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CHURCHILL, Winston S.

Three letters and a telegram from Churchill to Professor R. V. Jones, wartime head of the Air Ministry scientific intelligence branch.

A fascinating series of letters offering insights into Churchill's working methods, as war leader, team-builder and writer. Oxford physicist Professor R. V. Jones was a new addition to Churchill's "syndicate" late in 1946, brought in to work on the chapter "The Wizard War." He was to have considerable impact on the composition of volume II, "Their Finest Hour". Jones "had impressed the prime minister when a young air intelligence officer in 1940 … The young scientist, a Lindemann [Viscount Cherwell] protégé, played a major part in piecing together the evidence for the German beams in 1940-41 and his April report for the Air Ministry on 'The Radio War' was the base for Churchill's chapter. Only 25 pages in length, it was described by Denis Kelly, Churchill's research assistant, as a 'brilliant short account" (Reynolds The Command of History). In the first letter, addressed from Hyde Park Gate on 14 December 1946, marked "private and confidential" in Churchill's hand, Churchill confesses to having read "the memorandum which you gave to Cherwell with great interest" and hopes that "we may have a talk about it one of these days." Churchill then asks for clarification of some details of the fateful meeting in the cabinet room at no 10 "at which you told the tale of the beam danger" (i.e. the use of the Knickebein transmitters by German bombers to find their targets). "I remember the way you built up the argument which made a profound impression upon me … woven together by you into a real Sherlock Holmes story." In the finished book this is described as Jones "unrolling his chain of circumstantial evidence, the like of which for its convincing fascination was never surpassed by tales of Sherlock Holmes or Monsieur Lecoq" (vol. II, p. 340). Unsurprisingly, Churchill was just a little free with the truth. In his enthralling autobiography, Most Secret War, Jones recounts how, originally believing his invitation to Downing Street to be an office prank, he was some 25 minutes late and far from opening the discussion "according to plan", he in fact intervened, somewhat to the prime minister's surprise, when he realized that some "had not fully grasped the situation." In the telegram, dated 19 February 1947, Churchill thanks Jones for a further contribution; "Thank you so much for what you have sent me stop Am digesting it and will write to you soon." The second letter, addressed from Chartwell, 11 August 1948, requests that Jones read a draft of the chapter "The Blitz and Anti-Blitz" from volume III; "This new chapter has three parts; narrative of the Blitz in 1941, continuation of the Wizard War on the defensive, and thirdly the Wizard preparations for switching over to the offensive." Churchill signs off by remarking that "Lord Cherwell is also helping me on this chapter, and I have … the notes of Professor Goodwin". It seems that Jones's input was little used in the finished version: Reynolds describes the chapter as "cut and paste", having previously remarked on the unsuitability of Goodwin's work for Churchill's purposes, "though an impressive piece of work, [it] was far too detailed." The last letter, from 10 Downing Street (Churchill having won the 1951 general election), 19 September 1953, opening familiarly "My Dear Jones", addresses the one controversial aspect of Jones's involvement. The prime minister encloses a "small honorarium … for all the work you have done on the PILOTLESS BOMBARDMENT." This chapter in volume VI on the V1 and V2 had initially been drafted by Duncan Sandys, Churchill's son-in-law, who had been in charge of the cabinet committee responsible for V-weapon countermeasures. But Jones, mindful of his own smaller grip on the "command of history," countered with demands that more recognition be given to the work of his Air Ministry scientific intelligence branch, "observing that 'the scientific picture was so complex that, if I may say so, Mr. Sandys' advisers were out of their depth" (Reynolds). The final version "has a bit to satisfy everyone", and here Churchill smoothes ruffled plumage: "A version has at last been agreed between all parties on this tangled matter and your contribution was of very great value in reaching this satisfactory result." It is clear that Churchill was well aware of the importance of work of the quality of Jones's in bringing his grand project to a triumphal conclusion: "Churchill had no time to compose the kind of reflective memoir desired by his publishers … He was still capable of superb-set-piece narration … but such passages are rare. Where he rises to reflective heights it is often on the shoulders of others, as with Jones for 'The Wizard War." Churchill was instrumental in securing Jones the chair in natural philosophy at Aberdeen after the War. Jones had applied for the position in autumn 1945 and in April 1946 Churchill visited the university to receive an honorary doctorate and "left his hosts in no doubt about where their duty lay" (ODNB, biog of R. V. Jones), an occasion referred to in the second letter offered here: "I hope everything is going well at Aberdeen. I shall never forget my splendid welcome there." Again at Churchill's instigation, Jones returned to Whitehall as director of scientific intelligence at the Ministry of Defence, a timely posting which was "important for the new contacts and friendships which it brought from abroad, and especially from the United States, where he had long been recognized as a master of his craft. His advisory work for the Allied Control Commission in Germany, on the re-establishment of German science, put him in touch both with the leading German physicists and with some of his former adversaries" (op cit). Jones was widely recognized for his work, being made CB in 1946, and Companion of Honour in 1994, receiving the United States medal of freedom in 1946 and the medal of merit in 1947, and accumulating eight honorary degrees in his lifetime. However, probably the most revealing award of all was presented to him in 1993 when he was eponymous recipient of the first CIA R. V. Jones Intelligence Award. At his memorial service in the chapel of King's College, Aberdeen, besides tributes from his academic colleagues, there was an address by a former director of the CIA, James Woolsey, in which he characterized Jones as the father of modern scientific and technical intelligence, "which was a revelation of Jones's international stature to many who thought that they knew him well" (op cit).

Two 2-page octavo typed letters signed, telegram, and single page octavo typed letter signed; four pieces of correspondence. The first with salutation ("My Dear Professor Jones"), subscription, and a short postscript in Churchill's hand; the second with manuscript subscription only; the last as the first with inked salutation ("My Dear Jones") and subscription. Housed in a burgundy quarter morocco slipcase with chemise made by The Chelsea Bindery. The two-page letters with spindle holes to the top left-hand corner, one with treasury tag still in place, very light toning and mild creases from old mailing folds, overall very good.

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