Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn wears the memory of Winston Churchill on his sleeve — literally.
As an undergraduate student, Arnn would not have predicted he’d write a dissertation on the twice elected prime minister of the United Kingdom, let alone an entire book on him — Arnn’s latest, “Churchill’s Trial: Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government,” is scheduled for release Tuesday, Oct. 13.
During one summer in the midst of graduate school, Arnn’s “warrior” boxer got into a fight with another dog. As Arnn tried to break up the altercation, the other dog bit him on the wrist.
His hand swelled to the extent that Arnn became bedridden while house-sitting for a friend, who had written a doctoral thesis on Churchill.
“What was lying near my bed were lots of Churchill books, and I had studied a little in two graduate classes, but now here was all these books, and they were the ones I could reach,” Arnn said.
He picked up “The World Crisis, 1911-1914 Vol. I,” and after two weeks, Arnn’s hand had healed — except for a small white scar that remains visible on his wrist to this day — and he had completed all six volumes of the collection as well as part of “Marlborough: His Life and Times.”
“I just loved it,” Arnn said. “I was a young, ambitious man, interested in politics, interested in saving the country, interested in understanding the country. Here is this very powerful explanation.”
Now, 41 years later, after reading the very of Churchill and working underneath his official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, Arnn is publishing his own book on the decisions Churchill made after spending the past two years writing it.
“Churchill’s Trial” looks at what it means to be a modern statesman: the principles to display, the ways in which to deal with crisis, and how to look at new developments.
“Churchill was an assertive statesman, but he sought to mitigate and control the power of statesmanship through constitutionalism and through the practice of justice, which includes the protection of human freedom,” Arnn said.
While researching Churchill, Arnn said he learned more about practical ideas of how to get things done as well as the purpose of politics and life.
“The reason it took so long to write the book is, in my opinion, it takes so long to learn about those subjects, unless you’re someone like him who seems to pick it up pretty quick,” Arnn said.
While the book is heavily influenced by what he learned from Gilbert, Arnn’s work stands alone.
“I do not pretend the book is the sort he would write,” Arnn said. “Why would one do that, his being so good? But if my book is good, it has much to do with him.”
He also said Claremont Graduate University Professor Harry Jaffa influenced many of the ideas in the book.
Arnn said readers will get an understanding of who Churchill was, what a statesman is, and how Churchill went about being one.
“I also think Churchill gave a profound account of the nature of our times, the problems and the opportunities the times present,” Arnn said. “I think he gave clearest explanation than anybody I’ve read about that and hope they learn what that looks that.”
For Arnn, the book was not easy to write, especially the section on Churchill’s views of social reform that he knew Martin would “frown about” had he ignored it.
“He hoped to invent the welfare state,” Arnn said. “What was that about? I didn’t like that part when I first got started.”
As Arnn wrestled with the topic, he came to the understanding that this issue was important to Churchill. It centers on the idea that although he changed parties twice and found himself on the left and the right at different times, Churchill said he was more consistent than anyone he ever knew, Arnn said.
“I tried to put together a story of why this makes sense,” Arnn said. “You have to set out to do that because that’s harder.”
Senior Elizabeth Green took Arnn’s class on Churchill last semester. The discussion on this particular issue resonated with her.
“Churchill never wanted to take struggles away from them. He knew humans become humans through the sufferings and trials of life. To take that away would take away that humanity,” Green said. “That really has stuck with me.”
Even though Arnn struggled with Churchill’s views of this topic, he maintains a passion for learning and sharing Churchill’s story.
“Dr. Arnn loves Churchill,” junior Josh Shaw, who also took his class, said. “‘I’m going to study this the rest of my life.’ It’s amazing for someone to say that when they’re 20 and still be doing that with so much passion when they’re 60. Makes you think, ‘What bearing does Churchill have on me, on my life, as a potential leader?’”