Culture | Guest who?

Nudity, drinking, smoking: Winston Churchill’s unusual diplomacy

His time at the White House serves as a case study in getting what you want

U.S. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, greeting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill & Deputy Anthony Eden in 1954.
Photograph: Getty Images

Some questions of diplomatic protocol are tricky. Others are not. For instance, should one meet a head of state clothed or nude? Winston Churchill, Britain’s former prime minister and the puckish hero of a new history, often chose to grin—and bare it.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Guest who?”

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