(One of a series of daily posts about the life of Winston S. Churchill.)
I first published this post in Nov. 2005. I'm republishing it today because it provides in one sentence from a Cabinet meeting minutes a wonderful example of Churchill's wisdom and sense of humor in its puckish form.
In late December, 1941 Churchill arrived in Washington to meet with Roosevelt and begin joint Anglo-American war planning.
With the exception of a brief trip to Canada, Churchill remained in America for almost four weeks. While in Washington, he stayed at the White House.
The British government and people were understandably very interested to know what was transpiring with the Americans.
When Churchill flew back to England, landing at Plymouth on Jan. 17, 1942, a train was waiting to take him to London where at 10 PM that evening, the War Cabinet assembled to hear his report.
The minutes of that meeting include this:
The Prime Minister thought that (the Americans) were not above learning from us provided we did not set out to teach them.________________________________________________________
Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill: Road to Victory, 1941-1945. (p. 43)
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