In April 1963, Winston Churchill was made an honorary citizen of the United States. At the ceremony in the White House, his letter of acceptance was read by his son Randolph, as he himself was too frail to attend.① It contained a passage rejecting the idea that Britain had only a "tame and minor" role to play on the international scene.
Dean Acheson, secretary of state of the United States from 1949 to 1953, recognised this as an oblique allusion to his own famous and greatly resented remark that Britain had lost an empire and failed to find a new role. "Well, it hasn't taken Winston long to get used to American ways," commented Acheson. "He hadn't been an American citizen for three minutes before he began attacking an ex-secretary of state."②
一九六三年四月，溫斯頓．邱吉爾獲推舉為美國榮譽公民，由於體弱①，遣兒子藍道夫出席白宮舉行的典禮，代為宣讀接受推舉函，其中一段反駁英國國際上「無大能耐」的論調。
一九四九年到一九五三年任美國國務卿的迪安．艾奇遜認為，邱吉爾那段話是間接針對他的，因為他說過，英國已失去其帝國，而且找不到新的出路：這評語膾炙人口，卻深招英國不滿。艾奇遜說：「溫斯頓之適應美國國情，也真夠快。他做了美國公民還不滿三分鐘，就對前任國務卿口誅筆伐。」②
①邱吉爾當時已八十九歲，兩年後去世。
②邱吉爾假如做了新中國公民，保證也不用三分鐘，就學會歌頌中共歷任領袖。
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