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Winston Churchill's “Crazy Broadcast”: Party, Nation, and the 1945 Gestapo Speech
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2012
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References
1 Broadcast of 4 June 1945. Unless otherwise stated, all of Churchill's broadcasts and speeches referred to here can be found in James, Robert Rhodes, ed., Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963, 8 vols. (New York, 1974)Google Scholar.
2 Charles Eade, diary entry, 31 August 1945, Charles Eade Papers, Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge (CAC). There was a slightly different emphasis in his remarks to the editor of The Times at around the same time: “He offered no explanation [for his defeat] himself except to say ironically that it might have been different ‘If I had done my broadcasts differently and if we had had a little more of your support.’” McLachlan, Donald, In the Chair: Barrington-Ward of The Times, 1927–1948 (London, 1971), 209.Google Scholar
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6 See, e.g., Harris, Kenneth, Attlee (London, 1982), 255–56Google Scholar; and Hennessy, Peter, Never Again: Britain, 1945–1951 (London, 1993), 82–83.Google Scholar
7 “Churchill's Crazy Broadcast,” Daily Herald, 5 June 1945.
8 A key text is Tulis, Jeffrey K., The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton, NJ, 1987).Google Scholar There are numerous examples of post-1945 American political speech being subjected to rhetorical analysis—e.g., O’Gorman, Ned, “Eisenhower and the American Sublime,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 94, no. 1 (February 2008): 42–72.Google Scholar
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10 However, for a recent challenge to “technological determinism,” see Lawrence, Jon, Electing Our Masters: The Hustings in British Politics from Hogarth to Blair (Oxford, 2009), esp. 97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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12 Fairclough, Norman, New Labour, New Language? (London and New York, 2000), vii.Google Scholar Other recent examples include Whyte, Jamie, A Load of Blair (London, 2005)Google Scholar; Oborne, Peter, The Rise of Political Lying (London, 2005)Google Scholar; and Poole, Steven, Unspeak: Words Are Weapons (London, 2007)Google Scholar.
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16 For example, Weidhorn, Manfred, “Churchill the Phrase Forger,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 58, no. 2 (April 1972): 161–74Google Scholar; Cannadine, David, In Churchill's Shadow: Confronting the Past in Modern Britain (London, 2003), chap. 4Google Scholar; Wright, Patrick, Iron Curtain: From Stage to Cold War (Oxford, 2007)Google Scholar; and Lukacs, John, Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Dire Warning (New York, 2008)Google Scholar.
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33 Churchill to Ralph Assheton, 11 June 1945, Churchill Papers, CAC, CHAR 2/554, fol. 14.
34 There were also smaller subheadings: “Prime Minister's Broadcast Attack on Socialism” and “Policy Abhorrent to British Ideas of Freedom.” The Times, 5 June 1945.
35 Speech of 14 February 1920.
36 “Socialists Ran like Rats,” Daily Express, 7 November 1935.
37 Report of Proceedings at the 58th Annual Trades Union Congress (London, 1926), 346.Google Scholar The speaker was Ben Turner.
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51 Daily Herald, 18 June 1945.
52 “House of Commons,” The Times, 14 June 1934.
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62 Emrys Hughes, “‘Gestapo Will Get You,’” Forward, 9 June 1945.
63 Jackson, Ben, “At the Origins of Neo-liberalism: The Free Economy and the Strong State, c. 1930–1947,” Historical Journal 53 (2010): 129–51.Google Scholar For Hayek's belief in a “minimum income,” see Hayek, F. A., The Road to Serfdom (1944; repr., London, 1962), 89.Google Scholar
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65 New Horizon, April 1945, quoted in Dutton, David, Liberals in Schism: A History of the National Liberal Party (London, 2008), 142.Google Scholar Similar arguments, directed at Labour's nationalization plans, were made by some grassroots Conservatives. See Thorpe, Parties at War, 176.
66 Colville, John, The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries, 1939–1955 (London, 1985), 606.Google Scholar Colville told Lascelles that “the only share the Beaver had had in it was the deletion of a tribute to Ernie Bevin,” the trade unionist and former minister of labour. Nevertheless, the speech did make a mildly positive reference to Bevin's demobilization scheme. See Hart-Davis, King's Counsellor, 331.
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68 Cockett, Thinking the Unthinkable, 94. However, Churchill was not completely consistent in his defense of the speech. When at last introduced to Hayek after the war, Churchill told him that his arguments in The Road to Serfdom were right but that “it would never happen in England,” which of course contradicted his own argument in 1945. Hayek to Addison, 13 April 1980, quoted in Addison, Churchill on the Home Front, 383.
69 Churchill to Harry S. Truman, 12 May 1945, in U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers; The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, 2 vols. (Washington, DC, 1960), 1:8–9.Google Scholar
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84 “Labour Case for Socialism,” The Times, 6 June 1945.
85 Published on 31 July 1945 in the Evening Standard, the cartoon was called “The Two Churchills.” It showed one Churchill, “the leader of humanity,” sitting on a pedestal, commiserating with the other one, “the party leader,” down below. “Cheer up!” the former tells the latter. “They will forget you but they will remember me always.”
86 Soames, Clementine Churchill, 545.
87 Daily Herald, 6 June 1945.
88 This theme was taken up in the Labour-supporting press. See, e.g., Maurice Kitching, “New Zealand Is Insulted,” Reynolds News, 10 June 1945; and F. A. Cooper, “Where Labour Has Ruled for 27 Years and They’ve Never Seen a Gestapo Man,” Reynolds News, 24 June 1945. Cooper was writing about Queensland, of which he was premier.
89 “Labour Case for Socialism,” The Times, 6 June 1945.
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93 Cockett suggests that “the press descended” on Hayek and that he gained “star-status” in the campaign along with Harold Laski (Thinking the Unthinkable, 96). Yet only one paper provided any in-depth coverage of Hayek's ideas (Frederick Cook, “This Is the Road to Serfdom,” Evening Standard, 6 June 1945); otherwise, there were only a few snippets.
94 “Prof. Von Hayek,” Daily Telegraph and Morning Post, 6 June 1945.
95 “The Road to Serfdom,” Daily Express, 6 June 1945.
96 “Labour Case for Socialism,” The Times, 6 June 1945.
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105 There is need for considerable caution when using MO material; the selection of the comments may have been influenced by the political persuasions of the observers, who tended to be on the Left.
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115 Jon Evans, “Churchill—Enemy of the Workers!” New Leader, 16 June 1945. On Churchill's record as home secretary in relation to the Gestapo speech, see also the comparatively mild but nonetheless critical remarks of J. Chuter Ede, MP, quoted in “Election Letters,” Daily Herald, 6 June 1945.
116 Hughes, “‘Gestapo Will Get You.’”
117 Emrys Hughes, “Fuhrer Churchill!” Forward, 30 June 1945.
118 Michael Foot, “Why This ‘National’ Label Is a Shameful Fraud,” Daily Herald, 19 June 1945.
119 See “Rejoinders to Premier's Broadcast,” Manchester Guardian, 6 June 1945; and “‘Tory Gestapo Put Gag on Leading Scientists,’” Reynolds News, 17 June 1945. For examples relating to Tory MPs’ alleged fascist sympathies, see Kelly, “‘Ghost of Neville Chamberlain,’” 21.
120 “Cripps Answers Churchill,” Forward, 16 June 1945.
121 “Tories and Mr. Churchill,” Manchester Guardian, 12 June 1945.
122 “Axis Aid by Tories,” Sunday Pictorial, 17 June 1945.
123 “Liberals Are Rallying in the West,” News Chronicle, 9 June 1945. For Morrison's comments, see “Churchill's Crazy Broadcast,” Daily Herald, 5 June 1945.
124 Draft of broadcast of 13 June 1945, Churchill Papers, CHAR 9/208B, fol. 106.
125 Broadcast of 13 June 1945.
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129 “You Are Warned,” Evening Standard, 5 June 1945.
130 Brogan, Colm, Our New Masters (London, 1947), 5Google Scholar; Thatcher, Path to Power, 51–52.
131 Lawrence, Electing Our Masters, 210.
132 The leaflet, along with a copy of Callaghan's remark in Hansard (9 November 1976) can be found in the Thatcher Papers, THCR 2/7/1/37, CAC.
133 However, Morrison did suggest that Churchill's comments came ill from one holding “the high office of Prime Minister.” “Churchill's Crazy Broadcast,” Daily Herald, 5 June 1945.
134 “Opening Salvo,” News Chronicle, 5 June 1945.
135 The Liberals put up only 306 candidates (there were 640 constituencies). A Gallup poll conducted after the campaign closed found that “about 23 per cent. of the total electorate would have voted for the Liberal Party, given the opportunity” (“58 Per Cent. Opposed Election,” News Chronicle, 26 July 1945). It remains unclear whether the Liberal involvement in the election damaged Labour or the Tories most. See Gilbert, Bentley B., “Third Parties and Voters’ Decisions: The Liberals and the General Election of 1945,” Journal of British Studies 11, no. 2 (May 1972): 131–41Google Scholar; Arnstein, Walter L., “‘The Liberals and the General Election of 1945’: A Skeptical Note,” Journal of British Studies 14, no. 2 (May 1975): 120–26.Google Scholar
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139 Soames, Clementine Churchill, 544.
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