Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech — Vocabulary
Winston Churchill
1946
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I do not believe we should all have slept so soundly had the positions been reversed and if some Communist or neo-Fascist State monopolized for the time being these dread agencies.†10 more

It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy.†6 more

To give security to these countless homes, they must be shielded from the two giant marauders, war and tyranny.†3 more

It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the world organization, while it is still in its infancy.†1 more

In fact we have both been educated at the same, or similar, or, at any rate, kindred establishments.†2 more

What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.†1 more

We British have our twenty years Treaty of Collaboration and Mutual Assistance with Soviet Russia.†1 more

Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization.†1 more

If the population of the English-speaking Commonwealths be added to that of the United States with all that such co-operation implies in the air, on the sea, all over the globe and in science and in industry, and in moral force, there will be no quivering, precarious balance of power to offer its temptation to ambition or adventure.†

This Agreement is more effective than many of those which have often been made under formal alliances.†1 more

The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control.†

Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organization with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organization.†

If we adhere faithfully to the Charter of the United Nations and walk forward in sedate and sober strength seeking no one's land or treasure, seeking to lay no arbitrary control upon the thoughts of men; if all British moral and material forces and convictions are joined with your own in fraternal association, the high-roads of the future will be clear, not only for us but for all, not only for our time, but for a century to come.†

Indeed, it was at Westminster that I received a very large part of my education in politics, dialectic, rhetoric, and one or two other things.†

Anyone can see with his eyes open that our path will be difficult and also long, but if we persevere together as we did in the two world wars — though not, alas, in the interval between them — I cannot doubt that we shall achieve our common purpose in the end.†1 more

Would a special relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth be inconsistent with our over-riding loyalties to the World Organization?†

Now, while still pursuing the method of realizing our overall strategic concept, I come to the crux of what I have traveled here to say.†

The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power.

God has willed that this shall not be and we have at least a breathing space to set our house in order before this peril has to be encountered: and even then, if no effort is spared, we should still possess so formidable a superiority as to impose effective deterrents upon its employment, or threat of employment, by others.†

Surely we should work with conscious purpose for a grand pacification of Europe, within the structure of the United Nations and in accordance with our Charter.†