administrator contend that the united states approach to national security is flawed. robert dray for provides an in-depth look at the house of representatives in do not ask what good we do:inside the house of representatives. .. >> mr. churchill, who had recently lost re-election as british prime minister, was invited to speak by president harry truman who promised to

introduce the former prime minister if he accepted the invitation. the author recalls mr. churchill's desire to speak out against the rise of communism and later referred to his appearance in missouri as the most important speech of his career. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good evening, rage. welcome to -- ladies and gentlemen. welcome to the kansas city public library. i'm the director of the kansas city public library, and it's a pleasure to have phil white here tonight from the adriatic to kansas where phil white comes from and has written this wonderful book. it's an extraordinary story. this is one of the six or seven greatest speechers, most important speeches, most consequential speeches in the history of the world, i believe. i've written about it myself, and this speech in fulton,

missouri, with the president of the united states and the former prime minister of england on the stage together set the tone for, created the first, in essence, battle in the history of the cold war, and at the beginning because of churchill's great rhetoric led to, in fact, the first victory. as i've written about, the consequence of this included a moment when beatle smith became -- who was executive officer to general eisenhower during world war world war ii -- was named ambassador, had no spruxes, and stalin called him into his office at one in the morning and said is in the policy of the united states. and smith, not knowing whether it was the policy of the united states buzz assuming whatever winston churchill would say must, indeed, be the policy of

the united states, said yes. and stalin went into the next room in which the shah's sister, the shah of iran's sister was and announced to her that he was willing to pull russian troops out of iran who were there illegally, in my belief, the first victory of the cold war. it is interesting there's never been a book-length study of this most important speech until phil white, who is an amateur, a private scholar -- actually, i don't think after the publication of this book i can say amateur anymore, because this is a wonderful narrative history. andrew roberts, john lucas all confirm this. john lucas has said about it i read "our supreme task" with considerable care, and i recommend it emphatically. very little about how the cold war actually came about and almost nothing about this address. this book fills the gap. and fills it brilliantly. phil has been a writer and be lecturer at mid american

nazarene university, a regular contributor to the historical society, boston university. he's a business writer, member of the public relations society of america and a frequent contributor to canoe and kayak must somehow have prepared him for this speech. [laughter] but it's a very good book about a very important topic, and you'll be able to buy copies from our friends at barnes & noble in the hall, and phil will sign afterwards and, also, take your questions. ladies and gentlemen, it's a pleasure to introduce phil white. [applause] >> these aren't my notes. yeah, these are my notes, which is good. [laughter] thank you so much to crosby kemper for the kind introduction, to henry and

arthur as well, lorenzo and the rest of the kansas city public library team. thank you, also, to rob for driving all the way up from fulton and everyone at the national churchill museum, and to those at mid american nazarene university who decided through a combination of bribery and coercion that co-sponsoring this event would be a good idea. [laughter] and speaking of bribery, looking around the audience, i see a few familiar faces, and it's nice to know that, in fact, lining the pockets is still a good way to get people to turn out for this type of thing. [laughter] so the only catch being that those who i have come to an agreement with have to stay until the end so, please, try to remember that. the rest of you are free to leave if security guards are let you out. [laughter] this week i was rereading the acknowledgments in my book and was truly amazed at how many people were involved. and in seeing all these names, i realize that while it is, indeed, a book about history,

about the struggle between tyranny and liberty and about one of the defining moments of the 20th century, it is first and foremost a book about people. now, some of these you won't have heard of until after this talk when, like it or not, you will. but looming large over my narrative is one of the people that you probably have heard of, winston churchill. now, there have been lots of books written about winston churchill, and you may have wondered why write another. um, but while there have been many volumes on his early life, on his wilderness years when he was warning of hitler's rise to power and, of course, on churchill's wartime triumph, little has been written about his postwar life and, indeed, as crosby rightly said, about how this speech came about. indeed, many people don't know that just weeks after millions of londoners cheered churchill through the streets on ve day,

victory in europe day, in may of 1945, they voted him out of office in a landslide defeat. some reward for the man who had led his country and in many ways the democratic west to victory over tyranny. it was, in fact, the second worst election loss in the history of conservative party and one that gave the labour party its first majority government. now, during the campaign labour looked forward to the post-world needs of new housing, of caring for wounded soldiers and right all wrong -- right or wrong, constructing a welfare state. in contrast, the conservatives really just relied on churchill's reputation and his record of war leader, understandably in some ways, but they failed to propose strong internships to labour's plans and really churchill's point, the head of the labour party, frankly, just outworked him on the campaign trail. despite these facts and atly

holding a double-digit lead in the weeks leading up to the election,ture churchill's advisers were convinced he would still win. yet when election day came in july of 1945, the voters wanted to move on from churchill's wartime coalition. atley was their man, the labour party was in, and winston churchill at age 70 was out. churchill was a dynamo, writing more than 40 books, hundreds of magazine articles and, of course, composing many memorable speeches. he juggled this with his political responsibilities with aplomb, calling on many beleaguered secretaries at all hours of the day and night to transcribe his lofty prose. he was, in fact, of the habit of only transcribing and wrote little in his own hand, even letters to his wife were actually written by his secretary. but with his election defeat

came inertia, loss of purpose and self-doubt. was he finished as a politician? would he ever again be able to return as leader? how had the british people neglected him after he had led them to victory over hitler? all these nagging questions plagued his mind. and when he left the prime minister's weekend's candidate, check corpses, for what he assumed would be the last time, churchill wrote a single, solemn world in the leatherbound guestbook on the table, finit, the french word for finish or stop. and when his beloved wife columnen tine who had stood at his side for all these years tried to cheer churchill up by telling him the election defeat may actually be a blessing in many surprise, he said very glumly: at this moment it seems to be quite effectively disguised. [laughter] now, another reason for churchill's gloom in the summer of 1945 was that he had unfinished business with stalin, and the russian people that had

sacrificed so much, and now churchill believed were being led by a man who wanted little different than what hitler had wanted in world war ii, namely the expax of his -- expansion of his powers and his doctrine. now, just days before the election results, churchill had sat across the table from stalin in germany where he was trying to make russia honor the control that decorahlation which was signed by the russian premier, franklin roosevelt -- now since deceased -- and winston churchill himself just weeks before. this had promised the exile bed polish leaders seats in the new government and free democratic governments here and in other eastern european countries which the red army had supposedly liberated from tyranny only to replace it with another possibly even greater tyranny of communism. but stalin had broken these promises one by one, setting up

his own communist puppet administration in poland and refusing to withdraw the red army troops from iran. he wanted more german land and resources where millions of people had already been displaced, and the nation were paid billions of dollars in reparations to the kremlin. the russians also demanded military bases in turkey and access to the suez canal, the vital british trade route to the middle and the far east. now, churchill had reluctantly accepted stalin as an ally when hitler turned on russia so fatefully in the summer of 1941. of course, initially, hitler and stalin were allies, but in hitler's paranoia, he had decided that he needed the raw minerals and the land of russia and had, in fact, gone back on his supposed ally. this told churchill pretty much all he needed to know about stalin and his promises. now, at the time churchill needed russia to hold out against thgermans on the

bitterly cold eastern front while britain and, of course, soon america, fought the axis in the west. but he had really despised communism from the beginning, calling it a pestilence and voicing his desire to strangle bolshevism which is another name for communism in its cradle. churchill had wanted to keep british troops in russia after world war i to help the anti-communists when the future of that country hung in the balance, but british prime minister david lloyd george and american president woodrow wilson had vetoed this. at his core churchill believed communism went against the very nature of the human soul. because it denied personal freedom and liberty for the sake of an all-controlling police state. in russia and, at this point, across most of eastern europe stalin and his agents told people what to think, how to live, whom to associate with and

where to work and virtually every other aspect of their existence. there was no room for create creativity, persecution only for religion, and there was no room for debate. the kgb, in fact, encouraged people the turn in friends and family members who they thought had uncommunist views. and what was the punishment for such a crime if convicted as people invariably were? well, it was exile to the brutally cold gulag, the harsh siberian labor camps in which many died of hypothermia, starvation and overwork. tens of thousands of people over stalin's reign. since coming to power in 1922, stalin had, in fact, killed up to 30 million of his own people through force collectivization of funds and industry, mass purges and execution of anyone who he thought would oppose him. the only news a russian could get was through the pravda

magazine all via state-controlled radio. in fact, the propaganda ministry employed hundreds whose lone job it was to convince russians and, in time, most of ian europe that -- eastern europe that not only was communism inherently good and capitalism bad, but also that life in democratic countries was miserable. many believed these lies because they knew nothing else, and really they had been brainwashed by the kremlin into what was, in many ways, the cult of communism. and the people of russia and eastern europe were not allowed out to see the truth. they even needed a passport to move around inside their own countries. we cannot imagine this level of control. and now we go back to 1945, and with hitler defeated, winston churchill recognized that communism was now the greatest threat to the democratic west. and he had, in fact, written to harry truman in may of 1945 of

that year that saw him voted out of power to warn truman that stalin was bringing down an iron curtain across europe. as russia morphed into the soviet union, the abuses of communism spread across eastern europe. british and american diplomats were followed, harassed and even expelled. no foreign journalists were allowed in. you can see where the modern dictators in syria, iran and north korea get their inspiration, the censorship of the media and a lockdown or even a stranglehold on social media sites on the internet. in poland several thousand people were sent, horrifyingly, to the very concentration and prison camps that the allies and in some cases the red army had liberated. of course, soviet officials wanted to stop word of these abuses from leaking out and to keep those subjected to that paranoia and depression in.

as stalin had promised free elections in poland, but the government he set up was anything but representative, and in time the way moscow rewarded the heroic patriots of the polish underground who had fought the entire length of the war against the nazi occupation was by sending them to prison or, indeed, to their death. russia was a country that sent many of its own soldiers to the gulag after the war ended in case they had been influenced by nazi propaganda and turned against the russian empire. churchill's election defeat robbed him of the chance to right these wrongs. it also prevented him from getting to better know harry truman, the man who had replaced fdr, who he realized was the one person in the world whose actions could possibly prevent the spread of communism and avert the third world war. churchill believed if he could

just sit down and talk with stalin, preferably with harry truman sitting alongside, that he could gain the concessions needed to safeguard democracy. but with that chance denied him where his meek success of atley whom churchill had once called a sheep in sheep's clothing -- [laughter] what, indeed, could churchill do about it now? after a few weeks of feeling sorry for himself, churchill knew what he must do: warn the world about the perils of communism and call on harry truman for a tighter relationship between britain and america. now, churchill's seat at the power table was gone, but what remained were his two most potent weapons, his pen -- or, rather, the pen of his secretaries -- and his voice. he gave a rousing speech in the

house of commons during august 1945, and there he first introduced the world to the phrase, "the iron curtain." but for whatever reason it didn't gain much media attention either in britain, the u.s. or elsewhere. churchill also shared his fears with the canadian prime minister, mckenzie king, who he told that russia was grabbing one european country after another, much as hitler had done. so why did churchill's first public warning against communism fall on deaf ears? well, there are several reasons. first, the war-weary british and american people didn't want to hear anything bad about their supposed ally, stalin. the media had portrayed this kind, jovial uncle joe and really made him out to be just a kindly family relative who would sit down and regale you with stories and cozy up to churchill and, first, f,dr and then truma.

and even churchill and fdr had used these terms in their memos to each other. and then there was the fact that prevailing opinion was much as it was after world war i. people would do anything to avoid another war. of course, their boys had just come home, and their families could not entertain sending their young men back to fight communist russia. then there was also the feeling of postwar optimism to consider. who wants to hear the bad news now that hitler and his cronies are defeated? people just wanted to get on with their lives in peacetime and not in war. regardless, churchill knew that he had to get through to them. communism was not some harmless experiment with a new form of government, not just a more stringent type of socialism than the one that was starting to take hold in america and, indeed, with the labour victory in britain. there too. churchill knew deep down that while he enjoyed stalin's

company and thought he could influence him on a one-on-one basis, that he couldn't be trusted. and with hundreds of thousands of russian troops still stationed in western europe and the red army controlling all of eastern berlin where they were backing far less leaders trying to fill hitler's void, churchill recognized that the backs of britain and america were well and truly against the wall, or as he had termed it, an iron curtain. as with hitler, churchill knew that just giving stalin a few concessions would not appease him. instead, this would just encourage the soviets to keep grasping for more land, more control and, indeed, more power. karl marx's communist manifesto showed that communism was inherently expansionist, confirming churchill's worst fears. winston churchill believed that only reconciliation between france and germany, a tight bond between britain and america, an active diplomacy backed by the west's military superiority had

any hope of preventing communism from spreading like the disease that he believed it to be. but churchill needed a platform to air his thoughts. his postwar victory lap of receiving honorary degrees and this honor and that honor across britain and a relaxing holiday in italy and monte carlo in september of 1945 were all well and good, but churchill was foremost a man of action. the question was where and when could he speak the truth about communism to a wide and also attentive audience. and so it was that in october 1945 an invite came to him via u.s. state department mail from the most unlikely venue imaginable, westminster college in tiny fulton, missouri. [laughter] with its -- no, that's not right. it doesn't say 3,000 here, with its 300 students. [laughter]

and now frank mcclure who, if technology doesn't fail me, there we see him with his wife, was the president of westminster. and he had an old class mate, harry born, who now happened to be a military aide in truman's white house. and as we all know, truman liked his old missouri boys better than anybody, and it was, in fact, known as the missouri gang amongst the less than complimentary right-wing press. so mcclure, who had earned his nickname bullet as a fearsome member of westminster's debate team, had the idea of asking churchill to speak at westminster college, missouri. bourne managed to get him five minutes with truman in the oval office. the president who was, like mcclure, a missourian as we've already found out -- i don't know who put that in there -- he said, it's a good letter and not a lot of postscripts, and he

scribbled this is a wonderful school in my home state, hope you can do it, harry truman. and he handed it back and said now you send that to him. [laughter] bullet mcclure had landed other big names in the past. new york city mayor, laguardia -- of course, you may have flown through the airport that bears his name -- and at the time new fbi director j. edgar hoover. they had both spoken because of the audacious invitations, but winston churchill was in another category altogether. bullet was confident of his success but knew even with truman's help it was still a long shot. after all, churchill received dozens, if not hundreds of invitations every month asking him to come and grace colleges like harvard and stanford and oxford with his for presence. and most of them he turned down if they, in fact, got to him past his army of secretaries. but when churchill read mcclure's note and he got to

the bottom and saw truman's addendum, he knew that this was it, this was his opportunity. with the president of the united states introducing churchill in his home state, the world would have to be watching and listening. so despite the long odds, bullet mcclure from westminster college had done it. churchill and truman were coming to fulton in march of 1946. unfortunately, bullet mcclure didn't really know what he'd bargained for. [laughter] it seemed pretty easy to write the letter, and can it was certainly nice getting to go to the white house, but soon enough a question came to his mind how on earth is this town of 8,000 people going to accommodate tens of thousands of visitor coming here to see the two most famous men in the world? so to try to overcome this logistical nightmare, mcclure established committees for every conceivable detail; housing,

food, safety, policing, communications, even toilets. they did, in fact, have a toilet committee woringly enough. [laughter] now, mcclure couldn't do all this work alone, so he hired two publyists, and he worked around the clock with them even while laboring to restore his college to postwar or presence, it was only mcclure's negotiating that had, in fact, kept the college going when the government agreed to host a naval training program for cadets there. so westminster college booked blocks of rooms at every hotel for miles and even opened the doors of its fraternity houses. nonetheless, he opened the doors to journalists and radio station staff who couldn't fit into the hotel blocks that were reserved. newspapers across america and,

indeed, the world carried news of mcclure's unlikely triumph and of churchill's imminent arrival in fulton, a town that churchill and, indeed, most of the people reading about this had never heard of to be perfectly honest. more than 15,000 and possibly as many as 20,000 requests for only 2800 tickets flooded into the tiny westminster college mail room which was about the size of this podium and possibly smaller. [laughter] nobody was allowed to hand out more than two tickets to anyone without bullet's say so, so the ticket allocation didn't get too out of hand, but this meant he had to oversee virtually every request as, of course, most people wanted two tickets and in the case of one letter, 18 which was audacious. the seemingly endless number of ladies' associations in the town offered help. but there would still be a huge food shortage. so bullet and his team enlisted

the help of caterers from st. louis who delivered 8,000 pounds of hot dogs and 3,000 pounds of hamburger as one does. southwestern bell laid thousands of yards of telephone cables turning the sidewalks into temporary construction sites. and even the mcclures' home was not safe from the turmoil. they installed a new tub in case churchill wanted one of his famous and well-publicized daily soaks, and the couple's only son richmond -- fresh from returning as a decorating war hero in europe -- gave up his room so the former prime minister could take his customary afternoon nap. journalists and photographers from more than 200 news outlets descended on fulton which was once the mule-trading capital of and now boasted two shoe factories, a brick factory, the farms that surrounded the town and a wide assortment of stores that lined the cobbled main drag which consisted of about three

blocks. and while mcclure, his wife and their army of volunteers got everything ready, winston churchill was journeying down to miami in florida where he was to spend a few weeks at the home of a canadian colonel, frank clark, who he had met during the war. churchill loved to paint and finished several canvass of the crystal clear atlantic ocean. he also patrollished in the sea like an oversized, pasty 5-year-old. [laughter] attending a horse racing event, the popular -- and i apologize if anyone is here from florida -- high lay ya race track with its famous infield that was populated, of all things, by pink flamingos, churchill backed a couple of winners and won a few bucks. he also took a two-day jaunt on the plane lent to him by president harry truman because world leaders lend each other little things like planes, so they went down to havana, cue what, which had not yet come

under communist rule and where churchill could acquire a splay of the soon to be banned trademark cigars. reporters followed churchill everywhere, and while they had ample time to relax, churchill's packed schedule caused some tension in the house. in fact, one argument between he and columnen tine, his wife, was so intense that according to joe, his 26-year-old secretary who was present for the trip, the churchills couldn't speak to each other or, indeed, look at each other for two whole days, and anyone that's married in the audience may or may not know what i'm talking about. [laughter] i'm only joking, nicole. churchill also had serious business to attend to. he met with secretary of state james burns about the proposed $3.7 billion loan to britain which many isolationists in both the republican and democratic parties were dead set against. not least because america had already pumped billions into the

war effort. in february of 1946 after a few weeks down sunning himself in miami, churchill flew from there to washington to meet truman with his plane going through the worst snowstorm to hit the capital that winter. because they weren't wearing seat belts, and why would you if you're trying to smoke your cigars and drink whatever they were drinking, scotch probably, churchill and his group were thrown into the air and landed hard on the metal floor of the ex-military aircraft. there was no first class flatbed luxury, it seems, even for mr. winston churchill. the plane soon landed safely, and once at the white house, churchill talked with truman for several hours about the speech that was to come. and as the days of february shipped away -- slipped away and march came up, churchill worked on the speech which had the working title of world peace in earnest for hours at a time. he sought input from those he trusted showing or reading drafts to secretary of state

burns, admiral william leahy, canadian prime minister mckenzie king and british ambassador lord halifax to name a few. halifax recalled later the first time churchill read the draft to him, he was so passionate that tears welled in his eyes and started trickling down his cheeks. churchill was certainly never a man lacking passion when just reading a first draft. and, indeed, he was always diligent in his speech writing. one historian claims he devoted one hour of every minute of his speeches in the house of commons to just relentlessly reading and reading. imagine that, if you can. so a 60-minute speech would have been 60 hours, and as we know about churchill, he liked to speak, so, in fact, many of them may have taken 60 hours to prepare. in my research he went even further with the iron curtain speech p and though he did

collaborate and accepted many, many suggestions, the fact remains that like any other politician of that time or this, winston churchill wrote his own speeches, and he wrote this one dictating change after change to his beleaguered and overworked secretary, joe sturdy, the 26-year-old who probably didn't know what she was in for when she said, sure, i'll go for a sunshine vacation in miami with you. [laughter] now, sturdy wasn't alone. she luckily had help from one of colonel clark's assistants and, indeed, their tasks were so many that lord halifax sent down an extra secretary from washington, d.c. to help. and when ms. sturdy wasn't being summoned to go through churchill's notes for the 175th time, the two assistants and, soon, the third one sent down from washington sorted through hundreds of adoring letters that arrived each week. the only person getting more mail, in fact, was bullet mcclure who continued getting requests for tickets as the

speech date of march 5th crept up. and if technology doesn't fail me, we can see mr. mcclure and two of his associates, joe humphreys, his publicist, and neil worth, the president of the board of trustees at westminster poring over some of these letters and, indeed, a map of the proposed route. now, i can't remember what the next slide is, so we're just going to go with it in a moment. [laughter] on march 4th churchill again flew to washington, and indeed, less headache literally and figuratively. and he, truman and truman's advisers along with about 65 reporters who fancied a trip to missouri as one would, of course, took the presidential train to st. louis, almost 850 miles, and then on to jefferson city, missouri. and one of my favorite parts of the story, churchill positioned himself as a proficient gambler to the president. the problem was, of course, that truman and his aides played quite a lot of poker, and the

former prime minister soon found himself in quite a hole. now, when churchill took a bathroom break, major general vaughn, the man who'd helped bring churchill to fulton, leaned over to his boss, harry truman, and said, boss, this guy's a pigeon. we're going to have his pants before the night's over. [laughter] now, before the game trueman was worried that his boys wouldn't be competitive enough, and he had urged them to play hard because, as he said, national honor is at stake but truman now told them to go easy on their guest, and they even threw a few hands for him. but somehow churchill still managed to lose $200 by the end of the night. [laughter] an expensive trip, indeed. that same evening churchill told truman and his gang that he had first tried whiskey while serving with the british army in south africa and by diligent effort had come to like it. [laughter] now, later in the journey truman finally looked at the speech

even though he had planned not to so he could distance himself if it was criticized as both him and churchill assumed it would be. and churchill had retitled the speech by this time, "the sinews of peace." when truman's press secretary, charlie ross, which unsurprisingly was another boy from missouri and had won a pulitzer prize while working for the "st. louis post-dispatch" took this final valuable copy and only made one, i don't know what would have happened if he had caught it on fire with a cigar or anything, but he took it down to the 65 reporters ride anything the front two cars of the train and there was ready for somebody to copy it out longhand and pass copies around which i'm glad i didn't have his job. anyway, they couldn't believe it, the press corps, when all 65 of them crammed into these tiny little come compartments of the train, they just couldn't believe churchill wrote his own speeches because they had never

heard of an american politician or, indeed, a british one who did. no wonder they're so good, said one writer, he actually writes them himself. now, the trip was beneficial to churchill who was, of course, eager to share his views on communism and the need for continued partnership between britain and america with all the postwar challenges. their time together was also useful for truman. churchill had been in office for more than 30 years while truman had been president for less than a year, and on his resumé had been managing a men's clothing store that failed during the depression right near kansas city, missouri. so this was quite the time for truman to get to know one of the world's preeminent statesmen. when he spent a few minutes on the platform in st. louis before they changed trains, harry truman wave today a little boy who had come to see the president that day. but despite his grandma's pleas,

the boy would just not wave back, and with a 2-year-old and 5-year-old, i kind of know that face. it looked almost churchillian, and truman joked to the major of st. louis and said, well, he must be a republican. [laughter] now we'll look at a slide. oh, look, it's beautiful. what do we find here? bullet on his big slide, which we're coming right to. arrive anything jefferson city, churchill and truman were greeted by missouri governor phil donnelly who gave churchill yet another box of cuban cigars, as if he really needed anymore, but he appreciated the gesture. also there to meet him was the man whose audacity and never-say-die spirit had made this day possible, frank "bullet" mcclure from westminster college. after the men shook hands and exchanged a few kind words, they hopped in the governor's brand

new, shiny black packard coup which was big enough, i believe, to accommodate half of jefferson city at least. [laughter] during a brief parade through the streets, churchill honored a request from the town's mayor by waving to a chronically ill. doctor who was propped up his window. things were not going well, though, for frank "bullet" mcclure on his big day. smoke billowed from the car carrying churchill and truman, and not just from the endless supply of lit cigars inside. they clambered out as the car ground to a very unceremonious and unplanned halt. churchill's secretary and his butler got out of their vehicle, too, and after a brief but hectic game of musical chairs and runningnd and and just chaos, the group was ready to go on its way by road to fulton. now, in fulton people had started arriving at dawn, and

the dozens of small stores that lined the main drag were doing a roaring trade. on the streets vendors sold brightly-colored pennants and american flags with churchill and truman day emblazoned either across or in case of offending the american flag, below them. and balloon sellers quickly sold all their wares to local children. it was a temporary ground atmosphere in this normally quiet and sedate, small-time town. by the time churchill and truman's car came to the edge of the city, more than 25,000 people had jammed the streets in any spot they could find, propped in doorways, up on the courthouse steps and even up in second and third-floor windows to get a better view. many more would have come if local radio stations hadn't scared them off by warning of overcrowding and of bad weather. but despite their grim predictions, it was an usually warm for march. in looking at photos and video

footage from the fulton parade, by us amazed how vulnerable churchill and truman looked in their open-top cars despite the troops. but, of course, jfk's fateful trip to dallas was still many years away, and presidential security was still very much a work in progress. crowds lined the sidewalk five deep in some places. three bands played, and the cheering was almost deafening as truman and churchill rode past. churchill, of course, in his familiar pose -- cigar between his lips, two fingers aloft in the v for victory sign with the colorful banners above him blow anything the breeze. truman, as impeccably dressed as you would expect from the former owner of a kansas city clothing store, smiled and waved at the crowd. but this day was not just about the famous guests or bullet mcclure, the man who had brought them there, but it was also about those who had come from far to wide to see them.

and this is one of my favorite parts of the book, in being able to conduct many oral interviews and tell the stories of a few of those people, um, in fact, mr. r. walton is here with us this evening, and i thank him for dignifying us with his presence and coming all this way. thank you, art. on the sidewalk beside the scully oil gas station with its fire engine red pumps, 14-year-old glenn ache ri sold ham sandwiches and dr. pepper that he'd bought from a local café that morning at cost. he was quite the entrepreneur each at age 14, and had lugged them in a heavy cooler through the streets. a few blocks down his classmate, bill johnson, sold a special edition of the fulton gazette until his hands turned black, and then he climbed up onto the roof of a local insurance company so he could get a better view of churchill and truman as they drove past. now, after circling through the

town, the cars went up onto westminster's hilltop campus which, as we saw with the previous picture if i can get back there, yes, it's doing it, was kind of crescent-shaped. there we are. and now churchill and truman were being asked constantly to turn around, winston. let's get another photo of you. turn around, harry. and they obliged as many times as they could, but finally it was time to go the into the mcclures' house which would house about 65 people that day including, of course, the guest of honor. and getting up, going up the front steps and getting onto the porch, churchill asked ida belle mcclure as he walked up there, mrs. mcclure, may i bring this old stogie into your home? now, she was, luckily, well used to her husband's pipe smoking and so agreed. and anyway, really, could chef turned down the world -- chef turned down the world's most

famous cigar smoker? she remembered years later that churchill's hands were very soft, almost like a baby's. there was a huge amount of food, as you might imagine; rolls, salads, mashed potatoes, a good old missouri feast. or churchill was impressed most by the giant candied ham that had been curing for weeks, and he turned to ida belle and said the pig has reached the highest point of its evolution in this ham. [laughter] and so ida belle considered that a job well done. and here we see a picture taken just after lunch of governor phil donnelly of missouri, mr. churchill himself, president harry truman and bullet mcclure sharing a laugh about something or other, probably the ham comment. and, um, at around 2 p.m. the police and secret service began letting people in to the gym and many more lined up outside.

of course, only those who had a ticket were able to get on to the campus. now, with all the floral dresses, the big hats and the freshly-pressed suits, the scene to me at least resembled a fancy wedding. almost 200 reporters and photographers crowded on to a makeshift platform that was suspended precariously high above the gym floor at one end. in the basement, hundreds of yards of cable snaked around under chairs and cables, and western union operators sat poised at their typewriters checking pape exercise ribbons -- paper and rib bonnes. as churchill was taking his afternoon nap, it was probably all the more satisfying, i imagine, due to the feast that churchill had just consumed and, of course, that famous candied ham. but harry truman was a little concerned that one detail in this dry county had been overlooked, and that was to get churchill his customary prespeech tipple.

now, as i said, fulton was in a dry county, but truman -- knowing that his friend harry vaughn knew many people in the town -- sent vaughn out in the town, and luckily he did, in fact, as planned, run into an old friend outside the mcclures' home and sent the man dashing off into town. and he came back a few minutes later checking there were no local alcohol police or whatever they were called with a small bottle that mcclure -- sorry, that vaughn carefully tucked into a pocket. grabbing a glass and an ice bucket from the kitchen, he rapped on what he hoped was the correct bedroom door. when a groggy and somewhat frustrated winston churchill ushered him in, his mood improved when he saw the reason for this outrageous intrusion. thank goodness, major general vaughn, he said. i was starting to wonder whether i was in fulton, missouri, or

fulton sahara. [laughter] .. and there we see church show and in a few moments, technical misery notwithstanding boeing actually get to watch a little video you can stop listening to me for a moment, we'll see.

it is very hot inside. as you'd expect, the gym was built, meant to house about 500 people, but in fact teaching 2000 there. so even with windows open and was given a little sticky in the member states of the class entering jackets at home. churchill did forget his coat and sent a baffled and beleaguered aid running out to find a pen unfortunately when he got back to the states, churchill changed his mind and looked like he was crazy the man wrote later. but sure show truman at the podium into the sticky and overheated crowd can and putting them at ease and like then he too had been schooled at westminster. although in his case in the house of commons wasn't westminster england. churchill claims that private citizens taking for himself, the truly harry truman's very presence there on that stage and in his home state endorsed

wallace has had to say. churchill began american power and and responsibility and then said if you may recognize familiar with the title of the book that are supreme task in duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the horrors and misery of another war. he then called for a strong act of united nation and for britain, canada and the united states to keep their shared atomic secret in fact secret in case they fell into the hands of totalitarian government that at this point in the speech he did not name the government he had in mind. next, you explode wobble to someone again been drawn in the global catastrophic conflict. he then moved on to what he called the second of two orders commandingly teeny. churchill told the crowd of a

society far different than america's warranty written, where there was a controlling police state from where they are in fact no rights to the individual whatsoever. this hearing means that would be opposite of the liberal democratic bodies, which we still cherish today. the rule of law, government, freedom is beach and expression. it's no coincidence the anniversary of thomas jefferson noted inauguration speech have been just a day before judge hill spoke. and what could prevent the fall of these values and the spread of tyranny churchill asked his audience. nothing less than a special relationship between britain and the united state to build what he called the temple of peas. --

peace. standing in their way with the threat of expansionist communism, which churchill now keep him too. unless much if we cut a short clip of what churchill said max. good grief. i could read it to you and i shall stop with the video comes back. >> the adriatic an iron has suspended across behind the line, all the capitals of the nationstate of central and eastern europe. beyond that, it would've passed, they rate, bucharest and all these famous cities and the

populations around them lie and what are not called the soviet that. and all in one form or another not only the soviet influence, but they are very high in the increasing control from moscow. >> you said it better than i would have. not churchill went on to talk about the many soviet misty. among them, displacing millions of germans from their homes, trying to destabilize even western europe, wanting to prevent at all cost democracy from being established in berlin, making outrageous demand in turkey and iran and back in the communist takeover attempts in china or manchuria as he called it. he then stated the utmost need for act of diplomacy backed by

military string instead of russia but there's nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. churchill downlinked his warning about communism to his sounding of the alarm before world war ii, but warned his listeners that the first time coming case they had forgotten,, no one would listen and one by one, we were all set into the awful whirlpool, joy i brought it to you, it ladies and gentlemen you must not let that happen again. america and britain were at a crossroads of just two possible paths ahead. failure to act on the threat of communism would send them all back to the pool for for a third time he contended. in contrast, standing strong and actively pursuing a settlement with russia would enable

america, britain and the world to go down the brighter path where he said the high roots of the future will be clear, not only for us, but for all. not only for a time, but for centuries to come. now as i researched the aftermath of this most historic of churchill's speeches, i was amazed by how strong the negative reactions truly were. today we remember it is one of the pivotal moment that the area come a speech that defined the problems of the post-world war -- excuse me, the postwar world and one that should pass and the cold war. but at the time, churchill was blasted on both sides of the atlantic and on both sides of the aisle. despite the speech being called the pennies apiece and the press and politicians called him an imperialist, emil torry perhaps more even stalin himself culture

show a war monger and insinuated that it wasn't that churchill, not stalin who wanted world war iii and world domination. afterward, as they planned all along, harry truman tonight reading the speech, even though it's referred on the train he couldn't hold back his curiosity. in england, guardian motion is unshed begin to churchill churchill in the house of commons and in the united states, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the waldorf astoria hotel in new york were churchill's date later on the trip, chanting g.i. joe is home to stay. we need, when you go away. but several hours later in another speech at the waldorf astoria, churchill to his guns and growled defiantly. i do not wish to withdraw or modify a single word. we could benefit from such resolution, such strength and

such conviction today. despite this negative reaction, churchill's words affected u.s. he immediately in addition to the unit that was called the kindly shared earlier that very day that churchill was at the podium in fulton, secretary of state james byrnes sent strong warnings to moscow about russian meeting reliever ron i once edited comments and asking for details of how exactly the soviet were fun and the chinese communists. the month before churchill when, truman and his team had read veteran diplomat, george kennan on telegram from moscow to share the main point with churchill's message. russia wanted to spread communism and gain control and influence worldwide. it stood against democracy. and the only active diplomacy backed by military strength was the way forward and the way to secure your lasting peace of

which both kennan wrote in churchill indeed spoke. the following year, 1947, truman enacted the truman doctrine of containing russia in a speech at harvard. harvard of course was quite different from westminster college, the mall store to take the fight itself just as much on his big day as the great institutions it on theirs. this was followed in time by the marshall plan, which helped reconstruct western europe and is churchill and kennan had hoped to create a poster against the expansionist communism. despite his weary predictions and in fact doomsday predictions really come his political career was over after his election in july 1945, which i remind you again he was 70 years old at the time. churchill did indeed become prime minister for a second time in 1952 and from this point

until the end of his career come he devoted all his synergy, sometimes neglect and domestic as many torrents have written into reaching a a settlement with russia a peaceful and lasting settlement. churchill in fact want to go on a lonely pilgrimage to moscow and to recognize very toxic russia and america as he suggested in missouri. he achieved neither, but in the long run, churchill from emmett diplomacy and indeed it was partly at the summit claim that phrase in churchill spoke been peered influence the next two generations of leaders in britain, america and even russia itself. so what is the legacy of the iron curtain speech man, speech after all delivered almost 66 years to this day. first churchill is inherently right. communism is not.

active diplomacy that i string we saw the marks on everyone from john f. kennedy and his handling of the cuban missile crisis to richard nixon and his abilities to sit down and parlay at the summit has churchill is said with the russian leaders. indeed come a jfk was an avid reader churchill speeches and patton is the prize-winning book, after one of churchill's and make churchill is just the second honorary foreign citizen of the 90s dates. and in his memoir, richard nixon credited churchill or family influence in his i.d. on foreign policy and the way he talked this wretched counterparts in years to come. a few years later we see the influence of churchill's words and example on ronald reagan in churchill's natural heir, margaret thatcher and the way he viewed the special relationship

forward. even mikell gorbachev acknowledged the role of churchill's speech in defining the way forward without resorting to reach a destructive war. what can churchill's message teachers here in this room now that the soviet union is in fact no more? indecision which we've grown very cynical towards their politicians, we too often this is because speaker on either side as someone who is just using words to pull one over on a somebody was a lot to say, but not a lot to do. i feel that the rate speech delivered by the right speaker at the right time as the power to breathe the nation into being as would be the declaration of independence. it has the power to inspire us as churchill himself and in his first wartime podcast warned hitler we shall never as to render. and has the power to inspire

present enemies to change as did ronald reagan was speaking in ireland in 1987 employed mikhail gorbachev to analysts were that marks the iron curtain in missouri on that fateful day. neither we nor our leader should forget the impact of words spoken with conviction that courage in a deep desire for lasting spirit we also live in a time where politicians depend on marks and posters and constantly adjusting their position for the ever-changing opinion winston churchill demonstrated to the speak hard truth, even when you know they will make you unpopular. as he saw from his staunch defense of his word from his

hotel in fulton and you must be willing to stand your ground and not retract amateur mark been focused time to retract. politicians should be able to remind us of who we are as a nation, what we believe and why. harry truman also hope timeless lessons now. churchill was the conservative and truman of liberal as much as fpr had been before him. yet the way these men put their interest above their ideological difference is offers election to be elected officials of today. we can look to history to see what a true alliance and what genuine bipartisanship of what we throw around a lot, somehow devaluing truly look like. churchill and truman showed that when it comes to writing details at this world the big problems

the towing party lines, pointing fingers and feet and pandering to party state should become irrelevant. such things were then, much as they are now primarily a distraction in this print task will phase as a society we are crying out the kind of grave principles and collaborative leadership model by harry truman and with churchill in fulton missouri in march, 1946. we face threats to our very way of life in terrorism and rogue states like iran, north korea and area, some of which are attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, much as russia westwind churchill spoke. it often seems like there are two ways only pure strength as a preemptive strike and talking and then i'd look to expand the churchill offers us a middle

course. as he said in his iron curtain speech, we must always pursued his honesty to the end of message that i strength and willingness in good times and in bad. we must never cease to proclaim in its talons the great principles of freedom of the english-speaking world. the macqueen learned from the college president to send dishes plan against the laws. if we have a goal in mind, and ideas, inspiration, we should pursue it to matter how unrealistic it may seem in time and if we commit to excellence that each of us are capable of and we too can leave a lasting map on the world as did winston churchill on that fateful day in

march 1936. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> so will take some questions. we have some time for you. happy to. >> agrees the night please. >> extremely impressive presentation. churchill is been a hero of mine since i was a child. and i have been much aware of

the fact that he had problems with stuttering. and you mentioned his delivery. can you comment on his beach impediment and how that it is incredible delivery of all speeches? >> yeah, certainly. i think that he actually came to use it as a distinguishing mark. for example, his unique content the nation. and it was something that went he became aware of it and the fact that nothing was going to change that, that he already just didn't see it as a handicap in fact often broke stage directions on the small note card such as pause here and i think that was partly the dramatic pause of course that operate at to on the world stage is, but also perhaps to let him gather himself after each

meaningful statement. >> yes, right here. abby on mac i enrolled at west and stir in 19 to four, eight years after the beach. my aunt made the case for winston churchill. and my family is from callaway county. my aunt mr.'s so are very proud of that littletown and i urge everyone that hasn't been there to drop by on their way to st. louis. just seven miles south of the kingdom city. when i was at west tour, there was a fellow that i had --

korean man on the same basketball court. his name is chuck as well. and check and i almost came to at that time. but after that we got along fine. i wonder what ever happened to him. [laughter] >> there is a question back here. >> after the sinews of peace speech, i understood that the phrase iron curtain was not in the text, but it was purely extemporaneous by churchill at the time. do you have any comment on that? >> yes, there were several versions of the speech, which were held by the churchill archive in cambridge where i went. and yes he did indeed mark of in the margins several minutes

before hand a few additional comments should we say. the fact that with not in the press version was one of the reasons why was so widely reported by the press that they had been asked by tenet. and also some of the copies the press had with them, the official title if the piece is not a mac, which in contrast was white, forgotten when compared to the notable soundbites from the speech. but yes, your observation is correct. >> i had the pleasure of being there. i heard his speech. [applause] it was every thing i heard from keeping your attention and just being riveted on what he said.

and it sounded so natural, the flow of his words. they learned 15 years later and visiting his home from the south of london about 15 miles, a guy explained to me in preparing for his speech, churchill had his own studio next to the bedroom. he has a podium. he writes it out and he practices his speech for up to two hours until you have it down. so when you hear them, it sounds as if it comes out naturally. but he's prepared. thank you. [applause] >> hello there. do you feel that there was

probably have been a rhetorical gap that we really needed at that time is the unifying. the west if they speech it not been delivered? for winston churchill or someone like that on the international stage should not have come forward and really deliver that? what are your thoughts on that? >> yes, i do believe that. as i mentioned, that church can enjoy been in moscow for many years and was considered the top and unrushed airs by the state department had kind of preface to his speech in some ways. and so that held truman and his top advisers to become use to churchill's message and maybe have a preview of it before they actually read the draft. and i think while kennan was considered the expert and had written this 15 page memo, george kennan did not consider himself a very good speaker. and so would not abandon manned

would want it to mr. manley said you're going to be fired if you don't do it to deliver that. within moscow would invulnerable to subversive activity if he had. and so while there were others who shared churchill's beliefs about the division and really the incompatibility between democracy and communism, which of course is laid out in the communist manifesto as well. it was really only winston churchill who could localize it and has particularly awful way. while he didn't invent the term the iron curtain, it was a term from the theater where the iron curtain was afire preventative and it's quite possible that churchill had heard the term when the german propaganda minister used in a major depressed in the end the war. it was churchill who really mobilized the term and of course the special relations should. and i think that is standing,

even though he was not prime minister, his worldwide wreck -- than the fact that he was known as the great orator combined with the fact that as churchill had planned all along truman invited him back to america and the college and its homes they really gave it the kravitz are it was needed to get this message out to the world. so yes it would've left a voice and i'm not sure who or what not that good a field that. well, then let think philip white for coming. [applause]

>> two things, one is this is such a complicated conflict we have never, ever fought a war like this before it's really complicated. the second thing is that what is referred to here in washington is nation of thing really is very, very targeted war fighting. >> up next, john shaw becomes political career of richard lugar from indiana. mr. shaw focuses on senator lugar's foreign policyor