The Westminster Gymnasium is listed as a National Historic Landmark because
it is the location where Winston Churchill delivered what is known as his "Iron
Curtain" or "The Sinews of Peace" speech on March 5, 1946. The following
is from National Register Nomination Form:
"Winston S. Churchill's speech at Westminster College on March 5, 1946,
which introduced the term "iron curtain" into public usage, marks a turning
point in international relations. It was the first step toward recognition that
the "cold war" had begun and that existing policies of the Soviet Union
constituted a threat to the West. As former President Truman once commented, "It
was one of the greatest speeches I ever listened to...and part of the policy of
the free world ever since." The college gymnasium where Churchill delivered the
speech remains unchanged.
In 1946, Westminster College, a small liberal arts college (250 students) in
Fulton, Missouri, decided to invite Winston Churchill, who was then planning a
trip to the United States, to deliver a speech on campus. Doubtful that
Churchill would accept, the president of the college, Franc L. McCluer, sought
help from an alumnus, Major General Harry H. Vaughan, military aide to President
Truman. Vaughan secured Truman's support for the idea, and the President added a
postscript to McCluer's invitation: "This is a wonderful college in my home
State. Hope you can do it. I will introduce you." Churchill accepted the
invitation, and his speech, entitled, "Sinews of Peace," was given on March 5,
1946, at the Westminster College gymnasium before an audience of 2,800 people.
The speech turned out to be Churchill's analysis of the postwar world. He
spoke of the destruction caused by the War and pleaded for a strong United
Nations--"a true temple of peace," and, "not merely a cockpit in a Tower of
Babel." The United Nations, Churchill said, had to have a strong foundation,
based on a binding Anglo- American alliance that would include the common study
of potential dangers, the inter change of officers and cadets at technical
colleges, and the joint use of all Naval and Air Force bases in the possession
of both countries in all parts of the world. He firmly believed that the
knowledge of the atomic bomb should be kept in Anglo- American hands and not
entrusted to the still feeble United Nations.
Churchill then spoke of the most pressing threat to peace: Russian expansion.
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, Churchill declared, "an
iron curtain has descended across the Continent." Behind that line, he noted,
lay all the capitals of the ancient States of Central and Eastern Europe.
Countries in front of the iron curtain were endangered from without by Soviet
might and from within by Communist fifth columns. The answer to this threat,
according to Churchill, was the United Nations, supported by the whole strength
of the English speaking world and all its connections.
The reaction to Churchill's speech was mostly negative. Though the Wall
Street Journal thought it brilliant with a "hard core of indisputable fact,"
most papers viewed with alarm and distaste the prospect of a British-American
military alliance. In Congress three Democratic Senators described the speech as
"shocking" and Henry Wallace, Secretary of Commerce said: "Mr. Churchill is not
speaking for the American people and their government." The English House of
Commons also largely disapproved of Churchill's speech; one hundred members of
parliament signed a formal motion protesting it. In Russia, Stalin charged that
Churchill's speech was a "dangerous act calculated to sow the seeds of discord
among Allied governments and hamper their cooperation." Churchill speech was
received unfavorably on both sides of the Atlantic for several reasons. American
and British peoples still remembered the heroic resistance of the Russians
during the war, and there was wide spread hope that the wartime alliance could
be extended to peacetime.
In retrospect the Churchill speech was very significant in Allied foreign
policy. The "Sinews of Peace" was the first public indication of a change in the
policy of the West toward the Soviet Union. Although public opinion felt that
the anti- Russian tone of the speech was unwarranted, events soon dispelled this
objection. The speech prepared the way for the Truman Doctrine or so-called
containment policy of March 1947 and later for N.A.T.O."
The text of Winston Church's speech is found at
The Sinews of Peace.