February 27, 2022

Visit Virtual Exhibit Online

America’s National Churchill Museum at Westminster College has established an online exhibit that explores the history of the “Iron Curtain” speech that Winston Churchill made at the Fulton, Missouri school in March 1946. The famous warning about the dangers of possible Russian aggression, which all hoped to have been in the past, has been viewed as the first recognition in the West of the onset of the Cold War. Once again, however, Churchill’s words have timely value. To visit the site, please CLICK HERE.

Churchill titled his speech “The Sinews of Peace” because he sought to outline how confrontation between East and West could be avoided. What captured the public’s imagination, however, was his statement that “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has fallen across the continent.” Although initially met with a hostile reaction, the speech came to be seen very soon as yet another example of Churchill’s keen insight and willingness to state the truth.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month, many commentators began speaking of a new Cold War. “We should remember that when Churchill spoke here at the invitation of President Truman, his goal was not to show us a way into conflict but a way around it,” said Timothy S. Riley, the Sandra L. and Monroe E. Trout Director and Chief Curator of the museum. “His humanitarianism made him optimistic for the future,” Riley continued, “He never despaired. Instead he tried to work out solutions. This exhibit will help the present generation to see how Churchill’ wisdom can be applied to current events.”

The exhibition, Sinews of Peace: The Power of Prose,  was a collaborative effort between museum staff and students in Westminster College’s Museum Studies Program. The exhibition was originally created during the museum’s temporary closure caused by the pandemic, a closure that was extended to accelerate construction and preservation efforts of Sir Christopher Wren’s Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury. The online exhibition is now a permanent—and free—educational resource for students, teachers, and history enthusiasts.