Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Medium
But as old colleagues and enemies reflected on his death, they delivered a mixed verdict on his governments of 1964-70 and 1974-76.
Wilson, 79, died Wednesday of an undisclosed illness at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. He had been ill for some time and entered the hospital Sunday.
To many, Wilson was a master of political maneuvering, unencumbered by ideological commitments. He held his fractious party together to win four elections, accounting for all but one of its victories since World War II.
``I don't believe it is too generous to describe Harold Wilson as one of the most brilliant men of his generation,'' Prime Minister John Major told the House of Commons.
But his leadership was bedeviled by forced devaluation of the currency, a rebellion in Rhodesia and the explosion of violence in Northern Ireland.
When he resigned in 1976, Britain was well on the road to renouncing his brand of socialism for Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives.
Born in England's industrial north and educated in public schools before winning a scholarship at Oxford, Wilson was the quintessential self-made man. ``He ended the age of deference,'' said political journalist Anthony Howard.
``Wilson had this cheeky chappie quality which enabled him, I think, to be the symbol and the mascot ... of a new kind of Britain, a Britain that didn't touch its forelock, didn't touch its cap. That was very important at the time.''
He established the Open University, where working people could study by correspondence and television. In 1965 his government outlawed capital punishment and enacted the Race Relations Act to prevent discrimination against minorities. In 1975, he led the successful referendum campaign that secured Britain's membership in the European Community under renegotiated terms of membership.
by CNB