Winston Churchill On His “Iron Curtain” Speech “Fulton still holds its own!”

During World War II, the Allies (the U.S., Britain and Soviet Union) agreed to hold free elections in nations liberated from German control at the end of the war. As the Red Army advanced toward Germany, it liberated a number of Eastern European countries. Following the army were Soviet officials who organized for the liberated countries pro-Soviet communist governments. Under this compulsion, one country after another became communist and supportive of the Soviet Union. In world affairs, they acted as a "bloc" on behalf of Soviet policies. This was watched in dismay in the West.

Winston Churchill was out of power after the July 1945 election, and though he led the opposition Conservatives in Parliament, for the first time in years he had opportunity for his own affairs. He and his wife Clementine went to Miami Beach for a six-week vacation in January and February 1946. It was their first extended holiday after World War II, and they arrived on January 17. Churchill aimed to "hide on Miami Beach," to have a low key stay. Old friend Col. Frank W. Clarke, a Canadian steamship and wood pulp executive to whom Churchill had written saying “I stand in the need of some rest and sunshine”, hosted the couple at his Miami Beach home. Clarke showed Churchill around, protected him from being disturbed, and made it clear to newsmen that the old lion would accept no invitations nor attend many functions during his get-away. Churchill had a fine time, visiting the parrot jungle, venturing out to set up his easel and paint scenery under a huge umbrella, going with Clarke to Cuba for a few days, and getting a mild tan. It was at Clarke’s that Churchill wrote to President Harry Truman, revealing “I need to talk with you a good while about our Fulton date. I have a message to deliver to your country and to the world…”

The Churchills left Miami Beach on March 2, and took a train to Washington where they met with son Randolph. They then traveled with Truman to Missouri. On March 5, Churchill received an honorary degree from Westminster College in Fulton, after which he gave the most consequential speech of his career and one of the most consequential of the century. In it, he introduced the phrase "Iron Curtain" to describe the division between Western powers (the United States, Western Europe, and allies) and the Eastern powers (the Soviet Union, and areas under its control). Although tensions were building earlier, this speech, with its clarifying power, marks the onset of the Cold War.

At the peak of his oratorical skills, Churchill began by praising the United States, which he declared stood "at the pinnacle of world power." A primary purpose of his speech 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. He then warned against the expansionistic policies of the Soviet Union and of "communist fifth columns" that were operating throughout Western and Southern Europe. Drawing parallels with the disastrous appeasement prior to World War II, Churchill advised that in dealing with 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." He reminded the audience of his past accurate prophecising, saying of World War II, “I saw it all coming and I cried aloud to my own fellow countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention.”

He then famously told his audience: “It is my duty, however, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.” The phrase “Cold War”, which he coined here, resonated and came to represent the entire era, one that lasted over forty years.

President Truman and other U.S. officials warmly received the speech, as did many in Western Europe. The day after its delivery, the British Daily Mail newspaper carried a cartoon depicting the iron curtain, which shows how quickly the phrase caught fire. However, reactions even in these countries were mixed, as some were suspicious of Churchill's proposed alliance between the United States and Britain, and others accused Churchill of warmongering. Many lauded the speech for its prophetic qualities (it did, in fact, anticipate the formation of the Soviet Bloc), but others were provoked by Churchill's claim of prophecy:  “There never was a war in history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe." Stalin, of course, denounced the speech, but it proved unpleasantly consequential for the Soviets as well. In 1971, Soviet Premier Khrushchev wrote of the speech, “Our relations with England, France and the USA were ruined.”

As 1946 continued, reactions to the speech continued to form and solidify, and Churchill monitored the situation closely, hoping for a consensus to build that would creat a strong post-war alliance between the English-speaking peoples and a determination in the West to resist Soviet aggression and thus forstall another war.

Fulton still holds its own!

Typed Letter Signed, on his Hyde Park Gate letterhead, with 3-line autograph postscript, London, December 7, 1946, to Clarke, listing 17 of his own books that were being sent with the letter [not present] as a gift, including four containing his war speeches, and giving him an insight into Churchill’s thoughts on the impact of his Fulton speech. "I now send you with my very best wishes for Christmas the following books, which I have bound for you.” Churchill then lists 17 books [not present], including four containing his “Wartime Speeches. He continues, “You have I understand got MARLBOROUGH similarly bound. It is now out of print and practically unobtainable, but about Easter a new edition will be coming out, so if you have not got it let me know. Have you got an edition of the WORLD CRISIS with its two pendant volumes THE AFTERMATH and THE EASTERN FRONT? There are five volumes in all. If not I will have these put in hand. There is also my LIFE OF LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL. Have you got this? It is again out of print, but I am hoping it will appear presently. Then there is LONDON TO LADYSMITH VIA PRETORIA. Finally there is the book of SECRET SESSION SPEECHES which I am having bound for you and will follow. It takes such a very long time to get things done over here, that I am afraid you must have thought me very dilatory. I hope however this series will form an agreeable part of your library…The SECRET SESSESSION SPEECHES have just arrived, so I am sending them now.” He adds a holograph postscript: “PS. I am still hoping to improve the picture of Miami. Fulton still holds its own!"

Hold its own, indeed. In March 1947, Truman acted on Churchill’s warning at Fulton, going to Congress with the Truman Doctrine designed to prevent Greece and Turkey from falling into the Soviet bloc. In June, the Marshall Plan was introduced, to further contain the Soviet threat in Europe. In October 1947 Truman could frankly tell Churchill, “Your Fulton…speech becomes more nearly a prophesy every day”. Looking back in 1948, Churchill himself saw it that way, writing again to Clarke that “Fulton has turned out to be a signpost that hundreds of millions have followed.”