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Former British Prime Minister to Receive Churchill Medal  4/30/2008 
Campus News 
 

Sir John Major, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, will pay a visit to The Churchill Memorial and Library in the United States located on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, MO on Tuesday, May 6. 

While in Fulton, Major will receive a tour of the Churchill museum from Executive Director Rob Havers and interact with a Westminster College history class.

Later that evening Major will be honored by the Board of Governors of the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library in the United States at a reception and dinner Tuesday, May 6, at the Saint Louis Woman’s Club at 4600 Lindell Blvd. in St. Louis, MO.  A cocktail reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. followed by dinner and a program. 

At the event Major will be presented with The Churchill Medal in recognition of his years of outstanding leadership and public service.  He will deliver a speech re-imagining the famous Iron Curtain address delivered by Sir Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton in 1946.

Major’s years of public service began as a Conservative Party councilor in the London borough of Lambeth.  In 1979, he won the constituency of Huntingdom for the Conservatives in the election that elevated his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, to Prime Minister.  He became a member of the Cabinet in 1987 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.  Then in 1989, he was made Foreign Secretary and only 100 days later Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

Following Margaret Thatcher’s resignation, Major became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the British Conservative Party in 1990 and held those positions until the Labour Party came to power in 1997.

As Prime Minister, he repealed the unpopular poll tax and instated the Citizens Charter, a code designed to introduce greater accountability to public services and raise the standards of service.  He established the Northern Ireland Peace Process that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.  During his tenure as Prime Minister, Britain was involved in the first Gulf War and he played a significant role in persuading President Bush to support no-fly zones.

The Churchill Memorial & Library in the United States on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, MO is the only North American institution fully devoted to immortalizing the life and work of Churchill.  The heart of the Memorial is the magnificent Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, a 17th century Christopher Wren church left in ruin from German bombings during World War II.  This beautiful house of worship was brought stone by stone from England to Westminster and restored on campus in 1969.  In the Undercroft of the Church, a $4 million renovation of the Churchill museum exhibits resulted in a state-of-the-art, interactive museum that news commentator Chris Matthews, who attended the March opening, says rivals the exhibits of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

Adjacent to the Churchill Memorial and Library stands a sculpture by Edwina Sandys, Churchill’s granddaughter, entitled  “Breakthrough,” which was constructed from eight sections of the Berlin Wall to commemorate the demise of the “Iron Curtain” that Sir Winston had predicted.  Visitors may also enjoy the historic gymnasium where Churchill delivered his world famous “Iron Curtain Speech” in 1946 on another part of campus.

The Churchill Memorial is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Regular admission prices are Adults-$6, Seniors-$5, College Students and Youth-$4, Children (6-11)-$3, and Children (5 and under)-free.