A Little Happier

How, in my own life, do I live up to the highest ideals of the United States?

Reading Harold Nicolson’s reflection about what an Englishman would do reminds me of that question, in my own life — which is a question for us all.

Here’s the entire passage that I read from Harold Nicolson’s Diary of June 10, 1941, when he was working at the wartime Ministry of Information:

The Middle East have no sense of publicity. The Admiralty is even worse. We complain that there are no photographs of the sinking of the Bismarck. Tripp says that the official photographer was in the Suffolk and that the Suffolk was too far away. We say, ‘But why didn’t one of our reconnaissance machines fly over the ship and take photographs?’ He replies, ‘Well you see, you must see, well upon my word, well after all, an Englishman would not like to take snapshots of a fine vessel sinking.’ Is he right? I felt abashed when he said it. I think he is right.

I’ve read that story dozens of times, and I choke up every time I read it. “An Englishman would not like to take snapshots of a fine vessel sinking.” What does that tell us about the English at that time, and their view of themselves, and their ideals — and how they felt compelled by those ideals, even under the most extreme conditions?

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If you’d like to read my biography of Winston Churchill, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill, you can learn more here. What a joy it was to write that book! What a subject.