Part of the Willcox Suites historical project, outlining the unique past associated with The Willcox property and its history. This page outlines the Churchill Suite, dedicated to famed British leader, Winston Churchill.

MEET THE SUITE:
THE CHURCHILL SUITE

Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, Winston Churchill was an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer and an artist. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in his later years, Churchill was the first honorary citizen of the United States. His mother Jennie Jerome was an American, and her father was part owner of the New York Times.

A framed copy of The Willcox guest registry, which hangs in the hotel, includes Churchill’s name. He is known to have met his friend President Franklin Roosevelt here. Though little is written about Churchill’s stay in Aiken, its equestrian charm surely played a significant part. He raced horses in England and intervened to save tens of thousands of stranded warhorses in Europe after World War I.

War also brought Churchill and Roosevelt to The Willcox. During the Second World War, the two shared an intense wartime relationship that later grew into a friendship. They also talked strategy in the hotel lobby, warmed by hot toddies and a gracious fire.

But long before their alliance against Hitler, the two opposites shared much in common. Both were ambitious and passionate about politics, and both courageously overcame severe handicaps: President Roosevelt a crippling attack of polio and Prime Minister Churchill a debilitating childhood stammer and bouts of depression. Both also leaned heavily on their wives. Eleanor Roosevelt became her husband’s political eyes and ears, while Clementine Churchill provided the emotional foundation on which her husband firmly stood.

Each, too, was accused of being a turncoat and evoked bitter political friction. Republicans loathed Roosevelt, who brought in the New Deal, while many British Tories never forgave Churchill’s early radicalism or his maverick behavior when he returned to the Conservative fold.

Throughout the course of war, the two men traded thousands of messages, telephone calls, and third-party exchanges. They also met in person nine times, including two famous meetings with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and in the process, initiated a new means of carrying out international relations. The first of these summits occurred off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941, and resulted in the Atlantic Charter, an agreement often mentioned by historians as one of the first significant steps toward the formation of the United Nations.

The Churchill Suite pays homage to the role of Aiken in the conduct of world affairs.