"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
Winston Churchill
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. (See: Capitalist Democracies) The Early Years In 1900 Winston Churchill became a member of Parliament in the conservative party. He was a very independent leader and an avid support of social reform. After a few years in the conservative party, he came to realize that this party was no committed to social justice and switched over to the liberal party in 1904. In 1908, he was again elected as a member of Parliament and even appointed to the Prime Minister's cabinet as the President of the Board of trade. During this time he:
Winston Churchill in World War II Churchill was a harsh critique of Neville Chamberlain during the beginnings of World War II and became a leading advocate for British rearmament. Churchill did not support Neville Chamberlains policy of appeasement toward Hitler and the Nazis, a policy that eventually demonstrated it's ineffectiveness in avoiding a conflict with Hitler. Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 and Churchill was, on that same day, appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and was a member of the war cabinet. by 1940 he was chairman of the Military Coordinating committee and using his position tried to preemptively stop German aggression by occupying key areas of Norway. This was resisted by Neville Chamberlain and proved to be what led to his vote of no confidence and ultimately his dismissal as prime Minister. This paved the way for Winston Churchill to be appointed prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Winston Churchill was faced with the fall of France immediately after becoming Prime minister. He was facing the might of the German military nearly alone and this prompted him to form a coalition party. Through is oratory prowess and support from Parliament he was able to keep resistance to the Nazi's alive in addition to cultivating and alliance with the united States and FDR as well as Stalin and the Soviet Union. His relationship with the USA proved fruitful with the passing of the Lend Lease act in 1941 which allowed Britain to obtain weapons and military supplies from the American on credit. Winston Churchill can be credited with working closely with the Allies to come up with a war strategy as well as a post war plan. He worked especially closely with Roosevelt and the two leaders were able to forge what is now known as the united Nations. When the war was coming to a close - Winston Churchill was beaten in the election - it seemed the public only viewed him as a wartime leader and thought peacetime policies would be better left to someone else. |