Talk:Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor

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POV?[edit]

This all a bit POV isn't it? I thought the man was a de facto Nazi. Can someone rewrite this article? m.e. 10:23, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I researched his wife which led to learning a good deal of him. I ended up disliking both of them immensely, more her than him but I dislike him too, but that said he was not a "de facto Nazi." He was certainly a racist and a bigot, but not violently so. I think for him racial minorities were amusing feeble-minded people who existed to serve him, which was a not too uncommon view for an aristocrat of his era. He also favored appeasement when the government did and bought in the "stabbed in the back" legend some. However he didn't advocate Nazism or Fascism according to anything I read and I read some pretty critical stuff. At worst he just thought, before the war, that Nazism was okay for Germany as long as it didn't cause them to bother other nations. Once the war started he was solidly opposed to the Nazis and even wanted to do war-work for Britain, but was too old and ill for that. He got some token job instead. He was a rich racist snob who had an unrealistic view of Nazism in the 1930s, but he wasn't any kind of Diana Mitford type.--T. Anthony 10:30, 21 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I added more criticism though.--T. Anthony 10:55, 21 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Removed the NPOV notice. - If someone wishes to ADD something that is fine but it is not POV. JillandJack 18:22, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

whatever, it needs work. I've marked it for bias this time. If you can think of a better template then go for it, but don't whitewash the man. m.e. 08:41, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Needs somewhat more objectivity when it comes to appeasement and the Cliveden set.Homey 21:26, 11 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the POV that the NAZI involvement has been omited or glossed over in enough places controlled by mainstream media and some of the gritty history needs be kept tied to these people.

Don't get excited, people. Waldorf Astor was not regarded as virulently antisemitic in his day -- just "ordinary" antisemitic, like most of the aristocracy at the time. You're forgetting what a scandal the Prince of Wales created by his casual friendship with the Rothschilds. Moreover, racism was endemic in Britain as musch as in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century. You can't transfer 21st-century opinions to the past and assume they were (or ought to have been) the standard. That's bad history.

But what I came here to say, is that I believe Waldorf's full name was "William Waldorf Astor Jr."; he went by his middle name to avoid confusion. That needs to be reflected somewhere on the page. --Michael K Smith^Talk 16:32, 28 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

His children[edit]

Nancy Astor's page lists the five children she had by Waldorf Astor. Why are they not shown on Waldorf's page? Valetude (talk) 19:08, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

His Racing Interests[edit]

The one sentence on his racing interests is hardly true (yes he did have a horse that won the St Leger) but mainly wrong. He most certainly did not take over his father's stable. I'll try to find time to add to this section as he was one of the most important thoroughbred owner-breeders of the 1915-1950 era. (Victor Middlesex (talk) 01:26, 9 November 2015 (UTC))[reply]