Mar. 5, 1963 - The House Judiciary committee today approved the Walter bill to make Sir Winston Churchill (pictured with King George VI on May 8, 1945) an honorary citizen of the U.S. The vote was unanimous. Rep. Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the committee, said he hoped to confer with Speaker John McCormack today and arrange to have the House vote on the bill Thursday. The bill states simply: “The President of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to declare by proclamation that Sir Winston Churchill shall be an honorary citizen of the United States of America.” The bill was introduced by Rep. Francis E. Walter (D-Pa.). A report on the bill says its purpose is “to express the highest esteem and admiration of the American people for a great statesman and leader of free peoples.” The report notes that Sir Winston, now 88, had an American mother, Jennie Jerome of New York. Sir Winston said in 1958 he felt he would have to decline honorary citizenship, but he sent word recently to Rep. Walter that he would be “deeply moved” if Congress approved the bill.
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