Churchill was undoubtedly one of the greatest public figures of the 20th century. Extraordinary vitality, imagination, and boldness characterized his whole career. His weaknesses, such as his opposition to the expansion of colonial self-government, and his strengths sprang from the same source — the will to maintain Britain as a great power and a great democracy.Educated at Harrow and Sandhurst, he became (1894) an officer. He saw his first military action in Cuba as a reporter for London's Daily Graphic. In 1899 he was sent to cover the South African War by the Morning Post, and his accounts of his imprisonment by the Boers and his escape raised him to the forefront of English journalists.Churchill was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1900, but he subsequently switched to the Liberal party and was appointed undersecretary for the president of the Board of Trade, then Home Secretary (1910—1911). As first Lord of the Admiralty (1911) , he presided over the naval expansion that preceded World War I. In 1915 Churchill lost his admiralty post and served on the front lines in France. Returning to office under Lloyd George, he served as Minister of Munitions (1917) and secretary of state for war and for air (1918-1921). As colonial secretary (1921 -1922) , he helped negotiate the treaty that set up the Irish Free State.In 1940, when Chamberlain was forced to resign, Churchill became Prime Minister. Churchill was one of the truly great orators famous for his energy and stubborn public refusal to make peace until Adolf Hitler was crushed. He met President Franklin Roosevelt at sea before the entry of the United States into the war, twice addressed the US Congress (1941; 1942) , twice went to Moscow (1942; 1944) , visited battle fronts, and attended a long series of international conferences in Casablanca, Quebec, Cairo, Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam.After the war Churchill became leader of the Labour opposition. As prime minister again from 1951 until his resignation in 1955, he ended nationalization of the steel and auto industries but maintained most other socialist measures instituted by the Labour government. In 1953 Churchill was knighted, and awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his writing and oratory. He retained a seat in Parliament until 1964, and refused a peerage which was offered.
