International, Media, Politics

A Tale Of Two Busts

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

To deflect attention away from the Romney fiasco that his trip to England has become, Charles Krauthammer resurrected an old story: “Obama started his presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.” The inference is that this story demonstrates animus between Obama and Britain. The bust had been loaned to then-President George W. Bush from the U.K.’s government art collection, for the duration of his presidency.

As is common practice at the end of a presidency, the White House curator removed all the art lent to the departing tenant. The bust was returned and is on display at the British Ambassador’s residence. According to White House curator William Allman, the decision to return the bust had been made before Obama even arrived.

It turns out that there are two Churchill busts. Another Churchill bust, also by Jacob Epstein, was given to the White House during the Lyndon Johnson administration. That bust is on display in the White House residence and is seen in this photo of Obama with Prime Minister David Cameron.

While Krauthammer does his best to deflect attention from what the British press have dubbed “Mitt The Twit,” the facts don’t support his assertions. James Barbour, press secretary and head of communications for the British Embassy, said “[t]he Churchill Bust story is a silly diversion.” When the spokesman for the British Embassy refers to Krauthammer’s claim as a “silly diversion,” it should be embarrassing for any self-respecting journalist.

H/T: Dan Pfeiffer, Jake Tapper, The Telegraph, CBS News, A White House Diary (Lady Bird Johnson).

65 thoughts on “A Tale Of Two Busts”

  1. junctionshamus 1, July 30, 2012 at 11:01 pm

    For those of you who are “Moroniphobic,”* I’d suggest staying clear of south and central ID, southwestern MT, northeastern AZ, upstate NY and the Defense Language Institute. While not agreeing with some of the policies and procedures, I find it hard to fault the work ethic of a people who made a whole lot of something out of a whole lot of nothing. We can find fault with any and every religion, but to me, there’s a difference between a religion and a theology.
    ===========================
    Okay, now you’re being unreasonable. What’s wrong with upstate NY?

  3. For those of you who are “Moroniphobic,”* I’d suggest staying clear of south and central ID, southwestern MT, northeastern AZ, upstate NY and the Defense Language Institute. While not agreeing with some of the policies and procedures, I find it hard to fault the work ethic of a people who made a whole lot of something out of a whole lot of nothing. We can find fault with any and every religion, but to me, there’s a difference between a religion and a theology.

    As for me, when I die, my choice is to be converted to a fist full of ash.

    *Moroniphobia – Fear of the Angel Moroni, son of Mormon. Moroni is the figure you see with the trumpet atop tabernacles – And yeah, I made up the phobia, has nothing to do with Morons, morons… 😀

  4. Malisha, I agree, if I’m dead, they can go ahead and convert me. I’m more worried about who gets my baseball card collection.

  7. fmcfm — I got confused by your message to me, sorry. I never meant to derogate anybody’s religion or to insult anyone, much less to “fire the first shot” on the way to eliminating any group by first mocking them. Heaven forbid, as some say.

    What I was doing was tossing around a few jokes. Damn, I’m dying in this room! But no, really, here’s how it went:

    First somebody said “once a gypsy always a gypsy.” I don’t remember what that meant.

    You then jumped in with “once a Jew always a Jew” and attributed it to the Nazis, so I had to prank on that.

    I tagged “once a Jew always a Jew” to the practice of post-mortem conversion, which is practiced by Mormons. I KNOW THIS because some of my best friends are Mormons. I am not making this up. My kid is the only Jew I have ever met who was best man at a Mormon wedding!

    OK, but then I joked around about post-death conversion and threw in pre-birth stuff and so forth — after all, I couldn’t get to my Monday night comedian show tonight and I had to do something, not to end up in withdrawal.

    That’s all. Joke fell like a lead balloon, sorry.

    PS: Anybody who wants to convert me to ANYTHING is free to do so as soon as I die. Before I die, though, no faith need apply.

  8. fmcfm,

    My goodness. Who’s link? You are an extra special gentleman.

  9. I just read the link you included and your rationale for discounting it. It seems like a quote to me, not a “turn of phrase”,. Here again is the quote from “a British embasy official”.

    “The bust of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein was uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W Bush, from the Government Art Collection in the wake of 9/11 as a signal of the strong transatlantic relationship.
    “It was lent for the first term of office of President Bush. When the President was elected for his second and final term, the loan was extended until January 2009.
    “The new President has decided not to continue this loan and the bust has now been returned. It is on display at the Ambassador’s Residence.”

    Of course there’s no sense arguing the issue until someone can ascertain the facts.

  11. Matt Johnson, I have to plead ignorance. Never having been in Salt Lake or Utah, I can safely say I’ve never been trapped there. I’m not even Mormon, I’m Catholic (of the cradle variety), About which I do remember being taught as a kid that Catholicism was the “one true religion”.

    This was at approximately the same time that JFK was running for president,and I clearly remember the charge that he would have a “direct line to the Vatican” installed, were he to be elected. It seems that history repeats itself.

  12. Nal, sorry I read pat that. Since it’s your post I offer you the same information.

  13. fmcfm,

    You certainly speak for yourself. Do you know why the Mormon religion still exists? Because the U.S. government decided not to kill you when you were trapped at Salt Lake.

  14. fmcfm,

    Professor Turley didn’t write this post, I did.

    Your link was included in the original post and discussed here.

  15. An explanation, from 2009, and I would advise Mr Turley to pay close attention:

    But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: “Thanks, but no thanks.”

    …

    A British Embassy spokesman said: “The bust of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein was uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W Bush, from the Government Art Collection in the wake of 9/11 as a signal of the strong transatlantic relationship.

    “It was lent for the first term of office of President Bush. When the President was elected for his second and final term, the loan was extended until January 2009.

    “The new President has decided not to continue this loan and the bust has now been returned. It is on display at the Ambassador’s Residence.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/4623148/Barack-Obama-sends-bust-of-Winston-Churchill-on-its-way-back-to-Britain.html

    Or, as they sometimes say, RES IPSA LOQUITUR.

  16. fmcfm,

    Nobody is going to be converted to anything.

    What is your choice?

  17. Malisha, Admittedly I don’t know if Nazis used the phrase “once a Jew always a Jew” , but the hostility is evident when someone uses this phrase about Mormons or anyone else they disagree with. The first sentiment expressed on the road to actually wiping out some group is to make disparaging remarks, and this was clearly hostile when taken in context.

    The issue of converting the dead has me perplexed. Are you really concerned that someone will do this to you when you pass away? That could mean you believe in Mormonism. In that case why be concerned? You’ll be converted to something you believe in.

    If on the other hand Mormonism isn’t based in reality, then nothing can happen to you. But if it is, and depending on your beliefs about an afterlife, I can understand how you would be upset to find yourself being converted to Mormonism. Especially if you don’t believe in that sort of thing. But if it happens, I would try to make the best of it, since it would seem that the powers that be offer no other choice.

  19. junctionshamus,

    Thanks for the link.

    However, Krauthammer does not address that it was White House curator William Allman’s decision to return the bust, and this decision was made before Obama even arrived. He was too busy trying to score points against Dan Pfeiffer, which he did successfully. Pfeiffer took the wrong tack.

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