The Sinews of Peace
A Stop At The National Churchill Museum
“The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also joined an awe inspiring accountability to the future. If you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. Opportunity is here now, clear and shining for both our countries. To reject it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of the after-time. It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement.”
~ Sir Winston Churchill~
Unexpectedly, we found ourselves a stone throw from Fulton, Missouri, remembering, late into the night, that there was something nearby regarding a garden and Prime Minister Winston Churchill – oh be still my heart!
Of the many things the road offers, besides interacting with people, touching history is by far my most favorite of things; and this may well be one of my most favorite of stops.
It was on March 5, 1946, exactly 70 years ago today, that the former Prime Minister of England, the man who lead the world to victory over the perilous evils of the Axis powers, Winston Churchill, stood at a podium in Westminster College, in the small town of Fulton, and delivered what is arguably one of the most important speeches of the 20th Century – the “Sinews of Peace”, otherwise known as the “Iron Curtain Speech”.
The schools president, Franc McCluer, had invited the Prime Minister, to speak on the campus; knowing that a school alumni, Major General Harry Vaughan, worked with President Harry Truman, and asked the former student, to ask President Truman, to add his seal of approval, as it were, to the invitation, the President gladly attached a hand-written note, stating that the school was in his home state, and that if Churchill came, the President would introduce him, and thus the stage was set for history.
Twenty years after the Prime Ministers speech the college sought to properly commemorate the man and his words; it was during this speech that the now famed notion of the descending “iron curtain” and the Cold War, which would last until President Regan demanded that the Wall be torn down, were first coined.
Thus the Church of Saint Mary, Aldermanbury, where William Shakespeare and John Milton had once worshiped, and which had first been destroyed by the Great Fire of London, in the 12th Century, and then badly damaged in the Blitz, in December of 1940, was transported from England, where she had stood since the 16th Century, re-built according to Christopher Wren’s designs, to Fulton; where it was reassembled, stone by stone, to house the National Churchill Museum, and to serve as the College chapel.
When we first arrived, at the museum, I asked about where the actual speech was delivered, (as I like to touch history as close as I can), we were told that it was in the gymnasium, but that a game was in progress, and we would not be able to see the location. I did not fret, and instead enjoyed the tour of the museum and church, we then went to see “Breakthrough” by Edwina Sandys, Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, made from eight sections of the Berlin Wall, which I now feel that I have seen more of in the United States than I did in Berlin, given how much of it is on display at presidential library’s. Afterwards, I asked a student where they gym was, and he pointed me in the right direction. Going into the building, I noticed a sign, on the door, stating the gym was closed; and then thanked God for my brave traveling companion, who opened the door anyway. It was the perfect ending to a perfect visit!
The Gymnasium
The sign on the very shiny floor.
The National Churchill Museum:
https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/
Iron Curtain Speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMt7zCaVOWU
From Our Tour of The Magellan:
http://thatisallfornow.com/?p=1857#.VttNkb3WaCw
~ M ~
The Complete Text of the Speech; thank you to: http://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/120-the-sinews-of-peace
