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Churchill's American Network: Winston Churchill and the Forging of the Special Relationship
A revelatory portrait showing how the famed British statesman created a network of American colleagues who helped push American foreign policy in Britain’s favor during World War II.
Winston Churchill was the consummate networker. Using newly discovered documents and archives, Churchill’s American Network reveals how the famed British politician found a network of American men and women who would push American foreign policy in Britain’s direction during World War II—while at the same time producing lucrative speaking fees to support his lavish lifestyle.
Stelzer has gathered contemporary local newspaper reports of Churchill’s lecture tours in many American cities, as well as interactions with leaders of local American communities—what he said in public, what he said at private meetings, how he comported himself. Readers observe Churchill as he is escorted by an armed Scotland Yard detective, aided by local police when Indian nationalists threaten to assassinate him, while he travels in deluxe private rail cars provided by wealthy members of his network; and as he recovers from a near-death automobile crash—with the help of liquor prescribed by a friendly doctor with no use for Prohibition.
The links in Churchill’s network include some of fascinating American figures: he millionaire financier Bernard Baruch; the railroad magnate, Averell Harriman, who became an FDR-Churchill go-between; media moguls William Randolph Hearst (and wife and mistress); Robert R. McCormick—who attacked Churchill’s policies but enjoyed his company—and Charles Luce, who made him TIME’s Man of the Year and later Man of the Century; and bit players such as Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, and David Niven.
It is no accident that Churchill was able to put these links together into an important network that served to his, and Britain’s, advantage. He worked at it relentlessly, remaining in close contact with his American friends by letter, signed copies of his many books, and by attending to their needs when they were in Britain. Many of these colleagues were invited to dinners at Chartwell and, later, Downing Street. Perhaps most importantly, Churchill’s network of American allies had Franklin Roosevelt’s ear while the president was deciding how to overcome opposition in congress to helping Britain take on the threat from Germany—which became a fundamental step in the victory to come against Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Winston Churchill was the consummate networker. Using newly discovered documents and archives, Churchill’s American Network reveals how the famed British politician found a network of American men and women who would push American foreign policy in Britain’s direction during World War II—while at the same time producing lucrative speaking fees to support his lavish lifestyle.
Stelzer has gathered contemporary local newspaper reports of Churchill’s lecture tours in many American cities, as well as interactions with leaders of local American communities—what he said in public, what he said at private meetings, how he comported himself. Readers observe Churchill as he is escorted by an armed Scotland Yard detective, aided by local police when Indian nationalists threaten to assassinate him, while he travels in deluxe private rail cars provided by wealthy members of his network; and as he recovers from a near-death automobile crash—with the help of liquor prescribed by a friendly doctor with no use for Prohibition.
The links in Churchill’s network include some of fascinating American figures: he millionaire financier Bernard Baruch; the railroad magnate, Averell Harriman, who became an FDR-Churchill go-between; media moguls William Randolph Hearst (and wife and mistress); Robert R. McCormick—who attacked Churchill’s policies but enjoyed his company—and Charles Luce, who made him TIME’s Man of the Year and later Man of the Century; and bit players such as Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, and David Niven.
It is no accident that Churchill was able to put these links together into an important network that served to his, and Britain’s, advantage. He worked at it relentlessly, remaining in close contact with his American friends by letter, signed copies of his many books, and by attending to their needs when they were in Britain. Many of these colleagues were invited to dinners at Chartwell and, later, Downing Street. Perhaps most importantly, Churchill’s network of American allies had Franklin Roosevelt’s ear while the president was deciding how to overcome opposition in congress to helping Britain take on the threat from Germany—which became a fundamental step in the victory to come against Hitler’s Nazi regime.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2023
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107 people want to read
About the author
Cita Stelzer
5 books5 followersA freelance journalist and a Research Associate at the Hudson Institution, Cita Stelzer previously worked for John Lindsay, Mayor of New York, and Governor Hugh Carey.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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May 8, 2024For seven decades the powerful, influential and successful beat a path to Winston Churchill’s door. He shook hands with every prime minister from Lord Rosebery to Mrs Thatcher, and almost every president from William McKinley to Richard Nixon. He talked physics with Albert Einstein, cinema with Charlie Chaplin, imperialism with Mark Twain and art with Walter Sickert. He angered Theodore Roosevelt, admired John F. Kennedy, mentored Edward Heath and was accosted by Frank Sinatra. He lived a life so packed with meaning and ministerial office – and of such historical significance – that he can make his contemporaries seem rather small by comparison. The result is that – in books about Churchill – his friends, colleagues, acquaintances and foes often appear as fish do to a scuba diver; darting briefly into view before disappearing back into the gloom.
Yet these relationships mattered to Churchill, both personally and professionally. His collaboration with Herbert Henry Asquith and David Lloyd George created much of the modern welfare state; his work with Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Charles de Gaulle and Harry Truman moulded the postwar world. And, throughout his career, he was supported, informed, inspired and assisted by a whole host of others – politicians, bankers, industrialists, scientists, journalists and publishers – who can be, often unfairly, reduced by historians to a footnote.
Cita Stelzer’s Churchill’s American Network and David Reynolds’ Mirrors of Greatness attempt to redress the balance, taking Churchill’s relationships as their subject. In doing so, they explain what Churchill’s contemporaries meant to him, saw in him, did for him – and how they changed history. Each book, in its own way, drags important men and women out of Churchill’s orbit and stands them alongside him.
As its title suggests, Stelzer’s book focuses on North America, covering Churchill’s various visits to the US during the first 40 years of the 20th century. In narrating his travels across the booming continent, Stelzer ably recounts the hands that Churchill shook and the relationships that resulted, as he seemingly met with every important industrialist, banker, politician, general, admiral and commentator – usually while touring the country as a paid speaker. William Randolph Hearst, J.P. Morgan Jr, John D. Rockefeller and scores of others all crossed his path and, once back in Britain, Churchill kept these contacts warm through meetings, occasional letters and gifts of signed books. By the time that he became prime minister in 1940, Churchill acolytes, boosters and sympathisers could be found scattered across North America. When Roosevelt required information on Britain, its fighting chances and the character of its prime minister, Churchill’s network stood ready to provide it. Figures including the journalist Edward R. Murrow, fresh from London, were able to assure the president that Churchill’s resolve to fight was strong. These contacts, Stelzer writes, ‘were a helpful offset to the noninterventionist, isolationist, even pro-German background of [US] public opinion’ in the early years of the Second World War. On this, Stelzer is convincing: she ably demonstrates the help that Churchill’s contacts gave Roosevelt as he struggled to lend support to a beleaguered Britain in the aftermath of the catastrophe of Dunkirk. Stelzer presents Churchill as an accomplished networker who was very conscious of the power of personal relationships.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Joel Nelson is working on a book about John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill for PublicAffairs.
Yet these relationships mattered to Churchill, both personally and professionally. His collaboration with Herbert Henry Asquith and David Lloyd George created much of the modern welfare state; his work with Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Charles de Gaulle and Harry Truman moulded the postwar world. And, throughout his career, he was supported, informed, inspired and assisted by a whole host of others – politicians, bankers, industrialists, scientists, journalists and publishers – who can be, often unfairly, reduced by historians to a footnote.
Cita Stelzer’s Churchill’s American Network and David Reynolds’ Mirrors of Greatness attempt to redress the balance, taking Churchill’s relationships as their subject. In doing so, they explain what Churchill’s contemporaries meant to him, saw in him, did for him – and how they changed history. Each book, in its own way, drags important men and women out of Churchill’s orbit and stands them alongside him.
As its title suggests, Stelzer’s book focuses on North America, covering Churchill’s various visits to the US during the first 40 years of the 20th century. In narrating his travels across the booming continent, Stelzer ably recounts the hands that Churchill shook and the relationships that resulted, as he seemingly met with every important industrialist, banker, politician, general, admiral and commentator – usually while touring the country as a paid speaker. William Randolph Hearst, J.P. Morgan Jr, John D. Rockefeller and scores of others all crossed his path and, once back in Britain, Churchill kept these contacts warm through meetings, occasional letters and gifts of signed books. By the time that he became prime minister in 1940, Churchill acolytes, boosters and sympathisers could be found scattered across North America. When Roosevelt required information on Britain, its fighting chances and the character of its prime minister, Churchill’s network stood ready to provide it. Figures including the journalist Edward R. Murrow, fresh from London, were able to assure the president that Churchill’s resolve to fight was strong. These contacts, Stelzer writes, ‘were a helpful offset to the noninterventionist, isolationist, even pro-German background of [US] public opinion’ in the early years of the Second World War. On this, Stelzer is convincing: she ably demonstrates the help that Churchill’s contacts gave Roosevelt as he struggled to lend support to a beleaguered Britain in the aftermath of the catastrophe of Dunkirk. Stelzer presents Churchill as an accomplished networker who was very conscious of the power of personal relationships.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Joel Nelson is working on a book about John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill for PublicAffairs.
May 26, 2024
A valuable book for students of Winston Churchill. The book gives a lot of insight into his methodology, as well as other aspects of his personality. He was an incredibly hard worker. He also had the upper class British penchant for gambling and living well, but because of his forebears' penchant for spending lacked the fortune to support it. Early on he determined that his skill as a writer and lecturer could be put to good use making money, and the United States was the place to do it. His output of lectures and magazine articles, even while on tour, was incredible, not to mention working on books, too. More important, in terms of world events, was Churchill's knack for forming relationships with the people he met, even those politically opposed to him, and maintaining those relationships over the years. This network of friends and acquaintances was invaluable to him when the war came. It's evidence of Churchill's unmatched skill as a politician and a statesman.
November 21, 2025
3.5 stars! In Churchill’s time, the public got the news from newspapers and magazines. This author’s research is largely sourced from local and national press reports of Churchill’s US visits, ranging from where he went and with whom, to local responses at his public lectures, his humorous quips, what he ate and how he rated his accommodations. Stelzer brings to life a cast of characters Churchill brought into his network, among them William Randolph Hearst, Charlie Chaplin, Edward R Murrow, and of course Bernard Baruch.
Well written but with some redundancies that should have been picked up by the editor.
Recommended!
Well written but with some redundancies that should have been picked up by the editor.
Recommended!
October 14, 2025
This book is atrociously edited. Frequently, whole sentences and sometimes whole paragraphs are repeated verbatim several pages apart. What's worse is the many mistakes of fact: Churchill's ancestor the Duke of Marlborough did NOT defeat Napoleon at Waterloo, Churchill won the Nobel Prize, NOT the Pulitzer, Gettysburg is NOT in Virginia, Kay Summersby was Irish, NOT American.... I could go on. Would have been an interesting book, but I can't trust anything in it. Not recommended.
March 2, 2024
An engaging trip through Churchill’s development of his American group of friends and contacts. The book is only let down by the poor editing found in sections. There are sections of paragraphs and sentences that repeat which should have been picked up at the final review.
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January 15, 2026The vast array of influential people that he met and knew over the years; quite amazing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews