Correspondence
Correspondence OUR FINEST HOUR In developing his argument for naming Winston Churchill the Man of the Century, David Frum writes: "The true candidates ... are the men without whom history would...
...John Paul understands that freedom is not necessarily self-correcting or self-sustaining...
...The American Civil War was just such a crisis...
...Churchill distinguished himself in many ways, but not in that regard...
...It has liquidated the prestige of the House of Commons...
...10) on the slow but encouraging creep of freedom in Russia, in which he proclaims, in effect, that as long as people are free we are safe...
...For instance, in the winter of 1939-40, Finland gained the sympathy of the democratic world after it was attacked by Russia, and Churchill publicly extolled the "sublime" Finnish struggle...
...Hitler was elected chancellor...
...As soon as we realized we had received the bad translation, we stopped distributing the document...
...None of these, it need hardly be added, was decisive to the 19th century in the way Churchill was to the 20th...
...3/Jan...
...are the men without whom history would have taken a radically different turn, either for better or worse" ("What Makes a Man of the Century," Jan...
...And one man provided the margin of victory—Abraham Lincoln...
...For this, along with his role in destroying Soviet communism, he should have shared the title of Man of the Century...
...3/Jan...
...As he explained in his First inaugural Address, free government requires abiding by the votes you lose...
...For one who was sleeping on the floor of a school in the pyrenees, running away from the Nazis after the start of the Vichy regime, listening on the radio to Winston Churchill was the only ray of hope of final victory and utter defeat of the murdering tyrant...
...But the 20th century should have destroyed that illusion...
...already in 1901 he had predicted, "The wars of the people will be more terrible than the wars of the kings...
...The alternatives are anarchy and despotism...
...JACQUES TORCZYNER Walnut Creek, CA While I commend The Weekly Standard for recognizing that Churchill was the Man of the Century, Christopher Matthews ("The Very Model of a Democratic Statesman," Jan...
...Privately, however, he initially sympathized with the Russians and then supported intervention to help the Finns, but only as a "cover" for interdicting vital Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany...
...And he was disgusted by the lack of public support for his campaign against the Bolsheviks in 1919, revealing his intention to persist "regardless of the unthinking opinion...
...It is unfortunate that this faulty and objectionable translation was delivered to HuD by the Government Printing office, and it is understandable that it has upset those who received the document...
...For all the obvious reasons, it's hard not to root for Sen...
...he also understands that it is not the ultimate good...
...That is, Churchill led the fight to keep tyranny from destroying freedom...
...But this is not so...
...Churchill was indeed a passionate democrat, but of a 19th-century variety that was aristocratic and paternalistic...
...But as one who believes that McCain-Feingold will usher in a nightmare of First Amendment problems, I have looked for other issues upon which to base support for Sen...
...JAMES E. TYNEN Pittsburgh, PA MCCAIN MISGIVINGS My compliments to Fred Barnes for "John McCain, Winging It" (Jan...
...McCain for the Republican nomination...
...Churchill led the charge to strangle Bolshevism in its infancy in 1919-1920 (an effort Matthews oddly omits), warned against Versailles and Hitler from the beginning, girded himself in 1940 "to stand alone in the breach, and face the worst that the tyrant's might and enmity can do," warned against Russia at the end of World War II, and then tried (unsuccessfully) to stave off and then end the Cold War for the following decade...
...In 1930, during a time when democracy was embattled, Churchill wrote that universal suffrage actually undermined democracy: "Democracy has invaded the Council Chamber...
...DAVID M. EGNER Deputy Asst...
...As a garden-variety Republican eager to vote for the presidential candidate most likely to facilitate constructive change in taxation, regulation, foreign policy, and education, I have watched C-SPAN faithfully in addition to (unavoidably) reading and hearing media "wisdom" on the candidates...
...While Matthews correctly notes that Churchill often candidly told the people of the wartime risks they faced, Churchill was equally comfortable deceiving them...
...Department of Housing and Urban Development brochure that was incorrectly translated ("Andrew Cuomo's Creole Stew," Nov...
...communism arose in Russia and China from the decay or failures of regimes that, if not democratic, at least were lurching that way...
...No disagreement here...
...He blamed them for the near-end of his career over the Dardanelles, writing in 1917, "Public opinion is unable to measure the true proportion of events...
...Freedom, alone, can be used for good or evil...
...McCain...
...Contrary to media "wisdom," George W. Bush is the candidate of substance, John McCain the candidate of style...
...Churchill and every other hero of the 20th century—great and small, famous and obscure—owe it to Abraham Lincoln that government of the people, by the people, for the people, did not perish in the 19th...
...Because, according to Frum, the 19th century belonged "to the artists, thinkers, and businessmen"— by which one can only assume he means that it was marked by no supreme crisis in which one man made all the difference...
...But he continues: "If one were putting together a list . . . for the 19 th century, one would look at names like Austen, Beethoven, Goethe, Faraday, Darwin, Marx, Verdi, Monet, Nietzsche, and Rockefeller...
...It is for all this that Churchill earns our respect as Man of the Century...
...There is no guarantee that universal suffrage will understand, cherish, or even protect the venerable instrument to which it owes its birth...
...He blamed them for World War I and its length...
...Instead of constructing artificial accolades, we should recognize Churchill for being the most vigilant, farsighted, and pivotal champion of freedom and a stable peace in a century marked by wars and political oppression...
...This dovetails with Leon Aron's article ("Three Cheers for Russian Democracy," Jan...
...Democracy is not a guarantee of freedom or good, but only the best possible way of attaining it...
...MICHAEL MAKOVSKY Cambridge, MA Pope John Paul II would have been a perfect complement to Winston Churchill as Men of the Century...
...The masses were emotional and parochial, and particularly clueless in matters of war and peace...
...And, as with Churchill, Lincoln's crucial moment came at the beginning...
...So why name them...
...As Churchill was the champion of human freedom, John Paul is the prophet and champion of free humanity...
...At the outbreak of the war, when public opinion wavered and many thought that letting the South go peacefully was the best solution, Lincoln showed that doing so would spell the end of free government...
...For much of his life he believed that only some people should vote and leave the governing to Great Men...
...And there is something to be said for the poetic justice of following up a draft-dodger with a POW...
...Although he came to accept wider political participation, Churchill confided his delight that the Potsdam proceedings were barred from the press: "It is impossible to conduct grave affairs except in silence and secrecy...
...John Paul is not only a great champion of the fight against tyranny, he is also the prophet and leader of the fight to keep freedom from destroying itself and humanity...
...The Government Printing office hired contractors to do the translations, including one who produced an inaccurate and insulting document claiming to be Jamaican Creole, which was delivered to HUD...
...for Public Affairs Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, DC...
...3/Jan...
...He explained to Americans what was at stake, girded them up for the long, arduous task, and steered the ship of state to victory...
...3/Jan...
...He blamed them in 1929 for the vengeful and destabilizing Versailles Treaty: "'The plain people' of whom he [Woodrow Wilson] spoke so much, though very resolute and persevering in war, knew nothing whatever about how to make a just and durable peace...
...10) superficially and erroneously argues that Churchill was the "democratic ideal" who had confidence in the people...
...JUDITH LOWN San Marcos, CA "THE PRINTER DID IT" Recently you published a "Not a Parody" article about a U.S...
...Here are the facts: HUD contracted with the Government Printing office, which prints documents from all federal agencies, to do this translation in 11 languages plus Braille...
...I have found none, other than the prospect of his giving snappy rejoinders to irritating "allies" such as France...
...The fate of freedom hinged no less on its outcome than on the outcome of World War ii...
...Eighty years before Churchill exhorted Britain to her finest hour, Lincoln did the same for America...
...MICHAEL ANTON New York, NY I want to congratulate The Weekly Standard for its choice of Winston Churchill as the Man of the Century...
Vol. 5 • January 2000 • No. 18
