Did you learn about a hero in high school history? Or about a hateful racist? Depending on which historian you found favor with a few nights ago at Bucknell’s panel to discuss infamous Winston Churchill you either left an avid defender or an emphatic cynic against the former Prime Minister and leader of the United Kingdom in its battle as Allie against Hilter’s Nazism. The panel was held on Thursday, February the third, from 7-9 pm in the Trout Auditorium on Bucknell’s campus, and was host to three scholarly historians and biographers; “Dr. Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College and an editor of the official Churchill biography, Prof. Sean McMeekin of Bard College and author of Stalin’s War, offering a critique of Allied geopolitical strategy led by Churchill; and Dr. Madhusree Mukerjee, author of Churchill’s Secret War, which critiques Churchill’s wartime colonial policies in India.” These three panelists, along with words from a few of the audience members, made up a colorful collage of outspoken and varied voices on the legacy and footprint left behind by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
In lieu of the recent Black Lives Matter Movement that has grown in attention over the past handful of years, a statue of the Prime Minister was recently defaced in Parliament Square, Westminster. The statement not only attacked Churchill for his racist ideals but also attacked the deeper rooted and more treacherous systemic racism of immortalizing hate against the races through advocates of such hate. This occurred not long before the eightieth anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein, which notably prompted the panel at Bucknell. This battle would mark the high point for Churchill’s leadership as an Allied wartime leader and, prior to recent allegations and strongly evidenced information coming to light, many would say marking his heroism in a well remembered legacy. Panelists Arnn, Mukerjee, and McMeekin, while not directly referencing the destruction of Winston Churchill’s memorial statue in London, spoke over the course of two hours in discussion of whether Churchill was, in fact, a man of honor or a man led by hatred.
Starting off this panel was Dr. Larry Arnn who would take up the opinion that Winston Churchill was in fact, hero, colonialist and non racist. In his opening remarks to the audience he cuts straight to the heart of what he believes, saying, “was he a hero? He certainly lived a life of hero proportion. Was he a colonialist? No doubt about it. Could one be a hero and a colonialist as well?” He goes on to suggest that Churchill himself, through his diaries and speeches, would deny these allegations of racism and would suggest that, yes, one can be both hero and colonialist. Dr. Arnn goes on to describe a specific war, wherein Churchill was able to prove his heroism and earn his recognition, in an attempt to prove to audience members that he was, in fact, a man of heroic proportions. He later goes into detail about Churchill’s policies and how he used them towards people of other nations, again attempting to show his audience that, “yes, he was a colonialist,” but that he was also a man of great tactical enginuity, for example explaining that thanks to Churchill’s policies “Britain got strong through association with countries that Britain had helped to found, that had for the most part, self governing institutions, [such as India].”
Skipping forward to our second speaker, panelist Prof. Sean McMeekin, who was able to make the drive and be with us in person, took a much different approach to his half hour of the panel. Professor McMeekin did not sway to either side of the debate, but rather remained completely neutral and simply related both what Churchill was accused of, that he believed to be right and also what Churchill was accused of, in McMeekin’s opinion, to be wrong. Professor McMeekin was, of the three panelists, most notable for balancing the tightrope between the two sides of the debate.
Finally, we heard from our final panelist, speaking to us via zoom all the way from India, Dr. Mukerjee. Dr. Mukerjee employed the use of slides in her presentation, one of which most notably read a quote from Prime Minister Churchill stating he pledged to “devote his life to the protection of this great empire of ours,” and that he had “a keen realization of England’s high mission to rule these primitive but agreeable races for their welfare and our own.” This part of the panel left no room for imagination or doubt- for Dr. Madhusree Mukerjee was not light on her opinion of Prime Minister Churchill and it was this passion that led to, quite possibly the most entertaining portion of the panel, where two panelists, Dr. Arnn and Dr. Mukerjee exchanged verbal (not well) concealed insults and remarks with one another towards the end of the segment on account of varying opinions and facts amongst the twos’ presentations. At the time of this funny loss of decorium, third panelist Professor McMeekin watched in amazement, as did the audience, being possibly too afraid to interject, as neither India nor Michigan, where each were presently at, was far enough to protect him from those two hurricanes.
Depending on which panelist caught your ear best, you left with either a renewed faith in the lately very controversial former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, or you left with a stronger sense of degradation for him. Whichever side of the scale you found yourself on, however, it will not change that as for now, this once monolith of political stature and heroism will continue to be under fire for what we can assume will be a long time. And as for Dr. Arnn and Dr. Mukerjee, one can only hope they never meet in person.