The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-01-26
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER

Beating history to the punch, it is NV de-
cision that Winston Churchill has it all over
our own commander-in-chief
In comparing the two men as persons of
course we have to weigh characteristics which
we like and dislike and the verdict, there
fore, is strictly personal. My preference runs
to this rough and-tumble Englishman an aris
tocrat, to be sure, but a man who could make
his own way as high-class Journalistic pot
boiler between periods in office drink with
the crowd, take fling at the movie business
as author and director n finally, when
WEAKNESS might have been overwhelming,
what with his years, his hard work and plav
his political fights and is active service in two
wars, could rally the British nation as he did
after Dun1irk. That was his greatest hour
Why Hitler let Churchill stand him off we
may never know but he got away with it and
we heard no nonsense in that CHASTITY crisis
about his wife appointing Hollywood ham
and a female dancer, personal friends of
course, to teach the people to pull taffv and
duck for apples for their morale In fact, we
hear very little about Churchills wife beyond
the fact that she has kept still tongue in
her head. We have to picture him as mas
cullne old buck who certainly as had his
moments in a life of tumult and adventure
and has always regarded government as men
work and the man as the boss of the family
l own up to prejudice against women in
politics and government insisting that they
have defaulted all the fine promises of the
days OF the suffragettes and that our female
offlce-hoders and party workers have been
an appalling disappointment. They join crook
ed machines to serve with high enthusiasm
and low ethics, they lie as freely as the mean
est of the males and, on the whole, we have
achieved no progress, thanks to them, that
would not have been made anyway
AS patriot, too, Churchill is SUPERIOR He
is pro-British in all things at all times and ne
declared himself perfectly when he said he
did not become the kings first minister I'M
order to preside over the liquidation of the
empire. For contrast, 1 give you the incident
in which Roosevelt congratulated the president
of Bolivia Bolvias theft of several mil
lions from Americans who, in good faith had
invested in a Bolivian bond issue. Roosevelt
thought this served our people right because
the interest rate was high The interest rate
however, indicates the degree of risk and the
rate in this case certainly was justified when
Bolivia WEIGHED. Probably some group of b.
livian politicians stole peoples money. |
Aside from the question of patriotism we have
here endorsement OF plain crookedness by
the President of the United States.
But it is in the role of man among men
and author and orator that Churchill towers
over our party
Can anyone imagine Churchill calling in a
British Sam Rosenman a Tommy the Cork,
a Robert Sherwood and lot OF political gag
writer's to do his speeches for him? Long after
this old growler dies, some OF his messages
to his countrynen will be classed among the
greatest orations of all time. Do you remem-
Der when he called Hitler a miserable gut
tersnipe or the time he told the Italian people
over the head of Benito the bum, that he was
going to tear their African empire to shreds
and tatters? Has Roosevelt, in his stilted meta
phors, ever said anything comparable in liter
t.ih n
Royal Air Force his solemn warning, In
ghastly hour, that he had nothing to offer his
people, then, but blood and sweat and tears?
These were all hand-rolled, we may be sure,
writer whose work shows integrity. The
hot hicks are the work of a great professional,
much too proud as an artist and a man to call
on anyone for word or phrase whether of
scorn or corn. Roosevelts assembled jobs, on
the other hand, change style from speech tol
speech and even, sometimes, within speech
The political results of reckless and ribald
cracks at great sections of the American ma
ton persist today in millions of good people
who will never give him that unity which
would mean docile acceptance OF gratultous
aspersions on their love of country. To respect
him, they would have to sacrifice their self
respect Not all their sons are colonies or
lieutenant commanders
But, in comparing Churchills dealings with
parliament to Roosevelts relations with the
White House correspondents, you see the
strongest contrast. Those British M. P.'s rep
resent the people and they have rights and
powers and when they ask questions he cam
not put them off with patronzing fllppancy
He must face them man fashion and he can
and does. Our man, the other hand can
lift leg TO hot question and let 1t roll to
the outfield to cool off and make chumps of
people who catch him off-balance by answer
ing with insipid Witticisms. Roosevelts snob-
Dish attitude, at first taken for cordially IN
calling reporters by their first names and
engaging in condescending personalities keeps
them always at a disadvantage. Ihey can
never insist. Unlike the house OF commons
they must always defer.
And finally, there is the matter OF oratorlcal
delivery To us, of course, Churchill mas an
english accent but, to his own people, 1t
is the genuine language and infection OF
cultered Englishman who speaks as one who
knows them from association and not as
highlv superior being who been kind
enough to rule them
But what is that Roosevelt choctaW, any
way? 1t isn't real Harvadese not Bahstonese
nor Grotonese nor the language of New York,
the south or the west. What other American
ever pronounced the word again Roose-
Welt has pronounced it again and again and
again?
SO THEY SAY |