Mayor-elect Mike Duggan's Transition team posted a quote from Winston Churchill on their Facebook page: "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."
One imagines the headstrong Churchill uttering those words on the floor of parliament or into a BBC microphone in the early dark days of World War II as he assumed power from Neville Chamberlain, the disgraced stalwart of appeasement.
By writing history, it is implied, Churchill actually meant he intended to make history by rallying Britain to survive the blitz and beat back the Nazi menace.
It's a heroic and noble thought, obviously intended to inspire a Detroit facing the challenges of bankruptcy and revitalization.
One problem, though. Churchill never said "history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it" in the midst of World War II or at any other time.
What he did say, in 1948, was: "For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all Parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history."
At first blush, that may seem like a subtle difference but context is everything here. In 1948, Churchill was the leader of the opposition party. His Tory government was defeated by the Labour Party in 1945. Not coincidentally, in 1948 Churchill did begin literally writing history. The first volume of his World War II series, which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1953, was published that year.
Churchill wasn't boldly promising to write history through actions. He was saying essentially the then-current perception of Churchill as a rejected ex-prime minister would be reversed once he wrote his story. In other words, the Churchill that said this bit about writing history was more Dave Bing c. 2013 than Mike Duggan c. 2013. Although, unlike Churchill's return in Downing Street in 1951, it's extremely doubtful Bing will become mayor again.
All of which leads to two conclusions.
- Be wary of quotes from famous people (Churchill, Lincoln, and Jefferson especially) purloined from the Internet.
- Turning around a city in such bad shape because it got so many details wrong really requires people who can take 10 minutes on Google to get the details right.
