by Timothy Riley, Sandra L. and Monroe E Trout Director and Chief Curator

21 January 2025

Yesterday, President Donald Trump placed a bust of Winston Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein in the Oval Office at the White House, fulfilling a promise he made after his election win and returning a Churchill bust to the place it was prominently displayed during his first term.

Given Churchill’s steadfastness in the face of global challenges, his deep admiration for the United States, and his belief in the power of the “special relationship” between the US and UK, it is fitting to have Churchill, symbolically at least, back in a prime position within the White House. 

According to former Oval occupant and Churchill Fellow of Westminster College, Dwight Eisenhower, it was Churchill himself who is said to have once quipped, “I am myself an English-speaking union.”

During his lifetime, Winston Churchill was no stranger to the White House. He visited on many occasions, most famously in December, 1941, when he stayed as a guest of President Roosevelt after the United States entered the Second World War.

Since the presidency of George W. Bush, a cast of the bronze Churchill bust—sculpted in 1947 by American-British artist Sir Jacob Epstein—has been in and out of the Oval Office.

Shortly after 9/11, the British Embassy in Washington placed the bust on loan to the White House as a reminder of Churchill's indomitable resilience. The bust was returned to the Embassy by the Obama administration in 2009.

The sculpture’s association with the White House, however, dates to President Lyndon Johnson, another Churchill Fellow of Westminster College. A different cast of the same bust was presented as a gift to the White House in October, 1965. That bust has remained at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, though not always in the Oval.

The idea to have a bust of Churchill as a permanent fixture in the White House came from Averell Harriman, another Churchill Fellow and former U.S. Ambassador to United Kingdom and also wartime U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union. A cast of Epstein's bust was presented in a White House ceremony attended by President and Lady Bird Johnson along with Harriman. Also attending the 1965 sculpture unveiling was the grandson of Sir Winston, Winston Churchill (another Fellow), who attended with his wife, Minnie.

America’s National Churchill Museum also has a cast of the Churchill bust by Epstein in its collection. It was acquired in the 1960s as the Churchill Memorial project at Westminster College was developing. 

ANCM’s bust has moved around, too. It was included in acclaimed ANCM-organized exhibitions aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA; at Hillsdale College, and at the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach.

It is currently on view in ANCM’s Anson Cutts Gallery as a part of the special exhibition, Churchill and Blenheim Palace. The exhibition is on view through February 23, 2025. After that, ANCM's bust will be displayed in the permanent collection galleries.

 And, now, Churchill is back in the Oval Office.