Dr. Robert C. Jeffrey
Associate Professor of Government

Govt. 490 - Churchill Seminar

Syllabus for Spring 2003

Dr. Robert Jeffrey
206 Daniel Building
Office Phone: x4581
Home Phone: 948-1297
E-mail: jeffreyrc@wofford.edu or rcjeffrey@home.com
 Office Hours: MWF 2:00-3:00; TTH 10:30-11:30 or any time you can find me
Required Books

Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life: A Roving Commission
Winston S. Churchill, The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life
Course plan and Assignments:
February 10
Churchill's Education and Early Life I
Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life: A Roving Commission, pp. 1-181
Winston S. Churchill, “The Jovial Times” (xeroxed)
John Lukacs, “Churchill The Visionary” (xeroxed)
Geoffrey Best, “Unwillingly To School” (xeroxed)
Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life, pp. xvii-83 (Recommended)
Required in Gilbert: pp. 1-2, 12-13, 23, 36-39, 55-57, 67-70, 75-77, 82-83
February 17
Churchill’s Education and Early Life II
Churchill, My Early Life, pp. 182-372
Aristotle, On the Great-Souled Man (xeroxed)
Geoffrey Best, “Willingly to War” “Clementine and the Commons”
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 85-165 (Recommended)
Required in Gilbert: pp. 86-88, 89-90, 99-100, 101, 114-116, 129-131, 135-138, 143-144, 151-152, 154-155, 156, 160-165
February 24
Churchill on Civilizing Empire I
Winston S. Churchill, The River War, Chs. I-VII
Kirk Emmert, “Winston S. Churchill On Civilizing Empire” (xeroxed)
March 3
Churchill on Civilizing Empire II
Churchill, The River War, Chs. VIII-XIX
John Lukacs, “Churchill’s Historianship” (xeroxed)
Algis Valiunas, “The Imperial Wars” (xeroxed)
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 497-501, 519-520
March 10
The World Crisis I
Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis, Bk. I, pp. 3-89, 100-175
Wayne C. Thompson, “WSC: The Statesman as Strategist” (xeroxed)
Required in Gilbert: pp. 167, 172-173, 175, 184-185, 188-189, 190-191, 196, 205, 208, 239-275
March 17
World Crisis II
Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis, Bk. I, pp. 196-216, 276-293; Bk II, pp. 297-335, 352-416, 427-433
Jeff Wallin, “Politics and Strategy in the Dardanelles Operation” (xerox)
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 277-331
March 31
World Crisis III and Loose Ends: Bolshevism
Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis, Bk. II, pp. 434-575, 848-849 Algis Valiunas, “The World Crisis”
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 331-374
April 7
Thoughts Amid Adventures, and More Loose Ends: The Mideast
Winston S. Churchill, Amid These Storms: Thoughts and Adventures (xeroxed excerpts of “A Second Choice,” “Consistency in Politics,” “Shall We All Commit Suicide,” “Mass Effects in Modern Life,” “Fifty Years Hence,” “Moses: The Leader of a People”)
Winston S. Churchill, Great Contemporaries (xeroxed excerpts of: “The Earl of Rosebury,” “F. E. First Earl of Birkenhead,” “Arthur James Balfour,” “John Morley,” Herbert H Henry Asquith,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Hitler and His Choice”)
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 403-465
April 14
Appeasement and WSC in the Wilderness I
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm, pp. 3-206
John Lukacs, “Churchill, Europe, and Appeasement” (xeroxed)
Geoffrey Best, “Chartwell and Hitler”
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 491-570 (Recommended)
Required in Gilbert: pp. 506-508, 511-514, 516, 523-524, 546-547, 556-558, 561-563, 564-567
April 21
Appeasement II and The Coming of War
Churchill, The Gathering Storm, pp. 207-410, 440-449, 476, 658-667
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 571-643 (Recommended)
Required in Gilbert: pp. 571-601, 604, 610, 612, 614, 615, 616, 617-621, 638-643
April 28
Finest Hour; Churchill As War Leader
Winston S. Churchill, Speeches of May-June, 1940 (xeroxed)
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 645-776
John Lukacs, Five Days in London (xeroxed excerpts)
Eliot Cohen, “Churchill Asks a Question” (WSC’s Leadership in Wartime) (xeroxed)
May 5
Triumph and Tragedy; Appreciations
Winston S, Churchill, “Fulton Speech,” Last Speech
John Lukacs, “Churchill and Stalin,” “Churchill and Roosevelt,” “Churchill and Eisenhower” (xeroxed)
John Lukacs, “Churchill’s Funeral” (xeroxed)
Martin Gilbert, Churchill, pp. 777-941
Final Exam
Course Requirements:
Quizzes/Participation 25%
Seminar Reports 25%
Term Paper(10-12pp.) 25%
Final Examination 25%


Quizzes will be given at the beginning of every seminar class over the readings for the week. The reports will be assigned in a manner determined by the professor. The purpose of the report will be to introduce the reading and raise questions for discussion. Term Paper topics will be chosen by midterm in consultation with me. Term Papers are due Friday May 9th. Because Churchill and Churchill’s career touch on a multitude of things, the term paper will permit you to pursue further a certain topic of particular interest to you personally. I will discuss possible topics at the first class meeting.

You will also be summoned to attend a celebration of the feast day of St. George, Patron Saint of England, on Wednesday, April 23rd at the home of Dr. and Dr. Jeffrey. This is in lieu of Churchill’s Birthday, which falls on November 30th. St. George’s Day is also the birthday and death day of William Shakespeare. Toasts will be proposed and British hymns shall be sung.


Dr. Robert Jeffrey
Daniel 206
597-4581 (office)
948-1297 (home)
jeffreyrc@wofford.edu


Homepage for Dr. Robert C. Jeffrey

 Last Update: Ocobert 28, 2003