This Week's Story
click here to play audioCockney flower seller hands flower to Winant. "Goodbye, sir. You've helped us in bad times and we shan't forget you."
This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.
John Gilbert Winant: Gil, a true friend and leader, part three
John Gilbert Winant liked to be called Gil. It was a friendly name. When he looked at you, you felt his warmth. It communicated, “I am your friend.”
He was a natural leader, sincere, and honest. When people had needs, he tried to help them.
As a young man he was a state legislator. World War I began, and he served as a pilot. After the war he again was in the New Hampshire state legislature. He was elected to three terms as governor. When the United States plunged into the Depression, people lost homes and jobs.
As a governor during the Depression he succeeded in bringing a minimum wage act to New Hampshire. He promoted fairer work hours for women and children, better highways, and more accurate accounting of state funds.
In 1941 Winant was chosen by President Roosevelt to be the new United States ambassador to Britain. It was a challenging job for a man who helped people. The British were at war and under heavy bombing by Nazi Germany. The British losses were great and their courage
extraordinary. Winant did not stand by and watch their suffering. He became one with them.
Winant and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain worked strenuously to convince President Roosevelt: The United States must help Britain and cease neutrality. How tragic if Nazi Germany defeated Britain and added more countries to its exploding empire!
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. stopped being neutral and declared war against Japan, Germany, and Italy. Winant understood the absolute necessity for an Allied team to fight the enemy.
He worked closely with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in western Europe. They experienced that the Allies needed each other, but often did not want to work together.
Winant was in a key position to influence leaders and he knew the American and English leaders well.
When the war was over, Winant was returning to the U.S. Sir Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary made a revealing statement. No “historian of the future will be able to estimate at its true value the contribution which Mr. Winant made to Allied unity and to Allied victory.”
With great feeling Sir Anthony Eden continued, “There is no man with whom I would rather have worked in such an ordeal, in so searching and testing a time, as John Gilbert Winant. No fairer, straighter man ever walked the earth.”
The British magazine Puck, which excelled in ridiculing people, published a complimentary cartoon with the title “A Friend Indeed.” In it a Cockney flower seller hands a flower to Winant and says, “Goodbye, sir. You’ve helped us in bad times and we shan’t forget you.”
Leaders had learned John Gilbert Winant could not be manipulated for power, fame, or money. His principles were firm and directed to the needs of people.
This is Barbara Steiner with John Gilbert Winant who served people.
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