In 2014, amidst complex machinations over Britain’s role in the European Union, Boris Johnson (in his pre-Prime Minister days) was prompted to write a biography of Winston Churchill. He wanted people to be reminded how a singular figure—in this case, the wartime British leader Churchill—could play an essential role in the life of a nation. When Churchill took office in 1940, appeasement of Hitler was still a popular idea, but Churchill fought to ditch such rubbish and instead led Britain to war. In Johnson’s words, Churchill’s leadership “saved our civilization.” (Johnson, Winston Churchill, p. 5)

Best-selling author Erik Larson agrees with Johnson, and showcases Churchill’s remarkable leadership in his new biography, THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE.  In addition to Johnson’s, there are many biographies of Churchill, notably Martin Gilbert’s, Andrew Roberts’s, and William Manchester’s.  Each of these is as weighty as the larger-than-life Churchill character, but Larson has focused instead not on describing an entire life, but only the first year that Churchill spent as Prime Minister.

Larson’s decision, if not prescient, has at least rendered his study surprisingly relevant. “Leadership” is an issue at the forefront in these pandemic days, and bizarre tantrums raging about “total power” do not meet the mark. When Churchill first faced his war cabinet in May 1940, he sought to rally them against appeasement and to fight with all their “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” It was not an easy crowd to win, but his stunning speech had them up and cheering.

His cabinet and the British people followed him, and the result was that Britain was soon at war. Germany turned its Luftwaffe against them–Hitler was convinced he could bring Churchill to his knees, and the Germans launched a two-month “Blitz” against London in September 1940. The Luftwaffe began with day-and-night bombings, but switched to night-only attacks in October, their planes armed with a new “beam” that could find bomb sites at night with accuracy. The RAF had no recourse against such beams at first, and people began to watch their calendars for “full moon” days that signaled the greatest probability for bombings.  The destructive bombing of Coventry, and its historic Cathedral, happened in mid-November:  515 Luftwaffe planes bombed Coventry incessantly in a raid Hitler called “Moonlight Sonata.” First came marker flares with the navigational beams to guide the bombers; next came a combination of blockbuster bombs and incendiaries that left Coventry immersed in a firestorm.

Churchill understood the importance of symbolism, and made a point of walking through bombed-out sites. In London’s East End, he stopped at an air-raid shelter where a bomb had killed forty people.  He was easily spotted in his homburg– chomping on a cigar, he thrust his jaw forward like a bulldog, waving his “V” for victory. Onlookers surrounded him and cheered, “Good old Winnie! We thought you’d come and see us. We can take it. Give it ‘em back!”  (SPLENDID, 217)  In one hand, he carried a large white handkerchief, and mopped his eyes as he wept.

In action and in language, Churchill knew how to strike the right tone to boost morale in very tough times. He also worked incessantly, often clad in colorful silk robes spotted with cigar ash. His circle of advisors was hard-pressed to keep up, with work days gliding into dinners and then more work, often until 2 or 3 the next morning. Churchill took two baths every day, with advisers sitting on stools nearby as he worked, bubbles and all. He drank constantly, beginning with something at breakfast and continuing until a final port at lights-out.  The drinks orders for his weekend residence at Chequers included wines, sherry, port, whiskey, brandy, and champagne—and all were top-of-the-line, somehow procurable during the war for the PM and his guests.

Aside from getting the British public to support the war effort, Churchill’s main objective was to convince the United States to join the effort against Hitler. Franklin Roosevelt was seeking an unheard of third term in 1940, facing a heavy challenge from Wendell Willkie. The American people did not want to go to war, but as soon as FDR won re-election, he looked for a course short of all-out war that could come to the aid of Britain. Churchill had implored Roosevelt for months, emphasizing how Hitler had swept over Europe and had Britain clearly in his cross-hairs.  In December 1940, FDR told Churchill that he was considering something called “Lend-Lease,” where the U.S. could send warships and planes to aid Britain without actually going to war.  FDR understood this action as “vital to the defense of the U.S.,” and promised he would find a way to enlist Congressional approval—which he received in the spring of 1941.

“I never gave them courage. I was able to focus theirs.”   (The Splendid and Vile, p. 483)

In May of that spring, London was hit by what Larsen terms “The Cruelest Raid.”  Beginning at 11 p.m., 505 German bombers carrying 7,000 incendiaries and 718 tons of high-explosive bombs swarmed over the city, hitting Whitehall and Westminster, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, even the tower housing Big Ben. The raid was savage and merciless, lasting until dawn. Churchill sadly wandered near the debate chamber of the House of Commons, site of so many of his wartime speeches and now utterly destroyed by a direct hit.

The city waited for another attack, but it didn’t materialize. The RAF’s No. 80 Wing, the radio countermeasures unit, was now able to defend against nighttime raids by jamming and diverting the Germans’ radio beams, and the combined force of RAF Hurricanes and Defiants, aided by anti-aircraft batteries, had great success at shooting down Luftwaffe invaders. Instead of a land invasion on British shores, Hitler turned his attention elsewhere.

This shift brought about a transformation in morale. The British people, led by the indefatigable Churchill, had come to believe that they could withstand whatever onslaught the Germans launched against them. Larson quotes one diarist writing that “The spirit of the people seems to be moving from passive to active….Incendiaries seem to be tackled as though they were fireworks….” (Quoted, SPLENDID, 481)

Ultimately, as the war dragged on four more years, the German air war failed: for all its ferocity, it lacked a methodical strategy to destroy the British war industry. Hitler’s diversion to attack Russia prevented an invasion of Britain, and by December 1941, the United States had officially joined Britain in the war effort.

None of this would have happened without Churchill: he was the essential figure.  Larson concludes that Churchill’s first year as Prime Minister convinced the British people to be “more emboldened than cowed. Somehow, through it all, Churchill had managed to teach them the art of being fearless.”  When one adviser told him that the best thing he had done was to give people courage, Churchill did not agree: “I never gave them courage. I was able to focus theirs.”   (SPLENDID, 483)

The word that describes that is leadership.

By Amy Henderson, Contributing Writer

Erik Larson, The Splendid and the Vile.  Crown: NY, 2020.