Winston Churchill

Colin Thompson-Heinz

British Literature

12/7/17

My Hero Paper

Winston Churchill was a master of international affairs using both tactics of war and diplomacy as well as being great at dealing with domestic problems. Churchill is mostly remembered for his actions during World War One and World War Two but he did much more than that in his life. I admire him for what he was able to accomplish as prime minister of Great Britain and see his actions as heroic. I can see the values he holds in today's society with how there are so many provisions passed through congress for things like welfare that Winston Churchill helped get through parliament for Great Britain.

Peace signPress Association ImagesHe made it into parliament and while Churchill was in office he did do many great things for his country. He was always making sure the people were well taken care of such as when he got the People's Budget passed through parliament. The People's Budget was a law that raised taxes on the wealthy elite of Great Britain to fund social welfare programs. Churchill passed the Trade Boards act which made a board of people who would set a minimum wage in Great Britain. He also drafted the Mental Deficiency Act which made it so people who were “Feeble minded” or mentally ill could be taken out of prisons and put into institutions separate from prisoners. Churchill was a great man because of these things he did for the British common man. But he was also a master of foreign affairs and the British people as well as the Allied Powers saw this in him when the Nazis took over most of Europe.

Speech PhotoPress Association ImagesWinston Churchill was a hero to the Allied Powers from 1940-1965. He was the main supporter in England of fighting back the Nazis when they were taking over Europe. England was tired of war; they had just fought in World War One and did not think they could take it anymore. In 1935 he was excluded from Parliament by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, but Churchill was able to work on the country's air defense team. During his time in air defense, Churchill had learned about the Nazis' plans and was urging the British government to enter an agreement with France and the Soviet Union to suppress the Nazis' efforts. Churchill was ignored and pushed away as he had been before but he persisted. Five years later Churchill would be appointed as prime minister by King George the Sixth because during a debate about what Great Britain would do about the Nazis, Neville Chamberlain would be deemed incompetent. Churchill rallied the Allies and worked with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin to stop the fascist Nazi take over. He used the Lend Lease Act to order weaponry from the United States which helped them get straight into the nitty gritty of war with the Nazis. Churchill would work closely with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin throughout the war to form united strategies amongst the allies. Once the war wound down Churchill was ready to make new provisions back home and social reforms but the British people did not want any new reforms and he lost his seat as prime minister.

He was re elected prime minister in 1951 and this is when he started to focus on the threat of communism as well as trying to keep a good relationship with the Soviet Union.  He declared communism a threat to democracy and gave speeches around the United States about the subject. Churchill also declared that it was a threat to the Christian religion which got many people to join his cause about stopping the spread of communism. This is where he coined the phrase “We must create an iron curtain,” saying how the democratic world must stop communism. Around the time he was giving these speeches he spent his time trying to ease conflict between eastern and western world. He worked very hard to ease tensions between the United States and Russia but age had taken its toll on him. When he turned eighty years old he finally resigned from his spot as prime minister and Sir Anthony Eden, who was his successor as prime minister, announced plans for a four-power conference at Geneva. This shows that his influence had spread into the minds of his own countrymen and that they were up for the challenge of trying to progress his work. That shows to me how much of a hero he is and how his life affected everything we know today.

“Winston Churchill.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 20 Nov. 2017, www.biography.com/people/winston-churchill-9248164.

Nicholas, Herbert G. “Sir Winston Churchill.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Nov. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Winston-Churchill.

History.com Staff. “Winston S. Churchill.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/british-history/winston-churchill.

 (Speach Picture)PA/Pa Archive, and Press Association. “Prime Minister Winston Churchill Addresses an Audience of More than 20,000 at Walthamstow Stadium, .” Winston Churchill: The Speeches That Inspired a Nation, London, 2018, www.itv.com/news/2015-01-24/winston-churchill-the-speeches-that-inspired-a-nation-in-pictures-and-video/.

 “Peace Sighn.” s Churchill’s Powerful ‘Fight on the Beaches’ Speech: The Words Few People Actually Heard, Michael E. Ruane, Washington , 8 Jan. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/12/08/churchills-powerful-fight-on-the-beaches-speech-the-words-few-people-actually-heard/?utm_term=.62c041d7f39a.