William wilberforce biography summary of winston churchill s iron curtain speech

This was the first time the complete text was published, outside of the Congressional Record. He was unique among the leaders of 20th century democracy in that his influence did not disappear with his office. This role had not come easily or early to Churchill. Yet he never tired, for he always knew that history, too, had its claims.

Speeches - from his great war- time broadcasts to the "Iron Curtain" speech that heralded the start of the Cold War - and many lesser known.

Perhaps he understood that because he wrote history as much as he made it. He was an author as well as an orator. He was not only a Prime Minister; he was also a prophet of things to come. It was this unique ability that he took with him to Fulton, Missouri, 40 years ago last March.

This conversation is about his most recent book, Duty and Destiny: The Life and Faith of Winston Churchill.

Winston Churchill made his mistakes; but he was more often right than wrong on more matters of consequence than any other statesman of this century. He was not only an early, isolated critic of appeasement. He was also one of the first — perhaps the first non-scientist — to comprehend and describe the dawning wonders and terrors of modern invention.

Nuclear energy is incomparably greater than the molecular energy we use today. There is no question that this gigantic source of energy exists. What is lacking is the match to set the bonfire alight, or it may be the detonator to cause the dynamite to explode. Churchill was different from most political leaders in that he thought beyond the next election to the next generation.

It was this sense of perspective which enabled him to persevere despite recurring disappointments in his public life.