Winston Churchill's The Gathering Storm

In 1953, the citation for the Nobel Prize in Literature noted its conferral for “mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.” The Laureate was Winston Spencer Churchill and the literary work proximate to the conferral of the Prize was Churchill’s six-volume history, The Second World War.

The first volume of The Second World War, titled The Gathering Storm, covers European and world events from the end of the First World War in 1918 up until the beginning of Churchill’s time as Prime Minister in May of 1940, covering Churchill’s narrative description of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the League of Nations, the Great Depression, and the rise of Hitler in Germany and the rise of imperial Japan, as well as Churchill’s account (and critique) of British and American foreign policy in the inter-war period.

Beyond the historical insights, Churchill’s lucid narrative and vivid voice conveys his incomparable perspective as both a close observer and an effective agent in this critical time. Over five sessions, this seminar will grapple with concrete instances where good intentions prove disastrous, a desire for justice proves dangerous, and hope proves deadly. On the other hand, the conversation will also reflect on moments of moral clarity, prudential consideration, and profound conviction.

Image: Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary, 1911

Prof. Zeitlin on Churchill

This course is offered by Humanities at Hertog. It takes place weekly on Sundays, via Zoom, from 4 PM to 6 PM ET. Fellows will receive a $150 Amazon Bookshelf voucher contingent upon participation in the course and completion of a brief response paper. All course materials will be provided.

Faculty

Samuel Garrett Zeitlin

Samuel Zeitlin is Lecturer in Modern Intellectual History at University College London, specializing in political thought, international relations, and the history of philosophy.

Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session

Sunday | Oct. 5

Sunday | Oct. 12

Sunday | Oct. 19

Sunday | Oct. 26

Sunday | Nov. 2

WHO SHOULD APPLY

Undergradute and graduate students, recent graduates, and young professionals are all eligible to apply. Up to 15 fellows will be selected for this course. Admissions are made on a rolling basis.

Application Requirements

CV OR RÉSUMÉ
ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPT

Unofficial; required only for currently enrolled students & recent graduates.
PERSONAL STATEMENT

Please provide a brief account (approximately 300-500 words) of your interest in your selected seminars.
WRITING SAMPLE

12 pages maximum; double-spaced. Please send academic writing that best showcases your ability to invent and sustain a persuasive argument, no matter the subject-matter.
ACADEMIC OR PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE

Provide the name and contact information of a professor, mentor, or supervisor.

Apply Now

Alumni Spotlight

Elliot Kaufman

Elliot Kaufman, who grew up in Toronto, realized he wanted a career in ideas after spending a summer with the Political Studies Program. He works for The Wall Street Journal as the paper’s Letters Editor.

“Hertog opened my mind to what was possible; I saw that ideas aren’t just something you study at university. They can launch and sustain careers.”

Elliot Kaufman

Current Position:

Letters Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Past:

Robert L. Bartley Fellow, The Wall Street Journal; National Review
Education:

Stanford University

How did you first hear about the Hertog Foundation? Why did you decide to apply?

I think I came across it on the email list for The Stanford Review. The Hertog program almost sounded too good to be true. I couldn’t believe that there were opportunities out there like that—let alone that they would even pay you to take them up.

At the time I was halfway through my freshman year at Stanford, and I just thought that the stuff I was learning was interesting and the professors were okay, but it wasn’t what I was expecting: the discoveries that would make me rethink what I had come in with, really challenge myself. Hertog sounded like exactly what I was missing, even at a school like Stanford.

Talk a little bit about your career path. How does Hertog fit in to your professional goals?

Looking back on it, it doesn’t seem like that much of a surprise that I’m in journalism and working for The Wall Street Journal. I started reading the newspaper very young.

I arrived at Hertog with some vague notion that I would end up working in “business.” I walked into my apartment that summer, and the three other guys living with me—two were entering Ph.D. programs in political philosophy and the other one, the slacker of the bunch I guess, was entering Columbia Law School. They put me—18 years old, the youngest student in the entire program – with the cohort’s three oldest students.

It was such a gift. Hertog opened my mind to what was possible; I saw that ideas aren’t just something you study at university. They can launch and sustain careers. And at the end of summer my roommates joined together to buy me a book, The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom. A summer of Hertog and then reading that book—together the experience changed my life. I realized I was missing something, and it helped me to redirect.

What sticks out in your memory about your educational experience with Hertog Programs?

I had some amazing professors who got me to ask questions I hadn’t even considered, that I didn’t know anyone was considering. It had a huge impact on me. Among those I would name Robert Bartlett on Aristotle and Darren Staloff on Lincoln.

Reading “What is Political Philosophy?” by Leo Strauss on the first night and then discussing it with my roommates—that’s the memory that stands out. It’s the intellectual excitement: Keeping the education going over dinner with my roommates, then coming back to the room and still continuing the conversation, and really living with the questions and readings.

I keep in touch with my roommates and several other people in the program, and they’re all over the place – in DC especially, New York City and elsewhere. It’s an amazing network of people.

Overall, what is your impression of Hertog Programs?

You get sharp kids who challenge each to think deeper and consider new arguments together. You have teachers who bring the issues alive by treating them as fundamental, as human questions. I didn’t have that elsewhere, and I was grateful to be able to experience in the summer what my university should have given me.

Do you think Hertog Programs are beneficial for young people interested in journalism?

The world of reading great books and the world of opinion journalism are not entirely shut off from each other. I find that the best opinion journalists, even if they don’t advertise how many books they’ve read in every single column, it helps inform their writing and can give them an extra edge.

On a more practical note, when I needed to find a job, one of the first people I emailed and spoke to was [Hertog director] Cheryl Miller, who was helpful in introducing me to people all over New York and D.C., and my phone call with her probably led to five other phone calls.

Another thing is meeting people your age, many of whom are going on to similar activities, like you are going out into the world together. Especially for people like me who are not from New York or DC and are moving there. Just having that network, that can be very helpful, too.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In a similar job, or embarking on something different?

I think something similar—really I hope I can stay at the WSJ. Certainly, something that allows me to edit and write. One of the great things is that there are so many conservative magazines in New York and DC that need people to write and edit and to understand that kind of intellectual landscape and do well in it.