March 6, 2010

Churchill was out of power at the time of his famous speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, in 1946, after the Labour Party’s landslide victories in the July 1945 election. Himself reelected, Churchill was a potent leader of the opposition in through 1951.

Mr Churchill was invited to give the Green Lecture, named for the John Findley Green, an alumni of Westminister College.

This speech is known for one of it’s most famous phrases, “Iron Curtain” but it’s also known as the “Sinews of Peace” speech. (Churchill never named his own speeches.) Churchill was introduced by President Harry Truman to deliver this address on 5 March 1946.

You can view a video clip and read the full-text of the speech here.

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You can also listen to the audio of the full speech here.

Find out what Winston Churchill’s daughter-in-law Pamela Harriman felt was the true meaning of the speech.

Follow this link to read the background of the story of Churchill’s speech at the Kansas City Library.

The location in which Churchill gave the speech is now the National Churchill Museum.