Winston Churchill’s life was a roller coaster of bitter failures and glorious achievements, of which recent film biographies only scratch the surface. This lecture series tells the full story, including Churchill’s youthful meteoric rise to the corridors of British political power, and his ensuing setbacks in World War I and dubious party-switching that left him, at middle age, a near-forgotten back-bencher. Only his prescient diagnosis of Hitler’s threat propelled his resurgence, setting the stage for his unparalleled leadership of Britain during World War II and beyond. Also, Churchill's support of Jewish causes, while far from perfect, stood out compared with those of his British contemporaries. Still, Churchill’s willingness to cede spheres of influence to Stalin undercut FDR’s bid for a new international order, and his clinging to a dying British imperialism and stubborn indifference to wartime India’s mass famine hastened the demise of British rule. Throughout, listen to and watch Churchill’s speeches, which defined the preeminent value of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.
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