RT by @mikenov: Winston Churchill is photographed being carried following his near-fatal car accident on Fifth Avenue in New York City in December 1931… On December 13, 1931, Winston Churchill was visiting New York City on a lecture tour. While crossing Fifth Avenue near 76th Street, he instinctively looked right (the habit from Britain, where traffic drives on the left) instead of left. He stepped into the path of an oncoming car driven by an unemployed mechanic named Edward F. Cantasano, which struck him and left him with a deep scalp wound, two cracked ribs, a fractured nose, a sprained shoulder, and severe shock. Churchill was hospitalized at Lenox Hill Hospital and later recuperated a

Winston Churchill is photographed being carried following his near-fatal car accident on Fifth Avenue in New York City in December 1931…

On December 13, 1931, Winston Churchill was visiting New York City on a lecture tour. While crossing Fifth Avenue near 76th Street, he instinctively looked right (the habit from Britain, where traffic drives on the left) instead of left. He stepped into the path of an oncoming car driven by an unemployed mechanic named Edward F. Cantasano, which struck him and left him with a deep scalp wound, two cracked ribs, a fractured nose, a sprained shoulder, and severe shock.

Churchill was hospitalized at Lenox Hill Hospital and later recuperated at a nursing home before finishing his tour. He famously took full responsibility for the accident and later met the driver with no ill will. Worried the young driver might struggle to find work, Churchill later invited him for tea and gave him a signed copy of one of his books. During his recovery, his doctor prescribed him a minimum daily amount of alcoholic spirits (250 cc), effectively giving him legal access to alcohol during U.S. Prohibition

There was one more problem. The US was in the middle of Prohibition, and Churchill was not about to give up drinking. His doctor wrote him a note saying his recovery “necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at meal times,” with a minimum of 250 cubic centimeters.

Churchill went on to write about the crash for a British newspaper and was well paid for it. Less than ten years later, the man who nearly died crossing a New York street became Britain’s prime minister during World War II.

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— @histories_arch Oct 22, 2026