Evening star., 1945-07-30

Mr., ChurCllll ana IeSpOliucu, W
at this supposedly safe distance, TO
the stark courage of that indomlta-
BILE man whose ever-to-be-forgot-
ten I'VE shall never surrender
speech rallied a relatively unarmeo
nation. forced the ready-to-invade
enemy into fatal hesitation.
There. of course. will be dissenters,
but most men who clearly recall the
facts will always feel that in those
early days, when England stood
alone. Mr.. Churchill not only saved
the British Empire, but civilization
itself; that without his leadership
which no one else could have sup
piled, Germany would have won the
war before we got into 1t.
If that had happened, the posi-
ton of the United States need not
be stressed here. 1t is easy to
imagine Perhaps this is too much
to attribute solely to Mr.. Churchill,
though to many it will not seem
an overstatement. At any rate, not
even his political opponents ques-
ton that the British people, and
the world as we'll, owe him mighty
debt,
And yet, at the first oppor-
tunity following the German COL
lapse. the British electorate over
whelmingly vote him out of power
before the war work IS wholly fin
ished and in the midst of great
conference of the heads of the
three nations whose combined might
had averted the ultimate disaster,
There was humiliation in that. 1t
could be interpreted as lack of con-
fldence.
Explanations Offered.
But was it? Since the votes were
counted, many explanations Of more
or less plausibility have been offered.
It is said that Mr. Churchill made
a mistake in forcing the election
so clearly and that his campaign
was unskillful and aroused resent
ment. 1t is said that the people
were not tired of him, but very tired
of the little Kitchen Cabinet" by
which ne was surrounded and
showed this by the extraordinary way
in which, while Mr. Churchill re-
tanned his seat in the House of Com
mons, nearly all his ministers except
Mr.. Eden lost theirs. 1t is further
said that the election was revolt
of the people against the "stand-pat
toryism" of Mr.. Churchills Con-
servative party,
It is said that the Labor party's
program is in tune with the popular
wish and represents the British
desire to get quick action on do
mestic problems of reconversion as
well as to move toward national
ownership and other aspects of So
cialism-in other words, to the left.
Finally, it is said that with it is
full appreciation of Mr.. Churchill
as a war leader. The country
doubted his ability to create the sort
of peacetime economy needed. His
personal prestige was not enough to
overcome this feeling. Probably
there is truth in all these explana-
tions and in others. They do not,
however, even combined, seem ade-
quate to account for so complete
defeat for so great man.
1t is eaSier-and his friends will
prefer-to find the explanation in
the pages of history. 1t is pointed
out that except for few instances
it is an historic fact that after all
wars, the war leaders in the vic
torious countries have not been re-
tained by the people. The best ex-
ample is that of the World War.
Within a short period after that
war, the successful war leaderS-and
their parties-had been swept out
of power in every victorious country
-Clemenceau in France, Orlando in
Italy, David Lloyd George in Eng
land and Woodrow Wilson here. In
these and other instances, the peo-
pie turned away from their war
leaders at the first opportunity after
the war.
The reason for this, it is con-
tended, is that the people, filled
with resentment, irritations and
grievances over long period of
war rationing, privationS, burden
some taxes, regimentation and regu-
lations, develop an irresistible de-
sire for a change in rulers, par
ticularly if the rulers had been long
in office, and vote for it the first
chance they have.
To Inherit Headaches.
This, at least, is as plausible as
any of the other reasons advanced
for the Churchill defeat and is but
tressed by some impressive prece-
dents. There is also the widely held
belief that If the German surrender
had occurred and the doom of
Japan been clear when the late
President Roosevelt ran for the
fourth time, he would have been
badly defeated for the same rea-
sons, Notwithstanding the formida-
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