Churchill Portrayed as 'The Great Man'; Believed British Were 'Lost 10 Tribes

Winston Churchill genuine-
ly believed that the British
were the Lost Ten Tribes of
Israel, according to Robert
Payne in "The Great Man:
A Portrait of W i t o n
Churchill," just issued by
Coward, McCann and Geog-
hegan.
He was not alone. In World
War I, when the future prime
minister of Britain expressed
concern over Turkey's role
and the 'activities of the
Turkish navy, during a dis-
cussion by the British War
Council, Admiral Sir John

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Fisher said to Churchill:
"You are very wrong to
worry and excite yourself.
Do try to remember that we
are the Lost Ten Tribes of
Israel."
Payne states that "this

exultation" entertained by
Churchill "was derive d"
from Lord Fisher, the former
First Sea Lord, now retired,
who combined a harsh prac-
tical sense with a fervent
belief that the British were
the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel
and that the 'Book of Revela.
tions' was an unfailing guide
to world peace."
This may account for
Churchill's deep devotion to
the Zionist idea, and his son's
and grandson's similar devo-
tion to Zionism and the state
of Israel. But there are no
such references in Payne's
extensive work.
Nevertheless, Payne does
deal briefly with the prob-
lems he confronted with the
Arabs and with the Hashe-
mite dynasty and he notes:
"Churchill had placed two
members of this dynasty,
Abdullah and Feisal, on the
'thrones of Trans-Jordan and
Iraq — thrones especially
created for the purpose of
satisfying the Hashemite pre-
tensions."
It was during those early
conferences, when it was al-
ready evident that the anti-
Zionist activities of the Arab
rulers were taking shape,
but these occurrences are not
mentioned by. Payne, al-
though there is this com-
ment:
"While at Yalt a, he
(Churchill) had been flabber-
gasted to learn that Presi-
dent Roosevelt planned to
hold conferences with King
Farouk, Emperor Haile
Selassie and King Ibn Saud
on the Quincy, anchored in
Great Bitter Lake. Churchill
suspected a dark plot against

Brochure Provides Guidelines
for Nursin! Home Choosin g

A brochure providing guide-
lines for selecting a nursing
home for an aged parent has
been published by the Jew-
ish Family and _Children's
Service, the agency presi-
dent, Mrs. Joseph H. Jackier,
announced.
The booklet also explores
some possible alternatives to
institutional care of the aged
and disabled.
Compiled by members of
the agency's volunteer ser-
vices committee, the booklet
discusses steps in deciding
the best alternative for a per-
son needing sheltered housing
and the process of checking
out establishments and mak-
ing the financial arrange-
ments.
While the booklet does not
rate individual nursing and
convalescent homes, it notes
that many social agencies
which work with elderly peo-
ple have a professional on
staff who can advise a family
making a decision of this
sort.
Included in the brochure
is a long list of non-profit
agencies which provide pro-
fessional counseling for
senior citizens and their
families as well as a number
of proprietary services in the
health and nursing care in-
d u s t r y, governmental re-
sources like Michigan's De-
partment of Social Services
and the Social Security.
According to the volunteer
services chairman, Mrs: Mil-
ton Shiffman, the booklet can

48 Friday, May 3, 1974

—

be obtained by sending a
stamped self-addressed #10
envelope to the Jewish Fam-
ily and Children's Service
office at 10801 Meyers, De-
titbit 48221.
For more information con-
tact Mrs. Fayga Dombey, at
the JFCS office, 341-5959.

the British Empire and ask-
ed Hari:), Hopkins what the
President was up to. Hopkins
did not know and suggested
that it was 'a lot of horse-
play.' "
It was a period of dissen-
sion among the Allies and
the Roosevelt role, and the
participation of his associ-
ates results in this additional
comment by Payne:
"Churchill's half - hearted
encouragement of the Polish
government in exile in Lon.
don, his hopes that at least
the new Polish government
would include representa-
tives of all classes of society,
strained his relations with
the President, who was
growing weary of East Eu-
ropean problems. In a long
series of messages to the
President, Churchill empha-
sized the dangers of a Soviet
takeover. He hoped the
Americans and the British
could get together to prevent
it. 'Our friendship is the
rock on which I build for the
future of the world, so long
as I am one of the builders,'
he wrote the President in one
of the most quietly grandilo-
quent passages that ever
came from his pen. Roose-
velt sent Judge Samuel
Rosenman, one of his speech
writers, and the millionaire
Bernard Baruch, a close
friend of Churchill's since
the First World War, to dis-
cuss, all these matters in
London. And when Stalin
took offense at the secret
negotiations being conducted
in Switzerland for the sur-
render of the German armies
in Italy, claiming wrongly
that there was an Anglo-
American plot to turn the
German army round and
send it fighting against the
Russians, Roosevelt at last
saw the light. 'I cannot avoid
a feeling of bitter resentment
toward your informers, who.
ever they are, for such vile
misrepresentations of my ac-
tions or those of my trusted
subordinates,' Roosevelt
wrote on April 5, 1945, for
the first time expressing his
outrage and anger against

Stalin. A week later, on the
afternoon of April 12, (1945),
he died at Warm Springs,
Georgia, of a massive
cerebral hemorrhage."
Especially noteworthy in
relation to the "Lost Ten

'

Payne places emphasis on
Churchill's lust for "great-
ness," his longing from his
very youth for respect. It
was an obsession for power,
and an occasion is referred

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Tribes" legacy is the follow-
ing from Payne's introduc-
tory chapter:
"There is no evidence that
Hitler ever read (Churchill's)
'The World Crisis.' If he had
read it, he might have real-
ized that he was confronted
with a far more dangerous
opponent than he had ever
contemplated. Churchill was
the master of the sinister
touch, the inventor of stra-
tagems, the cherub with the
bloody ax. Churchill knew
his way through the dark
woods. He had, as we shall
see later, much more in
common with Hitler than one
would like to believe.
"Throughout his life he
was haunted by the concept
of the Great Man. He be-
lieved firmly in 'greatness,'
a rare attribute given to the
chosen few. One day, walk-
ing through Devonport Dock.
yard with Admiral Sir John
Fisher, he turned solemnly
and dramatically toward the
admiral as though he had
some important information
to impart. Standing quite

Polansky Series Gains New Effectiveness
in Charles Angoff's Novel `Mid-Century' -

novel indicates, the author
has reached the period of
the 1950s as he leads David
Polansky onto the scene of
Arab - Israel . conflicts, ..the
American involvements, the
Christian reactions, the Jew-
ish attitudes.
Angoff's work takes the
form of exposing libels and
of emphasizing the factual
in order to refute the bigo-
tries that are frequently
spread by anti-Semites.
At one point, David recall-
ing his grandfather's warn-
ing, "Scratch any Christian,
and you find an anti-Semite,"
David thought "of Henry
James' • remark about 'the
Hebrew conquest of New
York,' and about `the de-
struction of English culture
in America." In this fashion
Angoff introduces the subject
of bigotry with the aim of
tackling the prejudicial and
condemning as well as re-
futing it.
Such is the Angoff way of
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS treating social issues, as well

Charles Angoff has earned
wide recognition as a nov-
elist. He is especially known
for his series of narratives
about David Polansky. Treat-
ing his hero as a factor in
current society, as a deeply
interested Jew who is con-
cerned with occurrences in
Jewish life as they develop
within the international com-
munity and on the American
scene, his Polansky stories
emerge as an historical
record of American Jewry.
Nine of the Polansky
novels have already been
published. Now comes the
10th. With the publication
of "Mid-Century," the 10-
volume Polansky work ap-
proaches closer to the pres-
ent. Published by A. S.
Barnes and Co., "Mid-Cen-
tury" adds to the wholesome-
ness of the entire series
which has given Angoff much
status as a novelist.
As the title of the new

still, he said: 'You are a
Great Man.' The admiral
was understandably impress.
ed by the intelligence of the
much younger man who had
perceived what had long
been obvious to himself.
Fisher believed in many
strange things. He had some
illusions about the British
being the lost tribes of Is-
rael; he thought all soldiers
were nincompoops; he had
pondered the words of Jere-
miah: 'Seekest thou great
things for. thyself? Seek them
not.' Churchill preferred
Gibbon to Jeremiah, and like
Gibbon he saw the world at
the mercy of the Great Com-
manders."

as retracing historical steps
as a means of chronicling
the story of the Jew on a
worldwide scale.
The American political
scene is not overlooked and
President Harding and other
leading figures are factors
in the dikussions that al-
ways make the Angoff
stories philosophically note-
worthy.
When an experience calls
for injecting the name of
Supreme Court Justice Louis
D. Brandeis, it is utilized.
The Zionist aims receive
their due share of acclaim.
And the Angoff interests that
assume universality never
fail to mention the . artistic,
the everyday aspects in
normal living for Jews with
aspirations as well as con-
flicts.
Like the other Angoff
book s, "Mid-Century" is
marked by a Jewish ideal-
ism. This volume adds enor-
mously to the effectiveness
of the Polansky series.-P.S.

to when his fellow students
threw him on his bed and
nearly asphyxiated him with
his mattress, pouring hot and
cold water over him.
Churchill retaliated by shout-
ing: "One day I shall be a
great man and you shall be
nobodies, and then I will
stamp and crush you."

Israel honored him. Chaim
Weizmann viewed him as one
of the great friends of Zion-
ism. But he authored the
White Paper that reduced
immigration to Palestine—a
result of pressure, no doubt,
since he later argued • ;ti
Parliament against rc
tions on Zionism. But timse
factors regrettably are not in
•ayne's "The Great Man—
A Portrait of Winston
Churchill." Except for these
omissions, Payne has pro-
duced a truly great bi-
ography. —P.S.