Industrial Manufacturing Quotes
This quotation is important for two reasons: First, it illustrates Churchill’s brusque, businesslike manner and his singular focus when he had an objective to accomplish. The British navy used enormous quantities of gunpowder that did not give off smoke—cordite. However, in the 1st World War, the British supply of ingredients for gunpowder in South America were threatened by the German U-boats. With acetone, cordite could be made without the South American nitrates. Weizmann, a Jewish immigrant, had studied the properties of acetone, so Churchill summoned him to the admiralty and without any small talk simply asked him. The Second reason is historical. Weizmann then invented ways to make acetone on a large scale and gave the patent to the British Government at no charge. That cemented a friendship between Weizmann and Churchill as well as Churchill’s successor Arthur Balfour. Weizmann was also the head of the World Zionist Movement to enable the Jews to return to Palestine and create a Jewish State. He was able to persuade Churchill and Balfour, and 11 years after this meeting, the British Government—legally in control of Palestine under the League of Nations mandate--issued the “Balfour Declaration” establishing the right of the Jews to emigrate to Palestine and establish a new nation. When Israel was created in 1949, Weizmann was its first President.
