In
a previous post (see “Tributes to Allied Leaders, Part I," November 1, 2015) I
discussed Charles Gibson Jr.’s poetic tribute to President Franklin D.
Roosevelt following Roosevelt’s passing, which Charlie sent to President
Truman, Roosevelt’s successor. In this post, I will discuss Charlie’s ode to
Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Writing
to the editor of the New York Times
in late 1944, Charlie requested that his “To Winston Churchill” be published in
both the Times of London and New
York. The simultaneous publication, he wrote, could “make a complete
international gesture.” As Charlie would later write to MIT Chairman Karl T.
Compton, “one of my efforts has been Anglo-American, as well as world[,]
fellowship.” Charlie certainly held a lifelong interest in international
diplomacy and goodwill (in fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he were a supporter
of the United Nations when it was created after the Second World War). However,
nothing came of Charlie’s plans for an “international gesture.” The Times rejected his poem for publication.
But
1949 presented a new opportunity for Charlie’s poem to be read and appreciated,
and MIT Chairman Compton would prove vital in this respect. That year MIT held
a convocation for members of the scientific community “to appraise the state of
the post-war world, [and] to consider the progress of scientific enterprise.”
The event’s keynote speaker was Winston Churchill.
