor had a Churchill bust on the desk in the Oval Office.  He exchanged it to a Martin Luther King Jr. bust, without whom, Obama said, he wouldn’t have the privilege to hold the office.  Obama said it would clutter with so many busts on desk; he didn’t say whether the bust was a loan or a gift.

The Churchill bust upstairs Obama referred to was obviously given to White House in 1965.  We read a diary entry of Lady Bird on Oct. 6, 1965,

“Upstairs was quite a different party—one I had looked forward to for oddly sentimental reasons.  It was the acceptance of the Jacob Epstein bust of Winston Churchill being presented to the White House by his war time friends.”

It happens that both busts are the work of Sir Jacob Epstein.

Being an anglophile and a Churchill admirer, I like to see Churchill bust in the Oval Office, not just in the White House.  One may say that America rescued U.K. from ruin under the Nazi’s yoke.  But if Britain didn’t stand alone and went under, one cannot imagine how much more American blood had to be shed and how many millions American youths had to be sacrificed if America were to survive or beat Nazi alone, one may even see the blitz in New York city or Boston.

Besides Churchill is truly an American, not that his mother was an American, but he, like Lafayette, is the honored American citizen; he has every right to sit on the desk in the Oval Office.  If the bust was indeed loaned to Bush, then let’s move the bust from upstairs private office to the Oval Office.

Now let’s hope Trump will not remove the Martin Luther King Jr. bust from the Oval Office.  He deserves to be there, too.

Churchill quoted Scripture with effect

Churchill was not a particularly religious man; he didn’t quote Scripture often, but when he did, it was done superbly.  The following is my favorite.  (One of his great-grandsons has a book with a title of “God & Churchill”.  I didn't read it, but after reading some of the review articles and based on what I have read, I feel there is some imaginative stretch.)

While Cairo Conference was being planned, FDR cabled Churchill that their “meeting place is known to enemy” and suggested moving to Khartoum.  Churchill thought Cairo well protected and cabled FDR, “See St. John, Chapter 14, Verses 1 to 4”; the passages are:

Let not your heart be troubled:
Ye believe in God,
Believe also in me . . .
I go to prepare a place for you.

No sooner had the cable sent out, than Churchill began to regret, as he was afraid that people might be thinking he was so grandiose that he thought he was Jesus.  FDR agreed with Churchill’s plan in no time.

We heard the following in his first speech to the Joint Session of Congress on December 26, 1941, a bit over one year before Madame Chiang Kai-Shek did.

As long as we have faith in our cause and an unconquerable will-power, salvation will not be denied us.  In the words of the Psalmist, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”  Not all the tidings will be evil.

Churchill was hesitated to quote the Scripture in the speech and mentioned his concern to FDR, who gave his approval; at which time Churchill was living in the White House.

Historian Arthur Marder wrote, “A stream of memoranda, virtually ultimata, issued from the Private Office covering every aspect of the war at sea and leaving the recipient in no doubt as to what the First Lord [Churchill was the First Lord of Admiralty during WWI and WWII] wanted.” These memoranda became irreverently known as the First Lord’s Prayers because they frequently opened with “Pray inform me . . .” or “Pray why has . . . not been done.”

In the old days “pray” was often used, instead of “please”.

Churchill’s first speech as the Prime Minister through BBC on May 19, 1940 is known as “Be Ye Men of Valour” as it was concluded by quoting 1 Maccabees 3:58-60 in Apocrypha.
Today is Trinity Sunday.  Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: “Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar.  As the Will of Gods is in Heaven, even so let it be.” (1 Maccabees 3:58–60)

By teh way “ye” is the plural form of “thou”.  I think this is from Hebrew Bible written at the time after the conquest of Judea by Alexander the Great.  But one doesn’t need to know the story behind it to appreciate how good a quote for the occasion.

Churchill cried often in public

Churchill was a man of letter and a man of action.  Graduating from Sandhurst, he was a military man by trade and training.  During the WWI when he was released from the five-man War Council, he immediately resigned from Government and went to the Western Front to become a battalion commander with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Though a macho guy he might be, he cried in public on numerous occasions in his “long and not entirely uneventful” life. Here is one example.

When Churchill visited Paris on 11/10/1944 (after the liberation of Paris and before the end of the war), de Gaulle treated him with a splendid parade along Ave Champs-Elysees from Place de la Concorde to Arc de Triomphe.  They laid a wreath at the Arcde Triomphe, at the Clemenceau Statue, and at Foch's tomb.  The crowd chanted “Chur-chill!” and according to Eden, “not for one minute did Winston stop crying . . . he could have filled buckets.”

Janice once asked me how this “Victory Walk” compared with the victory parade for President Woodrow Wilson in December 1918.

There is no comparison.  There were about two million people (war time Paris population was only one million) came out to welcome President Wilson─“the  most massive display of acclamation and affection ever heaped upon a single human being.” As it was Americans who came to the rescue when England and France locked in a bloody stalemate with Germany from 1914 to 1917.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain had descended across the Continent

Today (March 5) in 1946 Churchill made his famous iron curtain speech (“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain had descended across the Continent.”) at the Westminster College in a Missouri small town, Fulton.

It was the idea of the president of this small college.  He asked Harry Vaughan (then President Truman’s military aid and who once played football at Westminster College) to make the connection.  Truman liked the idea; he wrote “This is a wonderful school in my home state.  Hope you can do it.  I’ll introduce you.  Best regards.”

While playing cards on the train on the way to Missouri from the White House.  Churchill said “Mr. President, I think that when we are playing poker I will call you Harry.”

“All right, Winston,” Truman replied.

 

Truman & Churchill en route to Fulton, Missouri (photo credit: Boris Johnson's The Churchill Factor)

The response to the speech was quite negative.  The Wall Street Journal said the U.S. had no need for alliance with any other nation.  Walter Lippmann said the speech was an “almost catastrophic blunder.”  Stalin said it was a “call to war” with the Soviet Union.

 

Of course, the course of the history has turned out that Churchill was right; he was just ahead of every one else.

Churchill on bombing of the German cities: a poetic justice

Today (Feb. 13) in 1945 Allied planes began bombing the German city of the beautiful and cultured Dresden.  I am not going to talk about the necessity or even the morality of this bombing.  Instead let’s hear what Church said about the bombing of the German cities.

After watching a film of the bomb damage done to Germany in the evening of June 27, 1943, Churchill said “Are we beasts? Are we taking this too far?”

the bombed Dresden

FDR and Churchill had a joint press conference at Washington DC on 5/25/1943, during which Churchill said the bombing “was the weapon these people chose to subjugate the world.  This was the weapon with which they struck at Pearl Harbour.  This was the weapon with which they boasted─the German  boasted─they would terrorize all the countries of the world.  And it is an example of poetic justice that this should be the weapon in which they should find themselves most out-matched and first out-matched in the ensuing struggle.”

Churchill later said something similar in the House of Commons around Feb. 20, 1944, “The air power was the weapon which both the marauding States selected as their main tool of conquest.  This was the sphere in which they were to triumph.  This was the method by which the nations were to be subjugated to their rule.  I shall not moralise further than to say that there is a strange, stern justice in the long swing of events.”

Churchill once said “If Londoners could not take safely to their beds, neither would Berliners.  It is the only thing they understand.”

After Luftwaffe destroyed Coventry in November 1940, Churchill told Portal to draw up a plan “for the most destructive possible bombing attack against a selective German town.”  Churchill's goal for 1941 was “to bomb every Han corner of Europe”.

Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square and Capitol Hill?

We saw Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square a few times while in London and I didn’t like it.  This is not the Churchill that I know; I saw no character or temperament of his.  Churchill was not only a man of letter, he was a man of action; spirited, dynamic and dashing, but I just saw a fat, grumpy old man in this statue.

I recall reading an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last year when President Obama removed a bust of Churchill from the Oval Office.  The article was “Why Capitol Hill needs a Churchill reminder?” and suggested erecting a Churchill statue in our Capitol Hill.  Why not?  I saw a Lincoln statue in Parliament Square and a Jefferson statue in the Left Bank of River Seine in Paris.

The Houses of Parliament commissioned a respectable painter for a Churchill’s portrait and presented it to him for his 80^th birthday in 1954.   Churchill hated it upon his first sight and said it is “a remarkable example of modern art.”  Janice, now you understand how I see and feel about modern art.  Churchill also said it made him look “half-witted”.  I said it is a portrait of an Alzheimer disease victim and demented.

You will never see this portrait in the National Portrait Gallery as it has been destroyed by his wife before his death in 1965.  This was revealed only after Clementine passed away.  The painter, Graham Sutherland reported as saying “this is an act of vandalism” upon hearing it was destroyed.

King George VI’s contribution in fighting Nazi Germany

Today (May 12) in 1937 Britain’s King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.  It is fitting to talk about the King’s contribution in fighting Nazi Germany and the irony of the role Churchill played in the sorry affair of the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII.

I recently read a book (Churchill and the King) which confirms and reinforces my view of King George VI’s contribution.  He and his wife, Elizabeth refused to leave the country or even London during the darkest hour of the London Blitz.  The king tirelessly ventured out visiting the people and troops.  He had lunch with Churchill (Prime Minister) once a week.  He visited the “10 Downing Street” more than ten times during the war whenever Americans of importance (generals or politicians, especially General Marshall or Harry Hopkins) came for a visit.  He was there during the last conference and briefing the eve of the D-Day in 1944.  He was very much involved with every fiber of his being.

In trying to help England when she stood alone in facing the menacing Nazi Germany, FDR (in June 1939) invited King George VI and his queen for a visit to charm Americans; charming they were!  The lighthearted 2012 movie Hyde Park on Hudson is about this visit.  The movie goers may not perceive the serious nature of the visit.

Without the abdication of Edward VIII, King George wouldn’t be the King.  Like Charles Lindbergh, Edward VIII was a Nazi admirer, if not sympathizer.  The reputable historian, William Manchester, wrote in his The Last Lion (Volume II, 1932-1940) wrote, “The Fuhrer still had many admirers in Parliament and a lofty one (King Edward VIII) in Buckingham Palace.”  After abdication he honeymooned in Germany “striding down the middle of a street lined with Nazis extending their arms in a Hitlergruss—and returning the greeting with a stiff-armed heil of his own” as Manchester wrote.

It is ironic that Churchill risked his reputation and politic career in defending Edward VIII during the abdication crisis.  He was a man not worthy of the kingdom and of Churchill’s support; sentimental and romantic though he might be.  It may be too harsh to say Edward VIII was a Nazi sympathizer, but he at least couldn’t recognize the evil nature of the Nazism.

Edward VIII’s abdication speech was a work of Churchill; it is obviously Churchill’s language.  Edward VIII wrote in his memoir saying “any practiced student of Churchillians could spot at a glance.”

I cannot imagine what might have happened if Edward VIII, instead of George VI, were the King during the war.  God saved the King! (the right one!)

Did Churchill have a heart attack in December 1941?

As a medicine man and a history buff I always wonder whether Winston Churchill had a heart attack, as his doctor, Sir. Charles Wilson, suspected.  While visiting FDR (yes, he stayed inside the While House like a family) in December 1941, about two weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack.  One night (December 26) he tried to open the bedroom window as it was very hot (air conditioner was not invented yet).  “It was very stiff” and that he had to use “considerable force and I notice all at once that I was short of breath.  I had a dull pain over my heart.  It went down my left arm.  It didn’t last very long, but it has never happened before.  What was it? Is my heart all right?” so Churchill asked Dr. Wilson.

The description certainly fits the diagnosis of a heart attack or at least angina pectoris.  Dr. Wilson kept this as a secret for the next 24 years until after Churchill’s death when he published his diary.

During the course of conversation next morning, Churchill told Dr. Wilson, “Now, Charles, you’re not going to tell me to rest.  I can’t.  I won’t. Nobody else can do this job. I must.  . . . My idea is that strained one of my chest muscles.  I used great force.  I don’t believe it was my heart at all.”  I do believe that nobody can do his job—mobilizing English language to fight Hitler.

Churchill went on to travel to Ottawa, Canada on December 28 as scheduled and returned to the White House on the New Year Eve.  But, he did take a vacation at Florida for five days relaxing on the balmy Florida beach, “Winston basks half-submerged in the water in the winter like a hippopotamus in a swamp” (according to his doctor).  I also read it somewhere that once Churchill fell on the water raising both feet making a large “V” sign.  It is too bad that no digital camera was around to shoot it.

Being a reputed heavy smoker, Churchill must have been very lucky to live beyond 90 years of age if he indeed had a coronary artery event in December 1941.  There was no such thing as “statins” [cholesterol-lowering drugs] and I bet he was not giving the “life-saving” aspirin.

Or Churchill might not smoke as much as he wanted the public to perceive. In Harry Butcher’s My Three Years with Eisenhower (his diary of August 26, 1942, London), one read,

“Asked [Ike] if the PM [Churchill] drank as much as is reputed. Was told he had only a glass of sherry. He smokes a terrifically long and big cigar, but plays with it more than he smokes. After dinner, he lit one of these, and during the evening, it burned about an inch, dying out frequently.  Ike had the impression that the PM rather relishes his reputation as a heavy smoker and drinker, but actually is much more moderate than rumor would indicate.”

Or may be his “moderate” alcohol consumption protected him from the ill-effect of his cigar smoking.

 

But the evidence of Churchill being a chain smoker also abounds.  His secretary not only endured his constant dictation at wee hours, say 3 AM, but worse yet endured the fume/smell of his constant cigar smoking. 

On January 14, 1942 when Churchill left Washington for London, flying from Norfolk, VA. We read the captain pilot’s account,

“When he [Churchill] entered the control deck the Prime Minister was smoking a cigar.  There is no danger therefrom.  He did, however, ask if it was safe to strike a match when his cigar went out while he was sitting in the controls.  I assured him it was quite safe and that smoking could safely be indulged in anywhere throughout the aircraft. . . .” (see photo.  Churchill was at the controls for about 20 minutes during the flight.

I still cannot tell whether Churchill had a heart attack or not in December 1941.