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[edit] After World War II
Although Churchill's role in World War II had generated him much support from the British population, he was defeated in the the 1945 election.[1] Many reasons for this have been given, key among them being that a desire for post-war reform was widespread amongst the population and that the man who had led Britain in war was not seen as the man to lead the nation in peace.[2]
For five years he was to serve as the Leader of the Opposition. During these years Churchill continued to have an impact on world affairs. In 1946 he gave his Iron Curtain speech which spoke of the USSR and the creation of the Eastern Bloc. He declared:
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere.[3]
Churchill also argued strongly for British independence from the European Coal and Steel Community (which he saw as a Franco-German project). He saw Britain's place as separate from the continent, much more in-line with the countries of the Commonwealth and the Empire and with the United States, the so-called Anglosphere.[4][5]
[edit] Second term
After Labour's defeat in the General Election of 1951, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His third government—after the wartime national government and the brief caretaker government of 1945 — would last until his resignation in 1955. His domestic priorities in his last government were overshadowed by a series of foreign policy crises, which were partly the result of the continued decline of British military and imperial prestige and power. Being a strong proponent of Britain as an international power, Churchill would often meet such moments with direct action. One example was his dispatch of British troops to Kenya to deal with the Mau Mau rebellion.[6] Trying to retain what he could of the Empire, he once stated that, "I will not preside over a dismemberment."[7]
This was followed by events which became known as the Malayan Emergency. In Malaya, a rebellion against British rule had been in progress since 1948.[8] Once again, Churchill's government inherited a crisis, and Churchill chose to use direct military action against those in rebellion while attempting to build an alliance with those who were not.[9][10] While the rebellion was slowly being defeated, it was equally clear that colonial rule from Britain was no longer plausible.[11][8]
Churchill also devoted much of his time in office to anglo-american relations and although Churchill did not get on well with President Eisenhower, Churchill attempted to maintain the special relationship with the United States. He made four official transatlantic visits to America during his second term as Prime-Minister.[12]
[edit] Later life
In June 1953, when he was 78, Churchill suffered a stroke after at 10 Downing Street. News of this was kept from the public and from Parliament, who were told that Churchill was suffering from exhaustion. He went to his country home, Chartwell, to recuperate from the effects of the stroke which had affected his speech and ability to walk.[9] He returned to public life in October to make a speech at a Conservative Party conference at Margate.[9][13] However aware that he was slowing down both physically and mentally, Churchill retired as Prime Minister in 1955 and was succeeded by Anthony Eden. Upon his resignation, the Queen offered him a dukedom but he declined the offer.[14] Over the coming years Churchill spent less time in parliament. He continued to serve as an MP for Woodford until he stood down for the last time at the 1964 General Elections.
In 1959, he became Father of the House, the MP with the longest continuous service: he had already gained the distinction of being the only MP to be elected under both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. On July 24, 1964, Churchill was present in the House of Commons for the last time and recieved a resolution by the House in his honour.[15]
Churchill spent most of his retirement at his Chartwell House in Kent and at his home in Hyde Park Gate, in London.[9] As Churchill's mental and physical faculties decayed, he began to lose the battle he had fought for so long against the "black dog" of depression.[citation needed] In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, acting under authorisation granted by an Act of Congress, proclaimed Churchill the first Honorary Citizen of the United States.[16] Churchill was however physically incapable of attending the White House ceremony. As his family life grew more despondent (he was unable to resolve the love–hate relationship between himself and his son) Churchill was also to suffer a further two strokes during the 1960's.[9] On 15 January 1965, Churchill suffered another stroke, this time a severe cerebral thrombosis that left him gravely ill. He died at his home nine days later, at age 90, shortly after eight o'clock on the morning of Sunday 24 January 1965, coincidentally 70 years to the day after his father's death.[17]
[edit] Funeral
By decree of the Queen, his body lay in state for three days and a state funeral service was held at St Paul's Cathedral.[18] This was the first state funeral for a non-royal family member since 1914, and no other of its kind has been held since.[19] As his coffin passed down the Thames on the Havengore, dockers lowered their crane jibs in a salute.[20] The Royal Artillery fired a 19-gun salute (as head of government), and the RAF staged a fly-by of sixteen English Electric Lightning fighters. The funeral also saw the largest assemblage of statesmen in the world until 2005.[21]
In the fields along the route, and at the stations through which the train passed, thousands stood in silence to pay their last respects. At Churchill's request, he was buried in the family plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace.
