Winston Churchill's Crash Course: A Roaring Ride Through 1920s America
In the heady days before the Great Crash of 1929, a leisurely vacation by a British politician across Canada and the United States offered this prescient statesman an unparalleled glimpse into the coming economic collapse that would become the Great Depression.
As we now know, Winston Churchill’s private railcar tour of North America in the early autumn of 1929 unwittingly became an eyewitness account of the last days of the Roaring Twenties.
Traveling with his family through the varied landscapes of Canada and the United States, Churchill encountered a continent brimming with confidence and prosperity.
Churchill’s journey took him from the lumber camps of Quebec to Hearst’s Xanadu on the California coast, with whistle stops at Chicago slaughterhouses and Hoover’s White House in between. He hobnobbed with the elite of the era - Mackenzie King, Bernard Baruch, Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin - at garden parties and film sets.
But his keen observer’s eye also spotted the worrying signs of excess and fragility in America’s newfound riches.
Churchill in New York City
On the eve of the Great Crash, Winston Churchill sailed into New York Harbor.
It was October 24, 1929 - soon to become known as Black Thursday - when the first tremors of the stock market earthquake sent Wall Street into panicked convulsions.
As crowds rushed to sell their shares, Churchill disembarked in the city that was the throbbing heart of 1920s excess.
Over the next few days, he wandered the fevered streets of Manhattan as the collapse gathered momentum.
Outside his hotel window, a gentleman flung himself to his death after losing everything.
The wail of ambulances mixed with the cries of newspaper hawkers spreading news of the financial catastrophe. Anxious crowds gathered at ticker tape machines to watch their fortunes evaporate in real-time.
Yet when a total stranger invited Churchill onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, he discovered not chaos and tumult but orderly determination.
"I expected to see pandemonium," Churchill recalled, "but the spectacle that met my eyes was one of surprising calm."
Brokers walked silently between columns, offering huge blocks of securities at fire sale prices. Disciplined by strict rules against shouting, they mutely mimed the magnitude of riches on offer. But few were strong enough to seize the fortunes at their fingertips.
Churchill’s Financial Meltdown
Oblivious to the implications of the unfolding financial meltdown, Churchill booked passage back to England aboard the RMS Majestic.
As the liner steamed out of New York Harbor in early November, he took one last look at the Manhattan skyline receding in the distance. It was a far different scene from the panicked mobs and swan-diving speculators he had witnessed on arrival. Now, church steeples and factories stood silent sentinel over a chastened but resilient city.
As the Majestic steamed across the Atlantic, Churchill remained blissfully unaware of the financial ruin heading his way. While he sailed confidently towards England, the Wall Street crash unleashed a tsunami that would soon engulf his finances.
Churchill had dabbled heavily in the American stock market, gambling on margin loans and risky railroad shares. Now, his speculative investments lay in tatters, evaporating almost overnight in the panic selling. The market meltdown wiped out any gains from his North American tour and plunged Churchill deeply into debt almost overnight.
Yet Churchill's ability to wring opportunity from misfortune was never sharper than in adversity. Destitute and hounded by creditors, he fell back on his most reliable asset - his pen. Over the coming decade, Churchill churned out some of his finest books, dashing off articles at lightning speed and even drafting a Hollywood screenplay. He crammed his calendar with lucrative speaking engagements, barnstorming across continents to satiate his creditors' demands.
The crash devastated Churchill financially, but it unleashed a torrent of literary and rhetorical brilliance. Driven by economic necessity, he reached new heights as both author and speaker. Once again, Churchill's uncanny resilience transformed potential catastrophe into personal triumph. Out of financial ruin, he emerged with renewed vigor to face the even greater trials ahead.
Back in New York
In December 1931, Churchill found himself back on the bustling streets of New York, trying to navigate his way to Bernard Baruch’s apartment. Still struggling to recover from the Wall Street wipeout, he had returned to America to deliver a lucrative speaking tour. Suddenly, without warning, a car struck Churchill as he crossed Fifth Avenue, sending him flying onto the icy pavement.
Once again, Churchill transformed misfortune into opportunity. Confined to a hospital bed with injuries, he had his bodyguard, Sergeant Thompson, guard the door to prevent any disturbances. Then Churchill began dictating an article about his New York misadventure, his sharp mind undiscouraged by the broken bones.
When he finished the piece, he sold it for a hefty $2,500 fee. As soon as Churchill could walk, he took the profits and sailed to the Bahamas for a convalescent holiday, recovering in the sun while relishing his latest escape from financial disaster. Though injured and cash-strapped, his irrepressible spirit remained undimmed.
Churchill had a preternatural ability to leverage even life's darkest moments to his advantage.
Car crashes and stock market collapses battered his finances but never broke his will. Each new calamity spurred Churchill to scale even greater heights, snatching triumph from the jaws of defeat once more.