Byline: KERRY DOUGHERTY
At last. He's one of us.
Winston Churchill.
No longer is he merely one of the giants of the 20th century, a great wit, brilliant orator, wonderful writer and "lover of liberty."
Finally, Churchill has the crown jewel: He's a Virginian.
This week, in an uncharacteristic display of unity, both houses of the General Assembly voted unanimously to make Sir Winston S. Churchill an honorary citizen of the commonwealth.
I hesitate to point this out, but they're late. Churchill died in 1965. Who's next for citizenship, Richard the Lion-Hearted?
I know, I know. There is nothing to be gained by poking fun at something every single member of the legislature thinks is a splendid idea.
Still, I find myself going back to Thursday's Pilot and reading the same story over and over.
"Now, he is Virginia's newest citizen," chirped the merry headline.
What took them so long?
This move looks like a diversionary tactic by beleaguered lawmakers who are being pilloried because of the state's snarled highways. The Assembly session is supposed to end today, but it seems destined for extra innings as the legislators remain deadlocked over transportation.
"'We are going to stay here day in, day out, night in, night out,' until a budget that funds transportation is adopted, vowed Sen. John H. Chichester," reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Friday afternoon.
That's grim. By contrast, the Churchill resolution is a ray of Richmond sunshine.
Filled with characteristic run-on sentences, semi colons and whereases, the resolution recounts Churchill's visit to the capital on a drizzly day 60 years ago. The former prime minister of England slept in a "private pullman," was greeted by 30,000 enthusiastic fans and delivered a 20-minute speech in the House of Delegates to a standing-room-only audience of 600 dignitaries, the resolution says.
Swell. Why didn't the boys in Richmond make Churchill an honorary citizen back then, when he could have enjoyed it?
The resolution impishly notes that after breakfasting alone that day, Churchill "refused to meet with reporters."
No wonder they're honoring him.
Churchill's ties to America were always strong. His mother was a New Yorker, and he wrote and spoke often about the "shared history" of the English-speaking world.
When President John F. Kennedy made Churchill an honorary American citizen in April 1963, Churchill seemed genuinely touched.
Of course, he was still alive then.
According to the Churchill Centre's Web site, it was Randolph Churchill who accepted the honor and read a speech penned by his 88-year-old father back in England.
On Friday morning, I talked about Winston Churchill with William S. Rodner, an adjunct professor of history at Old Dominion University and a professor at Tidewater Community College.
I wondered what Sir Winston would make of Virginia politics today.
Rodner thought for a moment, then said Churchill might feel at home in Richmond, Tory that he was. He noted that the British conservative was a fan of "small government and a strong national defense."
That said, Churchill might have grown impatient with the General Assembly, for its annoying habit of wasting time during the session on ridiculous nonsense while leaving important issues unresolved.
"Churchill was very good at focusing on what was important," Rodner told me.
Now that Churchill is a Virginian, perhaps Richmond politicians might draw inspiration from one of the thousands of quotations attributed to him.
Here's one from the Internet that supposedly was uttered by Churchill during a 1941 BBC broadcast:
"We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."
We Virginians, stuck in traffic, can only hope.
nReach Kerry at (757) 446-2306 or kerry.dougherty@cox.net.
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