Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook

Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper proprietor, politician and wartime minister. Through papers including the Daily Express , he became a major force in popular journalism and political campaigning.

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill appointed him minister of aircraft production, where his energetic methods helped increase fighter output. Beaverbrook remained a controversial figure because of his personal power, political interventions and influence over the press.

In Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile, during the following year, Churchill works to sustain public morale, strengthen aircraft production under Lord Beaverbrook and persuade Franklin D. Roosevelt that Britain can remain in the war.