OPINION:
In the early stages of his administration, former President Obama removed the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office. Apparently, at the time he had little knowledge of or appreciation for how Churchill’s eloquence during World War II and the Cold War saved western civilization.
Churchill’s 1940 “blood, toil, tears and sweat” speech to Parliament was delivered during the tensest time of the war, when it was feared that Hitler would invade Great Britain. It gave hope to a nation struggling for its very survival. And Churchill’s speech six years later at Westminster College in President Truman’s home state of Missouri, during which he spoke of “an iron curtain” descending across Europe due to Stalin’s attempt to take over Europe, galvanized the free world to contain Communism, the most inhumane slayer of the 20th century.
Mr. Obama should set aside an afternoon from his now less-crowded schedule to watch the new, critically acclaimed motion picture “Darkest Hour,” the saga of Churchill’s courageous posture during the dismal stages of the war. Being a product of the visual era, Mr. Obama would perhaps then appreciate why the bust of Winston Churchill was in the Oval Office in the first place.
MIKE MCADOO
San Francisco
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