August 11, 2007
There is no finer place for history buffs to study Sir Winston Churchill, one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century, than at the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library in Fulton, Missouri.
After my recent tour through the museum, I concluded that one would have to travel to England to find a museum that portrays the man any better.
One does not have to be an historian to enjoy it either. The newly refurbished and renovated museum has interactive displays, action movies, and several walk-through rooms that take you imaginatively into the life and times of this great man. Certainly, there is something for adults and children alike.
Note to Baby Boomers: before our grandchildren forget World War II, if they know of it at all, let’s take them with us and introduce them to Sir Winston at this outstanding museum. There is still time before school starts to take a road trip to Fulton with the kiddos.
Fulton is located in east central Missouri, a tad closer to St. Louis than Kansas City. From either metro area it is an easy drive along Interstate 70 and just as accessible from other corners of the state.
The museum, founded in 1969 to honor the legacy of Sir Winston Churchill, was redesigned and rededicated in 2006. It is located on the campus of Westminster College at 501 Westminster Avenue in Fulton in the undercroft of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury. Currently, the museum houses priceless artifacts and a library about Sir Winston Churchill.
The historic church is a 12th century church from London that Sir Christopher Wren redesigned in 1677. It was relocated in Fulton, moved block-by-block and piece-by-piece.
If you may have forgotten your history, Churchill served as prime minister of England and led the free world’s fight for freedom in the 1940’s. He was a guiding light for the free world yet his speeches were often controversial such as the one he gave on March 5, 1946, in Fulton, Missouri.
And just exactly what was he doing in Fulton, Missouri, you might ask.
Martin Gilbert has a very interesting explanation of Churchill’s connection to Fulton in his book “Churchill and America”.
Gilbert writes, “In November 1945 President Truman invited Churchill to lecture at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, his home state…”
The importance of the speech would shake the world with its honesty and prophesy.
Gilbert explained: “From Miami, Churchill traveled by train to Washington…where he worked on his speech for Westminster College. While Churchill was in Washington, Truman learned that the Soviet government, contrary to its earlier assurances would withdraw only a portion of its troops from northern Persia.”
Gilbert said that when Churchill gave his speech in March of 1946 in Fulton, he turned to the secret information that had reached Truman while Churchill was in Washington. He announced to the world, “Turkey and Persia are both profoundly alarmed…at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow Government.” He also talked about the Communist occupation of Berlin saying, “…this is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up.”
Churchill’s famous speech, “The Sinews of Peace”, instantly became known worldwide as the Iron Curtain Address when Churchill used the term “iron curtain” to highlight the spread of Communism in post-World War II Europe.
Churchill addressed President Truman and other dignitaries assembled that day at Westminster College in 1946 with these now famous words, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent…”
Coining the term “iron curtain” in Fulton, Missouri, forever joined in history Churchill, the town, and the college.
Years later, Churchill’s granddaughter would present to the college actual panels from the Berlin Wall sculpted into a modern-art display. On other occasions, his youngest daughter Lady Mary Soames would visit the campus to give lectures and attend functions honoring her father. The bond between this small private college in Fulton, Missouri, and the Churchill family of England has never been broken.
Although Churchill was known for his statesmanship and leadership, he was also known for his humor as well as his ironclad irascible wit, all well documented in the Churchill Memorial in Fulton.
Here are just a few Churchill quotes both serious and funny from “The Quotable Winston Churchill”, a collection of quotes edited by Richard Mahoney in 2005 with some displayed in The Wit and Wisdom Room at the museum.
“Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never—in nothing great and small—large and petty. Never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
“The United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lit under it, there is no limit to the power it can generate.”
“Smoking cigars is like falling in love. First you are attracted to its shape; you stay with it for its flavor; and you must always remember never, never, let the flame go out.”
To his son, “Randolph, do stop interrupting me while I’m interrupting you.”
“Golf is like chasing a quinine pill around a pasture.”
Bessie Braddock, Liverpool Labourite member of the House of Commons, one evening accused Churchill, “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more, you are disgustingly drunk. To which Churchill replied, “And I might say Mrs. Braddock, you are ugly and what’s more, disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow, I shall be sober.”
“In my belief you cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you also understand the most amusing.”
And as he gazed into a fire shortly before his death: “I know what it’s like to be a log; reluctant to be consumed but yielding in the end to persuasion.”
The museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily except for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year's Days.
