Winston Churchill: Defender of Democracy

Page 4 of 7

• 1. A statesman transformed
• 2. Threat of invasion
• 3. Unfailingly brave
• 4. Man of the people
• 5. Grand alliance
• 6. Achievements of war
• 7. Find out more
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Man of the people

The first of the four fields in which he had to lead was, literally, the popular one. The British people had to be kept united. The impression they got of their leader would be crucial. Churchill remained as heartening, even endearing, a figure through the years 1941-45 as he had been in 1940. He was a popular character, an eccentric of traditional type. His sonorous and rousing speeches were unlike anyone else's, and his manner of delivery lent itself to admiring imitation. Except when dressing up as a warrior, he wore distinctive clothes: old-fashioned pinstripes with a bow tie, or funny clothes like the 'siren suits' his wife got made for him. He was often seen, never without his cigar, around the cities of Britain and wherever the armed forces were encamped. Good stories were told (or made up) about him and people familiarly referred to him as Winston or 'Winnie'. He appeared to be a man of the people.

'Besides being a popular leader, Churchill was also an emphatically democratic one.'

Besides being a popular leader, Churchill was also an emphatically democratic one. Parliament continued to sit throughout the war, and the war's progress was publicly debated. Churchill assumed full responsibility and, during the dark months of 1941-42, when he often had to report disasters, he had to bow a bit to his critics. The normal peacetime freedoms of the citizen were of course restricted but rarely beyond the limits of reason. The world could see no hypocrisy in Churchill's claim to be fighting for democracy and human rights against tyranny and barbarism.

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Published: 2002-06-14