Winston and Augustus: A Brotherhood of Character
It is character that communicates most eloquently.
Stephen R. Covey
Under the streets of London is a subterranean bunker where Winston Churchill oversaw the British battle strategy during World War II. The Churchill (or Cabinet) War Rooms are a time capsule of those dangerous and deadly years between 1940, when Churchill became Prime Minister, and 1945, when Adolph Hitler’s Nazi regime collapsed. After the war, the bunker was sealed as it was when the British military directed the last battle on the last day. For the next forty years, give or take, the bunker remained relatively unknown until Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher commissioned the Imperial War Museums to reopen the bunker to the general public.
A museum dedicated to the life and legacy of Winston Churchill is situated next to the War Rooms. Walking through the exhibits, I came across a cowboy clad cartoon of Churchill, cigar clinched between his teeth, bursting through a saloon’s swing doors, brandishing two six-shooters named Premier and Defence. The cartoon made me chuckle. Then a thought struck me: Besides the cowboy costume of chaps and ten gallon hat, Churchill, one of my favorite historical characters, is akin with one of my favorite literary characters: Augustus “Gus” McCrae from the novel Lonesome Dove. Looking at that cartoon a list of similarities formed in my mind.
Having returned from London, I’ve put that list to paper, accompanied by quotations by and descriptions of each to illustrate the characteristics Churchill and McCrae share. I don’t offer this list in hopes you’ll adopt each of these traits, but in hopes it might encourage you in your own character development.
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Adventure, love of
Churchill: Live dangerously; take things as they come; dread naught, all will be well.
McCrae: “I can’t think of nothing better than riding a fine horse into a new country. It’s exactly what I was meant for.”
Argumentative
Churchill: “It is like arguing with a Brass band.” –Neville Chamberlain
McCrae: He just plain loved to argue. . . . “You’d argue with a stump,” Call said.
The Bible, respect for
Churchill: “More than any other book or group of books, Churchill alludes to the King James Bible. It is for him the primary source of interesting illustrations, descriptive images, and stirring phrases.” –Richard Langworth
McCrae: “I only read [the Good Book] in the morning and the evening, when I can be reminded of the glory of the Lord.”
Coolness, under fire
Churchill: I never felt the slightest nervousness and felt as cool as I do now.
McCrae: With no shooting to do for a little while, Augustus took stock of the situation and decided the worst part of it was that he had no one to talk to. He had been within a minute or two of death, which could not be said to be boring, exactly—but even desperate battle was lacking in something if there was no one to discuss it with.
Courageous
Churchill: “The military virtue which he abundantly possessed was personal bravery. His love of danger gave him a recklessness which was personally admirable.” –Roy Jenkins
McCrae: “They don’t know it, but the wrath of the Lord is about to descend upon them. I dislike bold criminals of whatever race, and I believe I’ll go see that they pay their debts.” . . . “You want to go at them alone?” July asked. . . . “I doubt there’s many of them. I just hope Blue Duck is there.”
Drinking, enjoyment from
Churchill: When I was younger I made it a rule never to take strong drink before lunch. It is now my rule never to do so before breakfast.
McCrae: As was his custom, Augustus drank a fair amount of whiskey as he sat and watched they sun ease out of the day.
Enemies, faced down
Churchill: HITLER, PERSONALLY. (WSC wrote this greeting on a 240 mm shell during his visit to the Rhine. The shell was fired in the direction of Berlin.)
McCrae: “You want the rifle?” [Lorena] asked. “No, I’ve shot many a sassy bandit with this pistol,” [Augustus] said. “I’m glad to have my hat, though. It don’t do to go into a crape bareheaded.” The rider was close enough by then that she too could see the occasional flash of the sun on the saddle. A few minutes later he rode into camp. He was a big man, riding a bay stallion. . . . “I’m Blue Duck,” he said. “I’ve heard of you, McCrae. But I didn’t know you was so old.” “Oh, I wasn’t till lately,” Augustus said. It seemed to Lorena that he too had a touch of insolence in his manner. Though Gus was sitting in his underwear, apparently relaxed, Lorena didn’t think there was anything relaxed about the situation.
Fame, desire for
Churchill: “Fame was his constant spur, and the best rout to this that he saw . . . was through his writing.” –Roy Jenkins
McCrae: [Augustus] enjoyed having been a famous Texas Ranger and was often put out if he didn’t receive all the praise he thought he had coming.
Gambling, enjoyment from
Churchill: I have been very idle here and very dissipated—gambling every night till 5 in the morning. I have made a little money—had made a lot.
McCrae: “I believe I’ll straggle down to that gin palace and see if I can scare up a game.” Call was about finished with his smoke. “I don’t mind your card playin’, if that’s all it is,” he said. Augustus grinned. Call never changed. “What else would it be?” he asked. “You never used to gamble this regular,” Call said.
Language, love of
Churchill: The greatest tie of all is language. . . . Words are the only things that last forever. The most tremendous monuments or prodigies of engineering crumble under the hand of Time. The Pyramids moulder, the bridges rust, the canal fill up, grass covers the railway track; but words spoken two or three thousand years ago remain with us now, not as mere relics of the past, but with all their pristine vital force.
McCrae: Augustus . . . considered that he was the only person in Lonesome Dove with enough literary talent to write a sign. . . . After a year or two had passed, he decided it would add dignity to it all if the sign ended with a Latin motto. He had an old Latin schoolbook that had belonged to his father; it was thoroughly battered from having been in his saddlebags for years. It had a few pages of mottoes in the back, and Augustus spent many happy hours poring over them, trying to decide which might look best at the bottom of the sign. . . . The one he settled on was Uva uvam vivendo fit, which seemed to him a beautiful motto, whatever it meant.
Life, enjoying the simple things in
Churchill: “Mr. Churchill is a man of very simple tastes. He is always prepared to put up with the best of everything.” –F.E. Smith, Lord Birkenhead
McCrae: “Lorie darlin’, life in San Francisco, you see, is still just life. If you want any one thing too badly, it’s likely to turn out to be a disappointment. The only healthy way to live life is to learn to like all the little everyday things, like a sip of good whiskey in the evening, a soft bed, a glass of buttermilk, or a feisty gentleman like myself.”
Life, outlook on
Churchill: The journey has been enjoyable and well worth the taking—once.
McCrae: “Woodrow, quite a party.” (I believe Bill Wittliff’s adaption for the Lonesome Dove miniseries is better written. At the moment of his death, Gus says, “I god, Woodrow, it’s been quite a party, ain’t it?”)
Love, one true
Churchill: What it has been to me to live all these years in your heart and companionship no phrases can convey. Time passes swiftly, but is it not joyous to see how great and growing is the treasure we have gathered together, amid the storms and stresses of so many eventful and to millions tragic and terrible years? –WSC letter to his wife Clementine
McCrae: “I expect it was the major mistake of my life, letting her slip by.” . . . “Would you destroy her, then, if I said stay?” Clara asked. “I expect so,” Augustus said. “That ain’t an answer.” “Yes, you know I would,” he said. “I’d smother Bob for you and send Lorie to perdition.”
Optimism
Churchill: For myself I am an optimist—it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
McCrae: “It’s a fine world, though rich in hardships at times.”
Perseverance
Churchill: By one of those dispensations of Providence . . . the nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe with comfort without letting go!
McCrae: “Forty miles and a fraction,” Hugh said. “I don’t believe you could have walked it.” Augustus used the crutch to pull himself up. “I might fool you,” he said.
Pigs, appreciation of
Churchill: Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig! He looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.
McCrae: Augustus often praised the pigs’ intelligence in a running argument he had been having with Call for the last few years. Augustus maintained that pigs were smarter than all horses and most people, a claim that galled Call severely. . . . “We ought to let [the pigs] ride in the wagon,” [Augustus] suggested to Call. “I don’t see why.” “Well, they’ve made history,” Augustus pointed out. “When?” Call asked. “I didn’t notice.” “Why, they’re the first pigs to walk all the way from Texas to Montana,” Augustus said. “That’s quite a feat for a pig.”
Politeness
Churchill: When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.
McCrae: “Was you meaning to stab me with that knife?” Augustus asked. “I’d rather not shoot you unnecessarily.”
Proud
Churchill: Bullets—to a philosopher my dear Mamma—are not worth considering. Besides I am so conceited I do not believe the Gods would create so potent a being as myself for so prosaic an ending.
McCrae: “You don’t get the pint, Woodrow,” Augustus said. “I’ve walked the earth in my pride all these years. If that’s lost, then let the rest be lost with it. There’s certain things my vanity won’t abide.”
Shot at, being
Churchill: Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
McCrea: “I guess you don’t remember me,” Augustus said, falling in beside him. “I’m Captain McCrae. We shot at one another all afternoon once, up on the Brazos. You was in one thicket and me and Captain Call was in the next one. We pruned the post oaks with all that shooting, and then we stuck you in jail and you crawled right out again.”
Smoking, enjoyment from
Churchill: Of two cigars, pick the longest and the strongest.
McCrae: After supper . . . Augustus went outside to smoke and spit.
Women, love of
Churchill: It is hard, if not impossible, to snub a beautiful woman; they remain beautiful and the rebuke recoils.
McCrae: “I figure the reason you don’t have much to say is you probably never met a man who like to hear a woman talk. Listening to women ain’t the fashion in this part of the country. But I expect you got a life story like everybody else. If you’d like to tell it, I’m the one that’d like to hear it.”
Sources:
Churchill, Winston S. Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations. ed. Richard Langworth. New York: Public Affairs, 2008.
Jenkins, Roy. Churchill: A Biography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.
McMurtry, Larry. Lonesome Dove. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985.
What a great article! I've been to the Churchill war rooms it's a fascinating place & Lonesome Dove is a classic! Thanks 👍 🤠