Is Tomorrow Hitler's? 200 Questions on the Battle of MankindKnickerbocker, H. R. (Hubert Renfro)
History
Is Tomorrow Hitler's? 200 Questions on the Battle of Mankind
Knickerbocker, H. R. (Hubert Renfro)
Europe -- Politics and government -- 1918-1945; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945 -- United States
Today his prewar books, as _My Early Days_, are reprinted and have
become best sellers. Even his prewar newspaper articles are eagerly
dragged out, and reprinted both here and in England to sell at high
prices. His books have been phenomenally successful and his income
from them, from journalism, and from lectures has been for most of his
life considerably higher than the $50,000 a year he receives as Prime
Minister. It was always a financial sacrifice for him to go into office
despite the comparatively liberal salaries of British ministers. He has
no interest in money. His earnings have been large ever since he was
a war correspondent in South Africa, but he has spent money as fast
as it came, on his estate, his family, and on good living. One of his
best American friends, Bernard Baruch, once tried to instruct him in
the art of stock exchange speculation but nothing came of it. Churchill
had for it the interest he has for everything in life, and wanted to
learn it, but he lacked the indispensable requirement for amassing a
fortune, namely an overwhelming desire to make money. The power given
by the possession of money is so paltry compared with political power
that none of the great statesmen, or even the wicked dictators, have
exhibited any interest in it. What use has Hitler for money? I doubt
that he has touched any for years.
Until this war began it was power that appealed to Churchill more than
anything else in the world. It is ironical that now he possesses it
to a greater degree than he could ever have dreamed of, power for its
own sake he no longer wants. But that has not lessened his aesthetic
capacity to enjoy it. No stress of war, nor the imminence of awful
danger, can prevent him from enjoying the power of his spoken or
written word. You can feel his artistic satisfaction as you hear him in
the House of Commons, delivering on a desperate day passages calculated
not only to encourage, guide, and inspire, but to excite admiration for
their felicity.
We American correspondents in London used regularly to attend the
House every time Churchill spoke, although none of us need have
done so, since the speeches were delivered into our offices almost
instantaneously by ticker. We wanted to hear him in person not only for
the stirring drama of it but because as journalists we wished to listen
to the greatest living master of our craft. The trouble of attending
Parliament was considerable, for the old House, now in ruins, was too
small to accommodate even the Members if they all attended, and the
foreign press was allotted so few seats it was necessary to apply days
in advance to get a place. The narrow seats with too little space for
knees and feet were uncomfortable, the acoustics poor, but the view
from our gallery was perfect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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