Churchill Rufus J. Fears

I am in awe of the late Rufus J. Fears ability to deliver well crafted informative talks on history. In the Great Courses lecture Churchill. He describes Churchill as a statesman with remarkable foresight and bedrock principles. He differentiates that from a politician who focuses not on doing the right thing but to do what is necessary to get reelected.

The remarkable career of Churchill shows that failure in high school academics is not a prediction of future success in life. People pick up learning at their own pace and not that of a regimented society focused on turning out well rounded employable people. Churchill found success in the military as a soldier and a correspondent. His military success is similar to Harry S. Truman.

Churchill experienced first hand the awfulness but the occasional necessity of war. A country must have the will to fight. France lost it after WWI. Churchill did his best to instill the will to fight in his British countryman fighting against politicians who wanted negotiated peace with Hitler.

Churchill's vision was more interventionist than passive acceptance. He fought vigorously against the passive acquiescence to Communism in the eastern block of the Soviet Union. Soviet communism resulted in more deaths than Hitler caused in WWII. Harry Truman previewed his iron curtain speech and approved it before Churchill delivered it. However, when the press questioned him after the speech, Truman caved and left Churchill out to dry. Truman disavowed prior knowledge of the speech. 

This pattern of hanging Churchill out to dry for a wide range of incidents including the Dardanelles in WWI made his success in life even more remarkable.  He made millions off of his books receiving the Nobel Prize for literature. He was an accomplished painter. He was in charge of the British Treasury, the British Navy, twice Prime Minister. He received the iron cross for bravery in combat. He did all this while the people he thought were his friends continually set him up for what they hoped would be his failure.

True friends celebrate the success of others. Mediocre people live to bring others down to their level of misery. The legions of biographers and academics who view all of Churchill's accomplishments in the most negative light possible fall into this category. Paraphrasing the general thinking of Nassim Nicholas Taleb - If success is based on acceptance by peers and not by measurable accomplishment than this success is built on sand. The long view of history will judge these people harshly while the daily newspapers praise them.

Heritage and Destiny Churchill - 31 minutes.

Churchill - 2 minutes.