[Letter] 1958 May 6, London [to] Francis E. Walter / Winston Churchill.

The letter is typed on Churchill's personal letterhead and is marked "Private and Confidential." See also Walter's biography and a guide to research collections of his papers (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000108). See also additional letters in the collection to Walter, as well as additional letters from Churchill on the matter of American citizenship which he accepted in 1963.

Churchill states that he is "deeply touched" by the great honor which Walter has proposed-- honorary American citizenship; though he is aware of the "historical implications" and is "half American by blood," (his mother Jeanette was the daughter of a New York financier Leonard Jerome) Churchill declines rather than have an "official seal put on the affection and high regard in which I hold your country." At the time this letter was written, Churchill had successfully led the British as prime minister to victory as part of the Allied forces of World War II for which he was honored by 37 orders, decorations, and medals as well as honorary degrees and the Nobel prize for literature in 1953. In addition to military service as a young man in Cuba, India, and Africa, Churchill filled cabinet, civil service, and administrative positions in the Colonial Office, the Home Office, the cabinet, and as Lord of the Admiralty and Member of Parliament; in 1921 he participated in negotiations with Michael Collins over the Irish Free State. The letter's recipient, Congressman Walter, was chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities. Walter also served in World War II and as a Representative from Pennsylvania in the seventy-third and fifteen succeeding Congresses, serving from 1933 until his death May 31, 1963.