c-span: randolph churchill. >> guest: randolph churchill was a sh--a small fling; he was much younger than she was. they met when she went to stay one weekend at his father's country house in kent, when she was then having an affair with the financier bernard baruch, and he called her in paris and said, 'mr. churchill invites you to join us for the weekend.' and the person who met her at the ai--at the station was randolph churchill. and he then was about 22 years old and like an adonis; he was a--a stunning man and also a romantic turn of mind, as she was. and there's one funny story. do we have time for it? when i was in hawaii researching the book--her personal papers with her, she had invited my husband to come, too. and he said, 'well, i can't come because i have to work on my volume two--two of theodore roosevelt.' so she said, 'well, i'll give you a room to work in. you won't be disturbed.' so he said, 'all right.' so he came. but it turned out that that house was right on the ocean, and all of the doors were louver doors and all the windows were slatted. so even though he was

imagines that randolph is in a chair next to him and randolph is saying, my boy, tell me about the world today. in runoff does not understand that churchill has become the greatest englishman -- and randolph those not understand that churchill has become the greatest englishman. his father forms an impression that he is a retired military officer interested in debating. and churchill is bursting to explain his success when the shade vanishes. you have a sense that churchill is it yearning to impress his father. his father will him terrible letters when he was at school, saying he was a confounded young wasteral. >> do you know how many young men who come to the stable and simple to them is this idea that they could say i did ok, pop. >> the monkey on churchill's act was that. -- back was that. with his mother, an extraordinary woman. a new yorker. she was very influential in his early life. >> what was his greatest skill? other than his will to prevail. >> other than his will to prevail -- i was going to say it was never giving in. the thing that he had that i find stunning in writing the book and researching it and that many people who d

that was followed by randolph and ginny churchill, the great granddaughter and great grandson of sir winston. they spoke of the influence on western churchill's mother from brooklyn and beyond. and we filled the playhouse for that. after that, we had paul reed. he wrote the book with the late william manchester. anybody who knows me knows by now i am a hands-on person and i like to get involved in all aspects of the project. starting with the vision of this which was wonderful, i had such -- what i was trying to say and do and her team made it better. also, i got very involved with selecting the speakers. what a lineup of the speakers we have had. tonight is the icing on the cake. this it has -- this is really been a splendid series. i think that you are going to meet everybody but i will briefly say we have three distinguished individuals. allen packwood, nigel hamilton, and andrew polsky to moderate. first, introduce my friend allen. he is the director of the churchill archives center at the university of cambridge in england and a fellow and the executive director of the churchill

randolph, they became very friendly. there's some very interesting things that i found there. so, friends, tragically antagonists and friends again. >> one of the interesting revelations in the book as well is that churchillrld war ii, wanted us to launch a preemptive strike on the soviet union. talk about that. that's amazing. >> i was really surprised. that was in his fbi file. and it's one of those things you say, what can you possibly find that's new? but it's right there, sitting in his fbi file. there was a file by the fbi on winston churchill. in '47, he was the one who got the cold war going. he felt that before the soviets got the bomb, we should seriously think about dropping the bomb. because in the expansionism -- this is a memo that was issued in 1947 in his file. he told it to a republican senator from new hampshire. and i was really surprised by that, needless to say. >> incredible reporting. thank you so much. >> thank you for so much. >> appreciate it. >> thank you. >>> up next, off the wire and onto "the cycle." >> you guys watching think i'm crazy, but this is what i was made for. you probably know xerox as the company that's all about printing. but did you know we also support hospital

randolph doesn't understand that church hill has become the greatest living englishman. and you know, his father forms the impression that he is sort of a retired former army officer who is interested in painting. and churchill's bursting to explain his success to his father when puff, evannishes. and you have this sense of churchill yearning to impress his father. his father wrote him terrible letters when he was at school saying he was a confounded young wastrel and all this sort of thing. >> rose: you know how many come to this table and central to their psyche is this idea, and testify's said it, i did okay, pop. >> yeah. >> rose: the whole notion that -- >> well, the monkey on churchill's back, as it were, was that. his relationship with his mother was fascinating. a woman, extraordinary woman. and new yorker, of course, she-- she was very influential in his early life. >> rose: what was his greatest skill? other than his will to prevail. >> other than his will to prevail. i was going to say it was never giving in. but i think the thing that he had that i found stunning in writing the become and researching about it. there are many people without dig into churchill come out with this feeling. he was his e