- On Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 our Evening with Churchill featured speaker Dennis Molnar, an historian, who spoke on The Falklands War. For centuries, sovereignty over the small, barren and unstrategic Falkland Islands has been in dispute. Despite the preceding decades of Diplomatic Negotiations, Argentina invaded the Islands in April of 1982 but were ousted by a massive British Task Force within two months. Dennis’ lecture a looked at: The causes of the War and why Diplomacy was unable to prevent it; The British Harrier Fighter, the Argentine Exocet and other weapon systems; British Warships vulnerabilities; the sinking of the Argentine ship “General Belgrano” when it was outside the 200 mile Total Exclusion Zone and headed away from the Falkland Islands towards Argentina; and the initial British Naval strategy to control the Seas and Air before the Land Invasion failed and what the British did to remedy it. Special guest Capt. George McHugh (Ret.) who served with the Royal Navy during the Falklands War also answer questions.
- On Thursday, September 17th, 2009 our Evening with Churchill featured speaker Dr. Andre Gerolymatos, Chair of Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University, who spoke on the topic “Churchill and the British Intelligence Community. Churchill can legitimately be described as the godfather of Britain’s, intelligence organizations and by extension those of the United States. Early in his career, Churchill became a practitioner and advocate of secret intelligence operations and was convinced that espionage as well as guerrilla warfare would impact on state policy in peace and war. In 1909, when the British Government created the Secret Service Bureau, the forerunner of MI6 and MI5, Churchill was President of the Board of Trade and a member of the Cabinet. In 1911, he was a member of the committee that drafted the Official Secrets Act and in 1914 he established the Royal Navy’s Room 40, which pioneered Signals Intelligence. In 1940, he authorized the creation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) that went on to play a critical role in in the development of European resistance against the Axis forces. The SOE became the model for the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1942 and the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. The impact of Churchill’s legacy in the intelligence and guerrilla warfare continues to resonate in the covert operations practiced by dozens of governments throughout the world.
- On Monday, May 4th, 2009 our Annual Banquet featured speaker Professor Deborah Winslow Nutter who spoke on “Winston and Clementine”. Her current research focuses in the critical role of spouses in the inner circle around world leaders and how they exercise strong political influence and create the conditions for success or failure at key moments in history. In this regards, she is currently writing a book on Clementine and Winston Churchill. She has researched the relationship of Winston and Clementine extensively including considerable discussion directly with The Lady Soames. Professor Nutter intends to publish a book on the topic. Winston and Clementine were married in September, 1908, just over 100 years ago.
- On Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 our Evening with Churchill featured speaker David Freeman who spoke on the topic “Churchill’s Role in the Ratification and Implementation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.” When Winston Churchill became colonial Secretary in March 1921 he was charged with two tasks: bring peace to the Middle East and Ireland. In January 2008 Professor David Freeman of the California State University, Fullerton spoke before our Society and described Churchill’s role in the Middle East settlement that resulted in the creation of Iraq. He returned for this meeting to tell the other half of the story: Churchill’s role in the ratification and implementation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that resulted in the creation of the Irish Free State but also the partitioning of the island that still haunts the nation today.