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Home > Cold War Cast > Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech
Podcast: Cold War Cast
Episode:

Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech
Category: Society & Culture
Duration: 00:31:34
Publish Date: 2017-10-12 08:58:51
Description:

…Or more accurately, the “Sinews of Peace” speech.  In 1946 Winston Churchill, along with President Truman, traveled to Westminster College in Fulton, MO to deliver a speech.  This speech came on the heels of George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” and basically served as a commitment from Great Britain to the idea of containment of the Soviet Union.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the speech is the idea of a multinational front against the Soviet Union as he pushes for a stronger alliance between the US and UK and even the idea of NATO without actually mentioning NATO.

As you can imagine, it wasn’t received well in Moscow.  Stalin scoffed at a country at the helm of an empire lecturing them on a human rights, democracy, etc.  and reiterated the idea of a buffer zone between the USSR and Germany (and now “the West”, although not specifically stated).   It also wasn’t very well received in the West, where many pundits were wary of alliances under the ploy of propping up the declining British Empire or general fanning the flames of conflict with our old friend/new enemy, the USSR.

In this episode I cover some of the background and read the final 1/3 or so of the speech.  I stumble a few times, please bare with me!

Here’s the whole speech

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