Winston Churchill Memorial and Library
Encyclopedia
The Winston Churchill Memorial, located on the Westminster College campus in Fulton
, Missouri
, United States
, commemorates the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill
. In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Sinews of Peace" address in the Westminster historic gymnasium. His speech, due to one particularly famous phrase ("an ‘Iron Curtain
’ has descended across the continent"), has come to be known as the "Iron Curtain
" speech. One of Churchill's most famous speeches of all time, "Sinews of Peace" heralded the beginning of the Cold War
.
In order to pay tribute to Sir Winston Churchill's life and to his great speech, the Churchill Memorial comprises three distinct, but related elements: the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury
, the museum, and the "Breakthrough" sculpture.
. Today, the church looks much as it did in 1677—carefully restored to recreate the marvelous building that architect Christopher Wren
designed after the Great Fire of London
destroyed the original 12th century church.
Beneath the church is the Churchill museum, renovated in 2006. Through interactive new exhibits, the museum tells Churchill's story, discussing his personal and political life and his legacy. Additionally, the Clementine-Spencer Churchill Reading Room houses an extensive research collection about Churchill and his era.
Outside the church stands the "Breakthrough" sculpture, formed from eight sections of the Berlin Wall
. Churchill's granddaughter, artist Edwina Sandys
, designed "Breakthrough" in order to commemorate both Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" and the fall of the Berlin Wall. "Breakthrough" is a fitting postscript to the Cold War that Churchill had predicted.
's administration—Major General Harry Vaughan, a graduate of Westminster College. College president Franc McCluer asked Vaughan to see what President Truman could do to induce Churchill to come to Westminster. President Truman thought the idea of bringing Churchill to Missouri (Truman's native state) was a wonderful idea. On the bottom of Churchill's invitation from Westminster College Truman wrote: "This is a wonderful school in my home state. Hope you can do it. I will introduce you." So it was that two world leaders, Winston Churchill and President Harry Truman, descended onto the little campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.
Churchill arrived on the Westminster College campus on March 5, 1946 and delivered his address. Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" delineated the complications and tensions of that moment in world history—less than a year after World War II and at the dawn of the Cold War. Churchill had been watching the Soviet Union with increasing concern. Churchill feared another war. "A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory," he said; adding, "whatever conclusion may be drawn from these facts…this is certainly not the liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace." Churchill noted the tensions mounting between Eastern and Western Europe. "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic," he said, "an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the continent." Churchill then predicted what he called the formation of the "Soviet sphere."
In order to counterbalance the mounting power of the Soviet Union, Churchill called for a "fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples." Churchill hoped the United States and Britain would work together towards the "permanent prevention of war" and "establish conditions of freedom and democracy" all over the globe. The cooperation of these two nations, he hoped, would create the "sinews of peace." He went on to encourage the leaders of both the United States and Britain to begin peace-talks with the Soviet Union. Churchill feared the outbreak of a new world war, especially in light of the development of nuclear weapons. "Now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn," he warned. Churchill knew all to well the devastation conventional bombs had wreaked on Britain during The Blitz
—a similar campaign waged with nuclear weapons would be too horrible to imagine.
Reactions to the "Sinews of Peace" were mixed; some were suspicious of Churchill's proposed alliance between the United States and Britain and accused Churchill of warmongering. Others were provoked by Churchill's claim that "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." "It could have been prevented in my opinion without firing a shot…," he continued, "but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool…."
Others lauded the speech for its prophetic qualities—particularly Churchill's anticipation of the formation of the Soviet Bloc
—a view shared by many modern-day historians. Churchill predicted the Cold War, sounded its early warning, and defined the central problems that would occupy the leaders that followed him. As a result, the "Sinews of Peace" is widely regarded as Churchill's most famous peace-time address.
President Harry Truman predicted that Churchill's address would put both Fulton and Westminster College on the map—he was right. The construction of the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library ensures that Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" and Westminster's role in bringing it to life will never be forgotten. Today, visitors to the Churchill Memorial may view filmed selections of the speech. In addition, the podium and chair that Winston Churchill used during his lecture are on display in the museum.
magazine feature on war-ravaged, soon-to-be-demolished Christopher Wren churches in London prompted the suggestion to import one of the churches to serve as both a memorial and the College chapel. After further investigation, college officials selected St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury as the church to be saved.
St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury was not only an ideal choice because of its relatively small size, but also because of its unique and nearly 1,000 year history. St. Mary's was a focal-point of religious life in the Old City of London, serving as a place of worship for literary greats William Shakespeare
and John Milton
. Founded in the late 12th century, the church shared in the rich history of London, surviving both the English Reformation
, Restoration
, and numerous civil wars. However, on September 2, 1666, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, which swept through St. Mary's parish, burning for five days. When the fire was finally subdued, almost the entire City of London north of the River Thames
—including St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury—lay in ruins.
With so much of London in ruins, reconstruction of the many churches destroyed in the fire was of secondary importance—many would never be rebuilt. However, St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury became the ninth church restored, placing it among the earliest. With approval for rebuilding granted in 1670, famed architect Christopher Wren began renovating the church in 1672 with the removal of 1068 cubic yards (816.5 m³) of rubble. Wren rebuilt the church on part of the old foundation with as much original stones as could be salvaged—saving both time and money. By 1677, the work was essentially complete; the cupola was added to the tower in 1679.
St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury's location near the heart of London again proved dangerous during World War II at the height of the Blitz. On Sunday evening, December 19, 1940, the German Luftwaffe
mounted a massive air raid, dropping 20,000 incendiary bombs on London. Luftwaffe command planned the raid to coincide with low tide to impede fire fighting. It worked. The shortage of water and the scale of the attack forced firemen to let parts of the city burn. At 6:45 pm, St. Mary's suffered a direct hit by an incendiary bomb
, quickly setting the church ablaze. Noel Mander, a young fire warden, later recorded his observations:
That night, thirteen Christopher Wren churches shared St. Mary's fate. By morning, only its blackened shell and tower stood—the roof, the interior, and all furnishings destroyed.
In the war's aftermath, there were neither the funds nor the need to rebuild all of London's destroyed churches. After standing as a ruin for twenty years, St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury joined the list of parish churches slated for demolition.
It was at this point that Westminster College stepped in to save the church from destruction and to reconstruct it in order to honor one of Britain's most famous citizens—Winston Churchill. Churchill's inspiration for the British people during the Blitz made the reconstruction of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, itself a victim of the Blitz, a fitting memorial to the man. "I am honored…," Churchill said.…." "The removal of a ruined Christopher Wren Church, largely destroyed by enemy action in London in 1941 [sic], and its reconstruction and re-dedication at Fulton, is an imaginative concept…." "It may symbolize in the eyes of the English-speaking peoples," he continued, "the ideals of Anglo-American association on which rest, now as before, so many of our hopes for peace and the future of mankind."
It took four years to finalize preparations for the project, and to raise the necessary $2 million (more than $10 million today) to make the move a reality. Actor Richard Burton
was a major promoter and donor, appearing on The Tonight Show
with Jack Paar
on NBC, who made a direct appeal. In 1965, the removal process began. Workers carefully labeled each of the 7,000 stones, noting their location in the church. More than 700 tons of blocks were shipped to Fulton via boat and rail. In the moving process, the carefully ordered stones became scrambled. Builders in Fulton faced a jigsaw puzzle that spread over an acre.
With a collection of the church's outer stones piled beside him, President Truman arrived in Fulton to turn the symbolic first shovel for the reconstruction on April 19, 1964, before a crowd of 10,000 on-lookers. Fittingly, former Westminster President Franc McCluer and the other living members of the 1946 platform party joined in the ceremonies. Other attendees included former British Ambassador W. Averell Harriman
, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma
, Mary Soames
(Churchill's youngest daughter), British Ambassador John Freeman, and former Missouri Governor John M. Dalton
, who headed the committee responsible for raising funds for the Memorial.
The foundation stone was laid in October 1966, 300 years after the Great Fire of London, and by May 1967, the last stone was in place. However, the project was far from complete. A meticulous re-creation of the church's interior required another two years of work. English woodcarvers, working from pre-war photographs, created carvings for the pulpit, baptismal font, and balcony. Blenko Glass Company
, an American firm, manufactured the glass for the windows and a Dutch firm cast five new bronze bells for the tower. Noel Mander, the fire warden who watched St. Mary's burn in 1940, built the organ and helped assure authenticity of the interior details. There are only two departures from the Wren design: an organ gallery in the west wall and a window in the tower to illuminate the stairway.
After nearly five years of work on what The Times
called "perhaps the biggest jigsaw puzzle in the history of architecture," dedication ceremonies for St. Mary's and the Winston Churchill Memorial were held on May 7, 1969. During the course of the ceremonies, the Rev. Anthony Tremlett, the Bishop of Dover, England, re-hallowed St. Mary's as a place of worship. In 1992, the Eagle Squadrons Association named St. Mary's as its official chapel. Since that time, St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury has continued to serve as a focus of religious life and history.
The objective of the museum is quite simple: to tell the story of Churchill's life, giving due proportion both to his successes and his failures, and to let visitors make their own determinations about the man and his place in history.
This narrative is presented in the form of a "walkthrough" experience, organized chronologically. The exhibition begins with Churchill's birth and proceeds through the major events of his life, alongside an examination of the critical events of the 20th century. The exhibit relates the story of Churchill's entire life—not only his experiences in World War II—examining his pursuits as a politician, soldier, journalist, family man, and painter.
Some of the highlights of this exhibition include the "Admiralty, Army & Arsenal: 1914-1919" room. This portion of the exhibit is housed within a recreation of a World War I trench—complete with barbed wire, sandbags, and spent ammunition—that gives visitors a sense of a British soldier's experience on the Western Front
. A periscope mounted on the trench wall gives visitors a glimpse of a real World War I battlescape from period footage. An accompanying ambient audio track plays the sound of soldiers’ conversations interspersed with distant gunfire and shell bursts. The World War I room also examines Churchill's role in the disasters of the Dardanelles
and Gallipoli and his contributions to the technology of warfare.
Another highlight of the exhibition is "The Gathering Storm: 1929-1939" room which discusses Churchill's suspicion of Hitler and the Nazi movement. In this room, five video monitors play excerpts from Nazi propaganda films interspersed with images of the impending war, demonstrating how Nazi rhetoric differed from policy. Against this backdrop, the exhibit examines Churchill's view of the Nazis and his disgust for Britain's pre-war appeasement politics.
The most impressive room in the exhibition is "Churchill's Finest Hour: World War II, 1939-1945." This room examines World War II and Churchill's pivotal role in that conflict. Here, visitors made to feel as if they have been caught in the middle of the Blitz as a sound and light show replicates an air-raid on London. Simulated rubble surrounds the room and the room reverberates with the sounds of bombs detonating and air raid sirens sounding. Flashes of anti-aircraft fire and the prodding beams of searchlights illuminate the exhibit. Segments of war-time broadcasts add to the atmosphere. After the conclusion of the Blitz demonstration, a short film (narrated by Walter Cronkite
) examines Churchill's role as prime minister during the dark days of the war. Around the walls of his room, more interactive displays demonstrate the war-time skills of code breaking and plane spotting.
Other museum highlights include "The Sinews of Peace" room and the "Winston's Wit & Wisdom" room. "The Sinews of Peace" tells the story of how and why Churchill came to visit Westminster College. Featured in this exhibit are the lectern and chair used by Churchill during his speech and the ceremonial robes he wore. In "Winston's Wit & Wisdom" visitors sit in a simulated British club while listening to an audio presentation of Churchill stories. Visitors to this room may also search through a database of Churchill's most famous quotations and quips on a host of topics.
In 1990, with the support of Westminster College, Sandys and her husband, Richard Kaplan, had traveled to East Berlin
to secure portions of the wall. Upon their arrival in Berlin, however, the couple realized the sculpture would be costly, as 4 feet (1.2 m)-wide sections were selling for $60,000 to $200,000. Fortunately, East German officials, intrigued by the idea of an erecting a Berlin Wall monument at the location of Churchill's 1946 speech, allowed Sandys to choose eight sections of the wall as a gift to Westminster College.
Sandys chose the sections from an area near the Brandenburg Gate
, frequented by artists, because of the dramatic color of the graffiti. The repeated use of the word "unwahr" ("lies" or "untruths") within the sections also appealed to her. Sandys modified the original sections by cutting out large male and female silhouettes from the wall—these cuts outs exemplified the newly-opened communication between East and West. When assembled, "Breakthrough" proved to be an enormous sculpture, roughly 11 ft (3.4 m) high by 32 ft (9.8 m) ft long.
One year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sandys unveiled "Breakthrough" before a crowd of 7,000 people gathered on the campus of Westminster College. Among the gathered crowd were former President Ronald Reagan
, Senator John Ashcroft
, and German Minister Plenipotentiary Fritjof von Nordenskjoeld. The dedication of "Breakthrough" brought the Churchill Memorial full-circle. Forty-four years after her grandfather had warned of the creation of the "iron curtain," Edwina Sandys’ sculpture commemorated the close of the Cold War.
The Green Lecutres
The John Findley Green Foundation Lectures were established in 1936 as a memorial to John Findley Green, an attorney in St. Louis who graduated from Westminster in 1884. The foundation provides for lectures designed to promote understanding of economic and social problems of international concern. It further provides that "the speaker shall be a person of international reputation."
The Kemper Lectures
The Crosby Kemper Lecture Series was established in 1979 by a grant from the Crosby Kemper Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri. This foundation provides for lectures by authorities on British History and Sir Winston Churchill at the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library.
Other world leaders who have followed in Churchill's footsteps and journeyed to Westminster College include: US Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford
, and George H. W. Bush
; British Prime Ministers Edward Heath
, Margaret Thatcher
, and Sir John Major
; Polish President Lech Wałęsa
; and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
.
Fulton, Missouri
Fulton is a city in Callaway County, Missouri, the United States of America. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 12,790 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Callaway County...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, commemorates the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Sinews of Peace" address in the Westminster historic gymnasium. His speech, due to one particularly famous phrase ("an ‘Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
’ has descended across the continent"), has come to be known as the "Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
" speech. One of Churchill's most famous speeches of all time, "Sinews of Peace" heralded the beginning of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
In order to pay tribute to Sir Winston Churchill's life and to his great speech, the Churchill Memorial comprises three distinct, but related elements: the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury
St Mary Aldermanbury
St Mary Aldermanbury church in the City of London, is first mentioned in 1181 but was destroyed by the Great fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt in Portland stone by Sir Christopher Wren, it was again gutted by the Blitz in 1940, leaving only the walls...
, the museum, and the "Breakthrough" sculpture.
Overview
The central element of the Churchill Memorial is the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, a 16th century church moved stone-by-stone to Fulton from the City of LondonCity of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. Today, the church looks much as it did in 1677—carefully restored to recreate the marvelous building that architect Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
designed after the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
destroyed the original 12th century church.
Beneath the church is the Churchill museum, renovated in 2006. Through interactive new exhibits, the museum tells Churchill's story, discussing his personal and political life and his legacy. Additionally, the Clementine-Spencer Churchill Reading Room houses an extensive research collection about Churchill and his era.
Outside the church stands the "Breakthrough" sculpture, formed from eight sections of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. Churchill's granddaughter, artist Edwina Sandys
Edwina Sandys
Edwina Sandys was born 22 December 1938. She is the second child of Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys and Diana Churchill, and a granddaughter of the statesman Sir Winston Churchill. She has been married twice. Her first husband, Piers Dixon, formerly represented Truro as the Conservative...
, designed "Breakthrough" in order to commemorate both Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" and the fall of the Berlin Wall. "Breakthrough" is a fitting postscript to the Cold War that Churchill had predicted.
The "Sinews of Peace:" Putting Fulton on the Map
In 1946, Winston Churchill travelled to Westminster College in order to deliver his famous "Sinews of Peace" address as a part of the Green Lecture series. An extraordinary confluence of circumstances conspired to bring Winston Churchill to Westminster. At the time, the College had a unique connection to U.S. President Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
's administration—Major General Harry Vaughan, a graduate of Westminster College. College president Franc McCluer asked Vaughan to see what President Truman could do to induce Churchill to come to Westminster. President Truman thought the idea of bringing Churchill to Missouri (Truman's native state) was a wonderful idea. On the bottom of Churchill's invitation from Westminster College Truman wrote: "This is a wonderful school in my home state. Hope you can do it. I will introduce you." So it was that two world leaders, Winston Churchill and President Harry Truman, descended onto the little campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.
Churchill arrived on the Westminster College campus on March 5, 1946 and delivered his address. Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" delineated the complications and tensions of that moment in world history—less than a year after World War II and at the dawn of the Cold War. Churchill had been watching the Soviet Union with increasing concern. Churchill feared another war. "A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory," he said; adding, "whatever conclusion may be drawn from these facts…this is certainly not the liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace." Churchill noted the tensions mounting between Eastern and Western Europe. "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic," he said, "an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the continent." Churchill then predicted what he called the formation of the "Soviet sphere."
In order to counterbalance the mounting power of the Soviet Union, Churchill called for a "fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples." Churchill hoped the United States and Britain would work together towards the "permanent prevention of war" and "establish conditions of freedom and democracy" all over the globe. The cooperation of these two nations, he hoped, would create the "sinews of peace." He went on to encourage the leaders of both the United States and Britain to begin peace-talks with the Soviet Union. Churchill feared the outbreak of a new world war, especially in light of the development of nuclear weapons. "Now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn," he warned. Churchill knew all to well the devastation conventional bombs had wreaked on Britain during The Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
—a similar campaign waged with nuclear weapons would be too horrible to imagine.
Reactions to the "Sinews of Peace" were mixed; some were suspicious of Churchill's proposed alliance between the United States and Britain and accused Churchill of warmongering. Others were provoked by Churchill's claim that "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." "It could have been prevented in my opinion without firing a shot…," he continued, "but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool…."
Others lauded the speech for its prophetic qualities—particularly Churchill's anticipation of the formation of the Soviet Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
—a view shared by many modern-day historians. Churchill predicted the Cold War, sounded its early warning, and defined the central problems that would occupy the leaders that followed him. As a result, the "Sinews of Peace" is widely regarded as Churchill's most famous peace-time address.
President Harry Truman predicted that Churchill's address would put both Fulton and Westminster College on the map—he was right. The construction of the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library ensures that Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" and Westminster's role in bringing it to life will never be forgotten. Today, visitors to the Churchill Memorial may view filmed selections of the speech. In addition, the podium and chair that Winston Churchill used during his lecture are on display in the museum.
Churchill's Living Memorial: St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury
As early as 1961, Westminster College President Dr. Robert L. D. Davidson began formulating a plan to commemorate both Winston Churchill's life and the "Sinews of Peace." A LIFELife (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine feature on war-ravaged, soon-to-be-demolished Christopher Wren churches in London prompted the suggestion to import one of the churches to serve as both a memorial and the College chapel. After further investigation, college officials selected St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury as the church to be saved.
St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury was not only an ideal choice because of its relatively small size, but also because of its unique and nearly 1,000 year history. St. Mary's was a focal-point of religious life in the Old City of London, serving as a place of worship for literary greats William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
and John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
. Founded in the late 12th century, the church shared in the rich history of London, surviving both the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
, and numerous civil wars. However, on September 2, 1666, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, which swept through St. Mary's parish, burning for five days. When the fire was finally subdued, almost the entire City of London north of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
—including St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury—lay in ruins.
With so much of London in ruins, reconstruction of the many churches destroyed in the fire was of secondary importance—many would never be rebuilt. However, St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury became the ninth church restored, placing it among the earliest. With approval for rebuilding granted in 1670, famed architect Christopher Wren began renovating the church in 1672 with the removal of 1068 cubic yards (816.5 m³) of rubble. Wren rebuilt the church on part of the old foundation with as much original stones as could be salvaged—saving both time and money. By 1677, the work was essentially complete; the cupola was added to the tower in 1679.
St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury's location near the heart of London again proved dangerous during World War II at the height of the Blitz. On Sunday evening, December 19, 1940, the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
mounted a massive air raid, dropping 20,000 incendiary bombs on London. Luftwaffe command planned the raid to coincide with low tide to impede fire fighting. It worked. The shortage of water and the scale of the attack forced firemen to let parts of the city burn. At 6:45 pm, St. Mary's suffered a direct hit by an incendiary bomb
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
, quickly setting the church ablaze. Noel Mander, a young fire warden, later recorded his observations:
"We couldn’t do anything because the water mains had all been fractured, and the river was so low, record low, they couldn’t suck water up from there. They could do little, very little…. I saw that night St. Mary, Aldermanbury; St. Vedast-alias-Foster, my own church—I saw them all burn, and it was a sensation that I will never forget—hearing the bells fall down the tower, hearing the organs burn, because the hot air blowing through the organ pipes almost sounded as if the poor old organs were shrieking in agony in their destruction."
That night, thirteen Christopher Wren churches shared St. Mary's fate. By morning, only its blackened shell and tower stood—the roof, the interior, and all furnishings destroyed.
In the war's aftermath, there were neither the funds nor the need to rebuild all of London's destroyed churches. After standing as a ruin for twenty years, St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury joined the list of parish churches slated for demolition.
It was at this point that Westminster College stepped in to save the church from destruction and to reconstruct it in order to honor one of Britain's most famous citizens—Winston Churchill. Churchill's inspiration for the British people during the Blitz made the reconstruction of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, itself a victim of the Blitz, a fitting memorial to the man. "I am honored…," Churchill said.…." "The removal of a ruined Christopher Wren Church, largely destroyed by enemy action in London in 1941 [sic], and its reconstruction and re-dedication at Fulton, is an imaginative concept…." "It may symbolize in the eyes of the English-speaking peoples," he continued, "the ideals of Anglo-American association on which rest, now as before, so many of our hopes for peace and the future of mankind."
It took four years to finalize preparations for the project, and to raise the necessary $2 million (more than $10 million today) to make the move a reality. Actor Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
was a major promoter and donor, appearing on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
with Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
on NBC, who made a direct appeal. In 1965, the removal process began. Workers carefully labeled each of the 7,000 stones, noting their location in the church. More than 700 tons of blocks were shipped to Fulton via boat and rail. In the moving process, the carefully ordered stones became scrambled. Builders in Fulton faced a jigsaw puzzle that spread over an acre.
With a collection of the church's outer stones piled beside him, President Truman arrived in Fulton to turn the symbolic first shovel for the reconstruction on April 19, 1964, before a crowd of 10,000 on-lookers. Fittingly, former Westminster President Franc McCluer and the other living members of the 1946 platform party joined in the ceremonies. Other attendees included former British Ambassador W. Averell Harriman
W. Averell Harriman
William Averell Harriman was an American Democratic Party politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was the son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as the 48th Governor of New York...
, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Earl Mountbatten of Burma
The title Earl Mountbatten of Burma was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1947 for Rear Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy of India....
, Mary Soames
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, is the youngest of Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine's five children and, as of 2011, the sole surviving child...
(Churchill's youngest daughter), British Ambassador John Freeman, and former Missouri Governor John M. Dalton
John M. Dalton
John Montgomery Dalton was a Democratic politician from the state of Missouri. He was the 45th Governor of Missouri and the states' 34th Attorney General.-Personal history:...
, who headed the committee responsible for raising funds for the Memorial.
The foundation stone was laid in October 1966, 300 years after the Great Fire of London, and by May 1967, the last stone was in place. However, the project was far from complete. A meticulous re-creation of the church's interior required another two years of work. English woodcarvers, working from pre-war photographs, created carvings for the pulpit, baptismal font, and balcony. Blenko Glass Company
Blenko Glass Company
Blenko Glass Company, located in Milton, West Virginia, is known for its artistic hand-blown glass.-Early history:William J. Blenko was born in London, England in 1853. He worked at a glass factory in his youth. In 1893 he emigrated to Kokomo, Indiana, in the US, where he established the first...
, an American firm, manufactured the glass for the windows and a Dutch firm cast five new bronze bells for the tower. Noel Mander, the fire warden who watched St. Mary's burn in 1940, built the organ and helped assure authenticity of the interior details. There are only two departures from the Wren design: an organ gallery in the west wall and a window in the tower to illuminate the stairway.
After nearly five years of work on what The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
called "perhaps the biggest jigsaw puzzle in the history of architecture," dedication ceremonies for St. Mary's and the Winston Churchill Memorial were held on May 7, 1969. During the course of the ceremonies, the Rev. Anthony Tremlett, the Bishop of Dover, England, re-hallowed St. Mary's as a place of worship. In 1992, the Eagle Squadrons Association named St. Mary's as its official chapel. Since that time, St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury has continued to serve as a focus of religious life and history.
Winston S. Churchill: A Life of Leadership gallery
Renovated in 2006, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the "Sinews of Peace," the Churchill museum strives to bring Churchill to life for new generations born years after Churchill's death. The exhibition immerses visitors in a unique three-dimensional, media-rich, and highly interactive experience designed to engage visitors’ senses of sight, sound, and touch.The objective of the museum is quite simple: to tell the story of Churchill's life, giving due proportion both to his successes and his failures, and to let visitors make their own determinations about the man and his place in history.
This narrative is presented in the form of a "walkthrough" experience, organized chronologically. The exhibition begins with Churchill's birth and proceeds through the major events of his life, alongside an examination of the critical events of the 20th century. The exhibit relates the story of Churchill's entire life—not only his experiences in World War II—examining his pursuits as a politician, soldier, journalist, family man, and painter.
Some of the highlights of this exhibition include the "Admiralty, Army & Arsenal: 1914-1919" room. This portion of the exhibit is housed within a recreation of a World War I trench—complete with barbed wire, sandbags, and spent ammunition—that gives visitors a sense of a British soldier's experience on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. A periscope mounted on the trench wall gives visitors a glimpse of a real World War I battlescape from period footage. An accompanying ambient audio track plays the sound of soldiers’ conversations interspersed with distant gunfire and shell bursts. The World War I room also examines Churchill's role in the disasters of the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
and Gallipoli and his contributions to the technology of warfare.
Another highlight of the exhibition is "The Gathering Storm: 1929-1939" room which discusses Churchill's suspicion of Hitler and the Nazi movement. In this room, five video monitors play excerpts from Nazi propaganda films interspersed with images of the impending war, demonstrating how Nazi rhetoric differed from policy. Against this backdrop, the exhibit examines Churchill's view of the Nazis and his disgust for Britain's pre-war appeasement politics.
The most impressive room in the exhibition is "Churchill's Finest Hour: World War II, 1939-1945." This room examines World War II and Churchill's pivotal role in that conflict. Here, visitors made to feel as if they have been caught in the middle of the Blitz as a sound and light show replicates an air-raid on London. Simulated rubble surrounds the room and the room reverberates with the sounds of bombs detonating and air raid sirens sounding. Flashes of anti-aircraft fire and the prodding beams of searchlights illuminate the exhibit. Segments of war-time broadcasts add to the atmosphere. After the conclusion of the Blitz demonstration, a short film (narrated by Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
) examines Churchill's role as prime minister during the dark days of the war. Around the walls of his room, more interactive displays demonstrate the war-time skills of code breaking and plane spotting.
Other museum highlights include "The Sinews of Peace" room and the "Winston's Wit & Wisdom" room. "The Sinews of Peace" tells the story of how and why Churchill came to visit Westminster College. Featured in this exhibit are the lectern and chair used by Churchill during his speech and the ceremonial robes he wore. In "Winston's Wit & Wisdom" visitors sit in a simulated British club while listening to an audio presentation of Churchill stories. Visitors to this room may also search through a database of Churchill's most famous quotations and quips on a host of topics.
"Breakthrough:" The Churchill Memorial Comes Full-Circle
On November 9, 1990, Edwina Sandys, granddaughter of Winston Churchill, introduced her sculpture "Breakthrough" to the public at the Churchill Memorial. Made from eight sections of the Berlin Wall, "Breakthrough" not only serves to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, but also to memorialize Churchill's "Sinews of Peace." "I had always wanted to make a sculpture for the Churchill Memorial at Westminster," Sandys said, "and this seemed the perfect moment to do something. Friends in Berlin had come back with tiny little pieces of wall, and I thought, ‘Wouldn't it be great to make a sculpture.’ I thought I'd better go straight [to Berlin] while there was some wall left."In 1990, with the support of Westminster College, Sandys and her husband, Richard Kaplan, had traveled to East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
to secure portions of the wall. Upon their arrival in Berlin, however, the couple realized the sculpture would be costly, as 4 feet (1.2 m)-wide sections were selling for $60,000 to $200,000. Fortunately, East German officials, intrigued by the idea of an erecting a Berlin Wall monument at the location of Churchill's 1946 speech, allowed Sandys to choose eight sections of the wall as a gift to Westminster College.
Sandys chose the sections from an area near the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
, frequented by artists, because of the dramatic color of the graffiti. The repeated use of the word "unwahr" ("lies" or "untruths") within the sections also appealed to her. Sandys modified the original sections by cutting out large male and female silhouettes from the wall—these cuts outs exemplified the newly-opened communication between East and West. When assembled, "Breakthrough" proved to be an enormous sculpture, roughly 11 ft (3.4 m) high by 32 ft (9.8 m) ft long.
One year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sandys unveiled "Breakthrough" before a crowd of 7,000 people gathered on the campus of Westminster College. Among the gathered crowd were former President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, Senator John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
, and German Minister Plenipotentiary Fritjof von Nordenskjoeld. The dedication of "Breakthrough" brought the Churchill Memorial full-circle. Forty-four years after her grandfather had warned of the creation of the "iron curtain," Edwina Sandys’ sculpture commemorated the close of the Cold War.
Following in Churchill's Footsteps: The Green & Kemper Lecture Series
Winston Churchill was only one of many world leaders to visit Westminster College. Since 1937, the College has played host to two different lecture series: The John Findley Green Lectures and The Crosby Kemper Lectures. Both lectures have brought world-famous politicians, businessmen, and academicians to Westminster College, among whom Churchill was arguably the most famous lecturer and the most memorable.The Green Lecutres
The John Findley Green Foundation Lectures were established in 1936 as a memorial to John Findley Green, an attorney in St. Louis who graduated from Westminster in 1884. The foundation provides for lectures designed to promote understanding of economic and social problems of international concern. It further provides that "the speaker shall be a person of international reputation."
The Kemper Lectures
The Crosby Kemper Lecture Series was established in 1979 by a grant from the Crosby Kemper Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri. This foundation provides for lectures by authorities on British History and Sir Winston Churchill at the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library.
Other world leaders who have followed in Churchill's footsteps and journeyed to Westminster College include: US Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, and George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
; British Prime Ministers Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, and Sir John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
; Polish President Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
; and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
.