By Philip White
This week marks the 67th anniversary of Winston Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' address
(actually named 'The Sinews of Peace'), which he called "the most
important speech of my career". And he'd given one or two of those.
Churchill's speech in the unlikely venue of Westminster College
in Fulton, Missouri, was panned at the time for blasting Soviet Russia,
whom many in Britain and the US still considered an ally, for warning
of the potential of World War Three and for calling out the divisions
between the Communist East and democratic West. Of course, Churchill's
illustration of the "iron curtain" (a term he made popular but did not
invent) was later embodied in the defining symbol of the Cold War - the
Berlin Wall. And you can hardly watch a news broadcast on foreign
affairs without hearing Churchill's term for the bond between the US and
the British Commonwealth, the "special relationship" (though quite how
"special" it is right now is debatable.)
But is the speech still worth listening to and reading about,
all these years later? After all, we'll be celebrating the 25th
anniversary of the Berlin Wall next year and though Communism remains a
force, it is hardly the global menace that Churchill spoke of. Despite
these facts, I believe Churchill's "most important" speech should indeed
be studied, and not merely as a historical relic. Here are a few
reasons why:
1) Leadership
When he spoke in Fulton in March 1946, Churchill was no longer Prime
Minister. The Conservative Party was punished for things that happened
before Winston became head of a coalition government - not least the
appeasement of Baldwin and Chamberlain and the poor standard of living
many Britons had during their tenure. While the Tories campaigned on the
strength of Churchill's war leadership, the Labour Party looked
forward, creating a manifesto that addressed the postwar housing
shortage, rebuilding wartime damage and, for good or for ill, extending
socialized medicine.
But though he had lost his post of prime minister, Churchill's role
of statesman was not over. He recognized that his stark warning about
Communism would be unpopular, as did Harry Truman, who later
disingenuously denied reading the speech before Churchill delivered it.
Yet Churchill recognized that to truly lead you must be willing to
risk unpopularity, even ridicule, to tell hard truths. And what he said
at Fulton - about the perils of expansionist Communism, about the need
for the US, Britain and the rest of the English-speaking peoples to
stand together in good times and in ill - was certainly truth. As
predicted, Churchill was derided as an imperialist, an old Tory, and, by
Stalin himself, as a warmonger. And yet, after braving hundreds of
protesters yelling "GI Joe is home to stay, Winnie, Winnie, go away" to
give another bold speech days later at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel,
Churchill stood his ground, stating that "I do not wish to withdraw or
modify a single word."
2) Bipartisanship
Churchill strongly disagreed with the direction in which Clement Atlee's Labour Party was taking Britain after World War Two, unleashing the full power of his rhetoric upon them time and again in the Commons. And yet, he advised Atlee and his foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, behind the scenes on relations with the Soviet Union, and made himself available whenever they called upon his decades of experience.
Churchill strongly disagreed with the direction in which Clement Atlee's Labour Party was taking Britain after World War Two, unleashing the full power of his rhetoric upon them time and again in the Commons. And yet, he advised Atlee and his foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, behind the scenes on relations with the Soviet Union, and made himself available whenever they called upon his decades of experience.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Churchill over-estimated the
extent of his relationship with Truman, more so than he had his
friendship with FDR. But whatever their differences, the two were of a
similar mind on Communism and recognized that it was a bigger issue than
party lines could contain. Churchill, a Conservative and Truman, a
Democrat, were willing to work together to tackle a problem bigger than
both of them, and bigger than their domestic political ideologies. The
international statesmen and women of today would do well to look to this
example.
3) Determination in the face of adversity
Churchill's greatest triumph - seeing Hitler defeated - was soon
sullied by his greatest political defeat. At the age of 71 and worn thin
by the pressures of the war years, it would've been understandable if
Churchill had spent the rest of his days painting, laying bricks and
holding court at Chartwell. But yet he saw it as his obligation to serve
Britain, its allies and the world in illuminating the ills of Communism
and the need for a strong transatlantic partnership to prevent these
from overcoming the principles of liberal democracy to which he'd given
everything.
Yes, he did mope around for a few weeks after the election debacle,
glum about the loss of 10 Downing Street and of his seat at the Potsdam
power table. But when the clouds cleared Churchill picked himself off
and made use of his two most potent weapons - his pen and his voice - in
crafting and delivering may have indeed been the most important speech of his career. He had expressed his aim in World War Two in one word: "victory." His post-war goal can also be encapsulated in a single word: "peace."
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