Original typescript article, starting "There has rarely been a crisis in which Hope and Peril.." with some corrections by W.S.C.

Sir Winston Spencer CHURCHILL (1874-1965)

Original carbon-copy typescript of an article, starting "There has rarely been a crisis in which Hope and Peril... ,  with manuscript corrections. [No place: undated but March 1936]. 5 pp. article with ms corrections, punch hole with treasury tag at top left corner, "Hearst Newspapers" in pencil in top right corner of first leaf.

Churchill urges the League of Nations to act when Hitler marches German troops into the Rhineland in March 1936.

“There has rarely been a crisis in which Hope and Peril have presented themselves so vividly and at the same tine upon the world scene. When Herr Hitler on Saturday last repudiated the Treaty of Locarno and marched his troops into the Rhineland, he confronted the League of Nations with its supreme trial and also with its most splendid opportunity. If the League of Nations survives this ordeal, there is no reason why the horrible, dull, remorseless drift to war in 1937 or 1938, and the preparatory piling up of enormous armaments in every country, should not be decisively arrested. A reign of law may be established in Europe, the sanctity of Treaties will be vindicated, and from its commending eminence Germany may be welcomed back to the family of nations upon terms which ensures her a safe and honorable future.”

"During a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on 12 March [1936], Winston Churchill, a backbench Conservative MP, argued for Anglo-French co-ordination under the League of Nations to help France challenge the remilitarization of the Rhineland, but this never happened. On 6 April Churchill said of the remilitarization, "The creation of a line of forts opposite to the French frontier will enable the German troops to be economized on that line and will enable the main forces to swing round through Belgium and Holland", accurately predicting the Battle of France." (wikipedia)

Published: the basis for “Britain, Germany and Locarno, March 13 1936”, chapter 1 in Churchill's Step by Step, 1936-1939 [London: 1939].

Provenance: William Hillman (1895-1962); with a Litchfield auction house (c.1997-2005); purchased by the present owner.

William Hillman was born in New York City in 1895. His career as a journalist started in 1915, and from 1926 onwards he worked as a foreign correspondent for Universal Service and Hearst Newspapers in Paris, Berlin and London. From 1934 to 1939 he was Chief of Staff, Foreign Correspondents, for Hearst Newspapers, also reporting directly to Mr. Hearst.

He subsequently did a lot of work for President Truman, and the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum in Independence, MO, have a large holding of his papers (but largely concerned with this latter part of his career from 1951 until his death in 1962 , with a few items going back as far as 1934). See https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/personal-papers/william-hillman-papers

Yale also have some of Hillman’s papers, part of the Than Vanneman Ranck papers (see https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/3673 ). These are probably more relevant as they concern the workings of the Hearst organization.

Hillman stored his files and papers in a barn that was ‘local’ to his New Milford, Ct. property. In effect these ‘disappeared’ when he died and only ‘re-surfaced’ in the 1990s. The dispute over their ownership was not sorted out until 2005, and they were subsequently put up for auction in Litchfield, Ct. The present lot is from this ‘New Milford group’.