Memory: Churchill and the US lures of the quagmire

‘Churchill’ has been used as a powerful lure in US collective memory on questions of military intervention and defiance. While the history of Winston Churchill is extensive and complicated the image of him in US collective memory has been reduced to a narrower image and understanding of him set around resolution, defiance, individual heroism as an antidote to the discourses and memories of appeasement. US presidents have a proclivity to reach for a memorable phrase or quotation from Churchill when considering questions of defiance and intervention. While the common aphorism suggests that lessons from the past that are unlearned will be repeated, it does not engage the issue of memory. Collective memory, as opposed to history, provides a consciousness that can be used by speechwriters and presidents to galvanise, define and motivate public opinion under particular circumstances.