Churchill for President

[633squadron]

@The Flying Dutchman

Could it have happened? Given Churchill’s mother was American ?

Could Churchill legally have been both Prime Minister of Great Britain and President of the United States ?

Legally, he was eligible to run for President. I don’t know British law, so I can’t answer the second part. In the era in which he was born, it was very unlikely that he would have settled in America, since his father was a British nobleman. Moreover, his father started out as an influential MP. So, while he legally could have held both offices, a scenario in which he would have considered American politics is far-fetched.

Of course, had his mother divorced early she might have returned to America and then … ?

As a side-note, Churchill was invited to give a speech before a joint session of Congress. In the speech he quipped: “Had my father been American, and my mother British, I might have made it here on my own!”

[Exapno_Mapcase]

If Churchill was an American citizen by birth, why then was he made a honorary American citizen in 1963?

And why then did he write in 1958

As you know, I am half American by birth. I feel that I would prefer to leave the matter thus rather than have an official seal put on the affection and high regard in which I hold your country.

Churchill didn’t regard himself as an American citizen. The president of the United States who conferred an honorary citizenship on him in 1963 didn’t consider him an American citizen.

Who are we to contradict them?

[Walloon]

@alphaboi867

Wouldn’t Churchill’s mother have lost her American citizenship (under 19th century law) when she married a foreigner?

Correct. Before 1922, an American woman who married a foreigner, even if the woman never left the United States, lost her U.S. citizenship!

From the National Archives publication Prologue: Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802-1940:

For many years there was disagreement over whether a woman lost her U.S. citizenship simply by virtue of the marriage, or whether she had to actually leave the United States and take up residence with her husband abroad. Eventually it was decided that between 1866 and 1907 no woman lost her U.S. citizenship by marriage to an alien unless she left the United States. . . .

After 1907, marriage determined a woman’s nationality status completely. Under the act of March 2, 1907, all women acquired their husband’s nationality upon any marriage occurring after that date. This changed nothing for immigrant women, but U.S.-born citizen women could now lose their citizenship by any marriage to any alien. Most of these women subsequently regained their U.S. citizenship when their husbands naturalized. However, those who married Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, or other men racially ineligible to naturalize forfeited their U.S. citizenship. Similarly, many former U.S. citizen women found themselves married to men who were ineligible to citizenship for some other reason or who simply refused to naturalize. Because the courts held that a husband’s nationality would always determine that of the wife, a married woman could not legally file for naturalization.

[Little_Nemo]

Under the 14th Amendment, and as decided by the Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, Churchill was a natural-born US citizen. You only need one parent who is a citizen, and it doesn’t make any difference where you were born.

No, the court ruled that Wong was an American citizen because he was born in the United States (neither of his parents was an American citizen). Churchill was born in Oxfordshire, England.