Recently in Hillsdale College's publication, Imprimis, Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn related the tale that Winston Churchill, in 1940, ask his assistant John Colville, to find a prayer that Churchill recalled from the siege of Gibraltar. "Fear not the result, for either thy end shall be an enviable and majestic one, or God will preserve our reign upon the waters."Churchill asked for the prayer for strength during particularly troubling times. For years he was literally a voice in the wilderness, warning of the coming war and danger presented by Adolf Hitler, and ignored by the political majority. Arnn adds these interesting details:
In the 1930s, British politics were ugly . . . Churchill's own party leaders conspired to deprive him not only of his seat in Parliament, but his livelihood writing for the public. One of his colleagues, an official in the Foreign Ministry named Ralph Wigram, was threatened with transfer to a remote place without medical care - his son had birth defects - if he continued speaking with Churchill. Churchill, Wigram, and Wigram's wife Ava stood up to this kind of thing, year after year. First a few, and then many, and then legions, joined them. Finally the British people realized the truth, and then all over London billboards with the words in large black letters, "What Price Churchill?" He was called to lead in 1940 because he proved in the 1930s that he could do so.
Churchill was vindicated and became Prime Minister in England's darkest hour.
Churchill, who interestingly enough, was the child of an American mother and an English father, provides great inspiration through the ages and for us today.
Courage is required to stand up to the prevailing trends of the day. Dissenting voices are often shouted down and vilified.
Yet, speaking truth to power is the only way that our republic can survive and our freedoms flourish.
America still has much to learn from England's greatest Prime Minister.
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