This is a wonderful school in my home state. Hope you can do it. I will introduce you. Regards, Harry S. Truman
With these words President Truman added a handwritten post-script to the letter of invitation to Churchill from Westminster College. Churchill, of course, accepted and the rest is history.
Today, Westminster College is a private, co-educational, liberal arts College in Fulton, Missouri. Dedicated to preparing its graduates to become leaders of character through a values-centered education, the College emphasizes integrity, fairness, respect and responsibility.
In 1946, an extraordinary confluence of circumstances brought Winston Churchill to Westminster College as the seventh Green Lecturer and recipient of an honorary degree. Churchill's lecture – universally known as the "Iron Curtain" speech – became one of his most famous and helped to define international affairs in the second half of the twentieth century.
In 1961, friends of Westminster College and the St. Louis Chapter of the English Speaking Union began a conversation in the office of College President Robert L. D. Davidson that would lead to the establishment of the Winston Churchill Memorial & Library. College Trustee Neal Wood agreed to chair the project committee that would ultimately bring a bombed-out Christopher Wren church from London to Fulton, MO to house the memorial and to serve as the College chapel.
Come and explore Churchill's Life of Leadership and his journey to Fulton. Visit the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury and learn the story of its transformation.
The Green Foundation Lecture, established in 1936, is a memorial to John Findley Green, a St. Louis attorney who graduated from Westminster in 1884. The lecture provides the occasion for person "of international reputation" to promote understanding of economic and social problems of international concern.
Winston Churchill was the seventh Green Lecturer. He was preceded and succeeded by individuals that cumulatively represent an enduring legacy of thoughtful consideration of international issues.
The Green Foundation Lecture is the most distinguished, but not the only, occasion for world leaders to speak at Westminster College. Former President Ronald Reagan spoke at the dedication of Edwina Sandys' Breakthrough sculpture outside the Museum in November 1990.
The Enid and R. Crosby Kemper Lectureship, establish in 1979, created an alliance between the British Institute of the United States and Winston Churchill Memorial & Library. The lectureship brings authorities on British history or Sir Winston Churchill to the Museum. The official biographer of Churchill, Martin Gilbert, gave the inaugural lecture in 1981.
As centers of research and education, and as repositories for cultural heritage, museums play a vital role in our society. They allow us to celebrate humanity’s soaring achievements while also providing lessons on how to avoid the mistakes of our past. They can also amplify the voices of underrepresented groups while bringing economic uplift to communities. Westminster invites students to explore this world and work toward a rewarding career in the field by becoming a Museum Studies major at Westminster College.
This immersive program gives students the conceptual, critical, technical, and historical tools they need to thrive in this growing and dynamic profession. Through coursework and independent research, they gain experience of collecting and cataloguing artifacts and documents, handling and preserving objects, interpreting material culture for a museum audience, creating exhibitions, running educational and public outreach programs, and raising funds to support a museum’s mission and purpose.
“Leave the past to history especially as I propose to write that history myself.”
