October 14, 2025

ICS 2025
By Jean-Paul Montupet, Chair, International Churchill Society, and Jim Drury, Chair, ICS Conference Committee

This year marks our 42nd annual ICS conference and the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. That milestone is more than a round number on a calendar. It is an invitation to look again at the choices that preserved freedom, the alliances that secured peace, and the leadership that made both possible. Sir Winston Churchill stands at the center of that story.

Churchill matters because he understood that democracies endure only when citizens are informed, institutions are defended, and allies stand together with clarity of purpose. He married a moral compass to practical strategy. He respected history without becoming captive to it. He prized free inquiry, spirited debate, and the rule of law. Those are not relics. The International Churchill Society exists to keep those principles active in public life by studying the past to serve the future. From both sides of the Atlantic, we have seen how the Atlantic partnership strengthens free societies when ideas and institutions are tended with care.

Our mission is straightforward and demanding. We preserve and interpret the record of Churchill’s life and times. We convene scholars, students, practitioners, and citizens to test ideas against evidence. We foster civil conversation across differences. We champion historical literacy as a public good. We do this through Finest Hour, through the Churchill Bulletin, through conferences and symposia, through partnerships with museums, archives, and universities, and through local chapters that build community one gathering at a time. Each program is a reminder that history belongs to everyone, and that leadership is a craft that can be learned. Our chapters and programs allow new members to become organizers, donors, and mentors; engagement is how scholarship grows roots.

The 80th anniversary adds urgency to that work. Fewer living witnesses remain to tell the story of the war. The temptation grows to flatten the past into slogans, or to neglect it altogether. The Society will counter that trend with more primary sources, more rigorous scholarship, and more programming. We will lift up the voices of historians and practitioners who can connect strategic choices to human consequences. We will spotlight the Atlantic partnership that Churchill labored to sustain, and the responsibilities that come with it. We will invite younger audiences to test their own assumptions against the record, and to see how character and judgment shape events.

Our plans for the coming year reflect that commitment. We will expand digital offerings, deepen collaboration with universities and archives partners, and support research fellowships. We will invest in podcasts, seminars, and public conversations that model respectful disagreement and clear thinking. We will continue to bring people together in person because fellowship strengthens learning and service.
Engagement is the engine of all of this. The Society grows stronger when members participate, volunteer, and bring friends. We both know and support our local chapters that host lectures and reading groups knit together a community of inquiry. Key to our success is donors who underwrite our mission driven work including programming and fellowships. We hope to grow our corporate and foundation partners help us reach new audiences and scale programs that work. Every subscription, every renewed membership, and every gift equips the Society to do more, to do it better, and to make it available more widely.

Why Churchill matters, finally, is because he shows that words and decisions can stiffen spines and open paths when fear closes in. He reminds us that democratic leadership is a duty performed in daylight, accountable to citizens and allied to law. He reminds us that humor, culture, and friendship are strengths, not ornaments. He reminds us that hope is not optimism by mood, but confidence earned by preparation and perseverance.

As we launch this year’s conference, we invite you to join us. Attend, read, listen, debate, join or start a chapter, fund a fellowship, and share our resources with your networks. Help us broaden the circle of inquiry and service. The International Churchill Society will honor the past by delivering more programming, deeper engagement, and stronger support for scholarship. Together, as we celebrate America’s 250th and approach 80 years since Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in Fulton, let us make every anniversary a testament to informed citizens, resilient institutions, and allied democracies.