Vou tentar localizar as fotos feitas na ocasião, e que ilustravam a minha postagem, feita a cada noite nos hotéis em que parávamos.
O relato completo da viagem está neste link:
https://www.academia.edu/12251995/Across_the_whale_in_less_than_a_month_USA_coast_to_coast_2013
Paulo Roberto de Almeida
Brasília, 15/11/2019
Across the whale in a month
(3): Churchill's Cold
War speech at Fulton, Missouri
Numa segunda-feira em
que 99,99% dos museus americanos permanecem fechados, tivemos uma sorte danada
ao poder visitar o memorial Churchill, localizado na pequena cidade de Fulton,
no coração do Missouri, onde o famoso líder britânico da Segunda Guerra Mundial
pronunciou o mais famoso discurso da Guerra Fria, na verdade, inaugurando,
antecipadamente, a própria guerra fria.
Depois de sair de Saint
Louis um pouco tarde, seguimos pela estrada que segue em direção a Kansas City.
Exatamente no meio do caminho, e no meio do caminho entre a estrada principal e
a capital do Missouri, uma sonolenta cidade de apenas 50 mil habitantes que
responde pelo nome de Jefferson City (em homenagem ao terceiro presidente
americano), fica esta pequena cidade que abriga o Westminster College (mesmo
nome, talvez, do distrito eleitoral de Churchill, na Grã-Bretanha), que formulou
o convite com o apoio do presidente Harry Truman, um caipira do Missouri
(existe uma presidential library Harry Truman em Independence, pouco antes de
Kansas City).
Sempre tive curiosidade
em saber por que, diabos, Churchill teria ido falar sobre tema tão importante
quanto a dominação soviética na Europa central e oriental numa cidadezinha sem
qualquer importância no plano mundial como essa aldeia perdida na caipirolândia
americana. Pois bem, soube agora como isso foi acontecer, um discurso memorável
que colocou no mapa do mundo, e da História (com H maiúsculo) esta pequena
cidade dotada de um belo museu dedicado ao maior inglês do século 20, um
detestável imperialista, um indefectível colonialista, mas um grande líder
militar, um estrategista razoável e um grande mestre das palavras. Ele ganhou
os ingleses basicamente pela palavra e pelos escritos, pelas frases geniais,
cheias de espírito.
Relato abaixo como isso
foi possível, que soube pelo guia do museu, ou doutorando em História dos EUA
pelo Westminster College, e pela informação disponível na internet.
Tenho o prazer de
apresentar, portanto, o
National Churchill Museum
no subsolo (ou térreo)
desta bela igreja inglesa do século 17 (na verdade, do século 11, mas destruída
por um incêndio, e reconstruída depois, em 1677), trazida pedra por pedra de Londres,
para figurar nesse memorial construído especialmente para servir como uma
espécie de panteão especial para Churchill e toda a sua história de vida, desde
a juventude, até seu aparecimento inédito em Fulton.
Na verdade, a história
cobre até o final da Guerra Fria, e um pedaço do muro de Berlim figura no pátio
da igreja, onde falou Gorbachev, em 1992 (ver foto abaixo).
Transcrevo uma
informação sobre o local, retirada da atual "mãe dos burros", a
Wikipedia.
The National
Churchill Museum, (formerly the Winston Churchill Memorial and
Library) 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.
The
National Churchill Museum comprises three distinct but related elements: the
Church of St Mary Aldermanbury, the museum, and the "Breakthrough" sculpture.
Aí
estou eu, refletido no vidro da porta da entrada, para uma visita memorável,
que me lembrou em algumas passagens as "catacumbas" do gabinete de
guerra de Churchill em Londres, que visitamos um ano e meio atrás, quando fui
dar uma palestra sobre o Brasil no King's College
Continuo
com a informação:
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 the sculpture in order to commemorate both the "Sinews of
Peace" speech and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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. Truman'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.
Agora
uma descrição do museu, em si:
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 objective of the museum is 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.
Yet
another room, "Churchill's Finest Hour: World War II, 1939-1945",
portrays World War II and Churchill's pivotal role in that conflict. Here, a
sound and light show replicates an air-raid on London during the
"Blitz". 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 war. Around the walls of
his room, more interactive displays describe 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.
Foi,
até agora, o ponto alto de nossa travessia pelos Estados Unidos.
Carmen
Lícia fez várias fotos do museu, e minhas, fora e dentro do museu. Posto aqui
uma delas.
Amanhã,
ou melhor, hoje, terça-feira, dia 17, tem mais: vamos visitar o Memorial da
Primeira Guerra Mundial em Kansas City, onde tem uma exposição especial sobre
os dez anos que precederam a guerra.
A
viagem continua.
Paulo Roberto de
Almeida
