Today is a grand day. After several months of research and writing, I finally turn in my semester project on Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College. This afternoon we’ll discuss our projects briefly, fill out course evaluations, and then just have two days of presentations left before the end of the semester.
I adore Winston Churchill. He inspires me for many reasons, including his perseverance, brilliant way with words, incredible humor and wit, and resilience. Here’s the intro to my paper that gets handed in today.
Before his appointment as British Prime Minister in 1940, Winston Churchill stood as the single most resolute voice against Adolf Hitler and the spread of Nazism on the world stage during the years preceding the beginning of the Second World War. He called upon his government to increase production of aircraft and weapons and warned of the growing German threat. Although many in Parliament called him over-reactionary and anxious for war, Churchill ignored their charges and continued his call to action. As a prophet, he predicted Germany’s aggression against Poland and the rest of Europe when the current Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, attempted to befriend Hitler. Upon his appointment to the role of Prime Minister, Churchill became a national priest, leading his country in a battle between good and evil. He rallied his countrymen through his stirring rhetoric, asking them to sacrifice in the name of freedom. Winston Churchill also assumed the role of a patriot, calling on the United States to join Britain’s moral quest against Nazism by appealing to their sense of duty. If President Roosevelt ignored Hitler’s clear goal of world domination, Churchill argued he would be not only abandoning the fraternal relationship between the United States and Great Britain but also leaving his own nation open to eventual attack. It is in these three roles of prophet, priest, and patriot that we see the genius of Winston Churchill’s rhetoric and his unique ability to call his audience to action by appealing to their sense of moral duty and patriotism. In his speech to Westminster College just ten months after the end of World War II, the former British prime minister assumed these same roles to warn against a new threat: a lowering of an “Iron Curtain” across Europe and the beginning of the Cold War.
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