Sir Winston Churchill and the Special Relationship

The Special Relationship “I am, as you know, half American by blood, and the story of my association with that mighty and benevolent nation goes back nearly ninety years to the day of my father’s marriage." Winston S. Churchill April, 1963

Winston Churchill was half-American, he felt half-American, having great respect and affection for the young country. His mother, Jennie Jerome of Brooklyn, New York came from a wealthy and powerful family; her father Leonard Jerome was proprietor and editor of the New York Times.

Through his American ancestors his forebears can be traced in the American War of Independence and fought with George Washington’s army at Valley Forge. Although born into the elite aristocracy at Blenheim Palace in 1874, one of Churchill’s greatest traits was an insatiable desire to live and learn; he found many like-minded people in America.

President Kennedy formalised the association by conferring the great honor of citizenship of the United States of America at the White House, Washington D.C. on April 9th, 1963. President Kennedy proclaimed . . .

“Sir Winston Churchill, a son of America though a subject of Britain, has been throughout his life a firm and steadfast friend of the American people and the American nation…”

The national and state tributes are incredible for their number and significance, one of the more recent is the USS Winston S. Churchill.