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My Dear Mr President
As your pilot is flying back to Washington tomorrow I am taking this chance to send a few lines.
It is very kind of you to make a plane available and I am going to use it to go to Cuba for a week. I am not going to Trinidad as I originally planned, it is too long a trip. I am thinking about going to Veracruz to do some painting.
I am very glad to hear you will be sailing around the Florida Coast. I need to talk with you before I make my speech at Fulton. I have a message to give to your country. I think we will agree on what I am going to say and I think it will get a lot of attention. I see it as an opportunity to some good in this confused world.
With kind regards and all respects,
Yours very sincerely
WSC
As from/ 5905, North Bay Road,
Miami Beach,
Florida.
January 29, 1946.
My Dear Mr. President,
I avail myself of the fact that your personal pilot is going from here to-morrow to Washington to send you these few lines.
It is very kind of you to place a powerful plane at my disposal and I am going to Cuba in it on Friday for a week. I have abandoned my plan of going to Trinidad as it is too long a hop for pleasure-time, but I am examining the possibilities of going to Veracruz, which is on the sea level and where I hear the scenery is very fine for painting. I shall be back here on February 10.
I am very glad to know you are coming along this coast. I will certainly come out and see you on your ship if you would wish it. I need a talk with you a good while before our Fulton date. I have a Message to deliver to your country and to the world and I think it very likely that we shall be in full agreement about it. Under your auspices anything I say will command some attention and there is an opportunity for doing some good to this bewildered, baffled and breathless world.
............
A copy of a letter from Churchill to President Truman, 29 January 1946.
Churchill is no longer Prime Minister, and is in the United States on a vacation trip, arriving on 14 January. As ever, Churchill mixed business with pleasure, arranging the publication of his wartime memoir, receiving honorary degrees from various universities, making several high-profile speeches, and doing some swimming and painting. The trip also gave him a much-needed break from his critics in the Conservative Party. Churchill even took part in lobbying for a post-war reconstruction loan for Britain. Tensions between the two superpowers [the Soviet Union and the USA] continued to grow, especially as Stalin tried to get more control over Turkey and Iran.
Churchill refers to making the Fulton speech as “our Fulton speech” and making it under Truman’s auspices (ie with Truman’s blessing). In October 1945, Churchill had been invited to make a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. Fulton was a small town in the rural Midwest and Churchill would not normally have accepted such an invitation. However, the invite came endorsed by Truman “This is a wonderful school in my home state. Hope you can do it. I’ll introduce you. Best regards- Harry S. Truman”. Given Fulton’s size and location, the impact of Churchill and Truman visiting the college and speaking together there would be sure to attract a lot of attention.
Remember we are hoping that this source can be useful to us in investigating why Churchill made the Iron Curtain speech in 1946. Sources usually help historians in two ways:
Which of the inferences below can be made from this source?
| On a scale of 1-5 how far do you agree that this source supports this inference? | Which extract(s) from the source support your argument? | |
| Churchill is getting no special treatment now that he is no longer Prime Minister | ||
| Churchill can say things that a Prime Minister or President can't say | ||
| Churchill is being used by Truman to stir up the people of America | ||
| Churchill was not interested in politics, he just wanted to do good | ||
| Churchill respects Truman and is keen to impress him | ||
| This source helps to explain why Churchill made the Iron Curtain speech |
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