Monday marks the anniversary of the
delivery of a critical address by one of the most important figures of
our time: Winston Churchill’s “Sinews of Peace” speech. This stirring
oration delivered on March 5, 1946 at Fulton, Missouri, in the presence
of President Truman, was vitally important to defining events and
inspiring sentiment unique to the time, but its messages have
significance and lessons far beyond.
Known colloquially as “the Iron Curtain Speech,” this event had an
important impact on framing the primordial threat to world peace in the
post-World War II period – the Cold War – and to focusing attention on
the leading global alliance motivated to protect world peace, the
Anglo-American Special Relationship.
In the speech, Churchill sounds a chilling warning to the West to be
vigilant against the gathering clouds in Europe: “From Stettin in the
Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across
the Continent…seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control.” Worse
still, he cautions as to the acquisition of nuclear weapons in the hands
of our enemies.
He reminds us with an authority no one else could have that, “Last time
[World War II] I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my fellow
countrymen and the world, but no one paid attention…It could have been
prevented, in my belief, without the firing of a single shot… but no one
would listen, and one by one we were all sucked into the awful
whirlpool.”
Even with his legacy of having saved the free world, and his great
oration, Churchill’s speech earned scorn from many sides, unsurprisingly
fueled by the media, both American and British.
The great war leader went on to outline his hope for the outcomes of the
Marshall Plan and the formation of global organizations committed to
peace-keeping. The subsequent history of these, one fears, would have
left Churchill sadly disappointed. Of particular note, the United
Nations and the European Union, with their sovereignty-leeching
tendencies to stifle nation states and great bi-lateral friendships such
as that of the U.S. and United Kingdom, would have confounded as well as
disappointed Churchill.
Notably, he coined a phrase in this speech, “THE Special
Relationship”—referring to the Anglo-American alliance— which suggests
the importance it deserves. At Fulton, Churchill highlighted the need,
for the whole world, of our great alliance—a relationship based upon a
compassionate world view underpinned by “the great principles of freedom
and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the
English-speaking world,” undergirded by the resources of our combined
military might.
While he would have been let down by the trajectory of many global
organizations, Churchill would have been reassured by the achievements
of the Special Relationship, which endures to help stabilize the world,
notwithstanding new global threats and all manner of heads of government
in both countries.
Indeed, thank heaven for a bi-lateral alliance that has not only the
strength, but the resolve to take on the world’s great menaces,
undeterred by the voices of protest.
If not for leadership like that of Churchill, and Reagan and Thatcher
after him, freedom would surely not prevail today.
What if, for instance, Churchill had bent to public opinion favoring
appeasement in Britain before she entered the war? The period of
darkness and inhumanity unleashed by the Nazis likely would have
penetrated the whole world, including our own shores.
Even with his legacy of having saved the free world, and his great
oration, Churchill’s speech earned scorn from many sides, unsurprisingly
fueled by the media, both American and British. The New York Times said
Churchill had painted "a dark picture of post-war Europe." He was
accused after the speech for positing “poisonous doctrines” that were
tagged as alarmist, racist, and imperialist. Even Truman initially
backed away, but once again, under Stalin’s leadership, events proved
Churchill prophetic.
Contemporary detractors wail against the American Exceptionalism
embodied by President Trump’s approach and protest on the streets of San
Francisco and elsewhere. In the UK socialist-embracing Corbynistas and
American Sandersites wail against capitalism and free markets and wring
their hands over holding our enemies in the Middle East and North Korea
to account.
Happily good sense still prevails in some quarters. The stirring new
film “Darkest Hour” is an example. It portrays for a new generation
Churchill’s stand against the whirlwind of adversity and reminds us just
how close we came to losing everything we fight for. And for its part,
Fulton, Missouri, has a museum dedicated to the inspiring statesman.
In the end, Churchill’s instincts were right—about nearly everything
that counts. Thank you, Winston for Fulton and for your courage and
resolve.
Lee Cohen is a Senior Fellow in Western European Affairs at the London
Center for Policy Research, and the New York Director of the Anglosphere
Society. He was formerly the Director of the Congressional United
Kingdom Caucus. |
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