Message:18305 In: TODAY.WW
From: KF5JRVDate: Thu, 05 Mar 26 11:43:00 Z
Newsgroups: TODAY.WW
Subject: Today in History - Mar 05
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In one of the most famous orations of the Cold War period, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet
Union’s policies in Europe and declares, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descen
ded across the continent.” Churchill’s speech is considered one of the opening volleys announcing the beginning of the Cold
War.
Churchill, who had been defeated for re-election as prime minister in 1945, was invited to Westminster College in Fulton, Misso
uri where he gave this speech. President Harry S. Truman joined Churchill on the platform and listened intently to his speech.
Churchill began by praising the United States, which he declared stood “at the pinnacle of world power.” It soon became cle
ar that a primary purpose of his talk was to argue for an even closer “special relationship” between the United States and
Great Britain—the great powers of the “English-speaking world”—in organizing and policing the postwar world. In particu
lar, he warned against the expansionistic policies of the Soviet Union. In addition to the “iron curtain” that had descende
d across Eastern Europe, Churchill spoke of “communist fifth columns” that were operating throughout western and southern E
urope. Drawing parallels with the disastrous appeasement of Hitler prior to World War II, Churchill advised that in dealing wit
h the Soviets there was “nothing which they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect
than for military weakness.”
Truman and many other U.S. officials warmly received the speech. Already they had decided that the Soviet Union was bent on exp
ansion and only a tough stance would deter the Russians. Churchill’s “iron curtain” phrase immediately entered the offici
al vocabulary of the Cold War. U.S. officials were less enthusiastic about Churchill’s call for a “special relationship”
between the United States and Great Britain. While they viewed the British as valuable allies in the Cold War, they were also w
ell aware that Britain’s power was on the wane and had no intention of being used as pawns to help support the crumbling Brit
ish empire. In the Soviet Union, Russian leader Joseph Stalin denounced the speech as “war mongering,” and referred to Chur
chill’s comments about the “English-speaking world” as imperialist “racism.” The British, Americans, and Russians—a
llies against Hitler less than a year before the speech—were drawing the battle lines of the Cold War.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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