According to the popular opinion, it is not proper for men to cry. Hitler or Stalin would probably have agreed - they were not rather tearful people. But one of the members of the Big Three, in the meantime winning World War II, had tears running down his cheeks almost on every occasion.
Reading Churchill's Bodyguard - a biography of Walter Thompson, who spent almost two decades as the "shadow" of the minister and later the prime minister of Great Britain - it is hard to miss one characteristic feature of Winston:he cried incessantly!
Tearful like Churchill?
It probably won't surprise anyone that Churchill had tears in his eyes when his mother and daughter died. This is a completely natural reaction. However, the prime minister cried much more often - in the aforementioned book several dozen times we read about tears running down his cheeks.
Winston Churchill and his bodyguard Walter Thompson. It is thanks to the latter's account that we know about the weepy nature of the British Prime Minister.
Well, tears came to his eyes, when he was nominated as prime minister, but also when the French leader, Reynaud, informed him that he intended to capitulate.
He cried on Armistice Day in 1918 ( [The bodyguard] listened as Churchill gave a short speech - standing in the car, tears running down his cheeks ) and on Black Thursday on Wall Street in 1929 ( tearfully trying to speculate ). In addition, was flooding with tears watching movies - though that's probably no reason to be ashamed.
Churchill cried upon hearing the news of the greatest military defeats and catastrophes - e.g. the sinking of the Athenia liner or the battleship Royal Oak - and about the death of the US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt (his bodyguard wrote: I watched with sadness as tears ran down his cheeks ). He also sobbed when he thought about the decisions made at the Yalta conference:
[Bodyguard] He found him in a deeply depressed state, "his thoughts were somewhere in the distance (...). »Thompson, why did they let the president go to Yalta even though he was close to death?« He asked. I watched sadly as the tears ran down his cheeks. I didn't know what to say. Meanwhile, he continued:"Ultimately, all of Europe will suffer from the decisions made in Yalta." ".
Winston Churchill was often in tears. The decisions of the Yalta conference were also a reason for the British prime minister to cry. The picture shows the big three in a set.
Any occasion is good to cry
He also happened to cry in completely everyday situations (at least according to the wartime understanding of "everyday life"). For example, when dictating speeches to the secretary:
When the flow of words bursts again, it quickly spews out new sentences, emphasizing their atmosphere with violent gestures. Every now and then he spreads his hands helplessly. Suddenly his voice breaks under the weight of the emotions he put into his own words, and tears run down his cheeks.
The most tearful politician ever?
He did not hide his emotions while observing the war devastation in the cities he visited. When describing one such situation, his bodyguard openly admitted: There were many times when he cried quietly and without embarrassment or embarrassment, without uttering a word for many minutes .
Half of the devastation of war, but the leader of the British Empire cried even in front of the British soldiers boarding ships and landing units on the eve of the landing in Normandy. When he remembered that he was too old to swim with them, tears came to his eyes.
What are the conclusions of all this? Well, apparently Churchill was not kidding, saying: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat . Besides, I guess it's time to put off saying that boys don't cry. Why should they not cry, if roaring at every step you can become Prime Minister and win World War II?
Source:
The article is based on the book "Churchill's Bodyguard" by Tom Hickman. Soon it will be published in Poland by Replica under the title "Churchill's Bodyguard".