Anarchteacher points out, "The Churchill "quote" described is almost word-for-word Murray Rothbard's observation concerning the tragic consequences of Woodrow Wilson's intervention in WW1 in Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy." The supposed Churchill quote is this:
"America should have minded her own business and stayed out of the World War. If you hadn't entered the war the Allies would have made peace with Germany in the Spring of 1917. Had we made peace then there would have been no collapse in Russia followed by Communism, no breakdown in Italy followed by Fascism, and Germany would not have signed the Versailles Treaty, which has enthroned Nazism in Germany. If America had stayed out of the war, all these 'isms' wouldn't today be sweeping the continent of Europe and breaking down parliamentary government - and if England had made peace early in 1917, it would have saved over one million British, French, American, and other lives."
(The website where this quote is found is in frames, so you'll have to search for "Churchill" on the site.) According to the New York Enquirer, Churchill said this in 1936. This goes contrary to the WWII Churchillism, but the case unfolds:
There is an ongoing dispute whether Churchill really spoke these words. When Churchill later denied having said that the US should have minded her own business, William Griffin, publisher of the New York Enquirer, testified in Congress that it was indeed Sir Winston Churchill who made this comment in an interview with him in London in August 1936 (sworn statement, Congressional Record, October 21, 1939, vol. 84. p. 686.).
Griffin also brought a $1,000,000 libel suit against Churchill.
The libel case was not called until October 1942, in the midst of the Second World War. Churchill was now prime minister in Great-Britain. Griffin and his lawyers failed to appear in court. At that time the journalist was under indictment in Washington, D.C., on charges of conspiring to lower the morale of the armed forces of the United States of America3). Because Griffin did not show up, the charges against Churchill were dismissed. In a conversation with the The New York Times Churchill admitted having the 1936 interview, but disavowed the disputed statement (The New York Times, October 22, 1942, p. 13).
(Read the heroic revisionist Harry Elmer Barnes on WWI and Ralph Raico on Churchill.)
As an aside, if you can find a copy, this is the most fascinating trio of books on intellectual history. A couple of years ago, I had found the entire set, second edition, for $36 at John K. King in downtown Detroit. The good people at King keep any and all "stuff," that is stuck within the pages of a book, right where it is. Within the pages there was an envelope, and within it there were correspondences between members of the Sigma Gamma Association dated from 1930.
