[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E62-E63]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING THE DEATH OF SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAC THORNBERRY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to submit for the Record a 
statement by the Churchill Centre commemorating the 40th anniversary of 
the death of Sir Winston Churchill. The Churchill Centre has members 
around the globe and a mission to ``foster

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leadership, statesmanship, vision and courage among democratic and 
freedom-loving peoples worldwide, through the thoughts, words, works 
and deeds of Winston Spencer Churchill.'' One of its recent activities, 
for example, was to help sponsor the widely acclaimed ``Churchill and 
the Great Republic'' exhibit that began at the Library of Congress last 
year and is now moving around the country.
  I have been a member of the Churchill Centre and its predecessors for 
nearly 20 years. I believe that each of us today, as well as the 
generations to come, can learn from and be inspired by the life of Sir 
Winston Churchill. I commend the statement and the work of this 
organization to all my colleagues.

                  Remembering a Great Man 40 Years On

       January 24 marked the 40th anniversary of the passing of 
     the great British statesman and war leader, and honorary U.S. 
     citizen, Sir Winston S. Churchill. Believed by many to be the 
     greatest individual of the past Century, and widely 
     recognized as the single greatest obstacle to Nazi tyranny, 
     Sir Winston died on this date in 1965 at the age of 90.
       In a career that spanned from the Victorian age to the 
     Space age, Winston Spencer Churchill held almost every major 
     government position in the British government; served in 
     Parliament under every monarch from Queen Victoria to Queen 
     Elizabeth II; won the Nobel Prize for literature in 
     recognition of a body of work that encompassed forty books 
     and innumerable articles and speeches; and, was an 
     accomplished artist, producing over 500 paintings in his 
     lifetime. His official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, when 
     asked to produce a one sentence description of Churchill, 
     wrote: ``He was a great humanitarian who was himself 
     distressed that the accidents of history gave him his 
     greatest power at a time when everything had to be focused on 
     defending the country from destruction, rather than achieving 
     his goals of a fairer society.''
       As the 20th Century drew to a close, The Churchill Centre, 
     Washington, D.C., a broadly-based international organization 
     of over 3,500 members that exists to foster leadership and 
     boldness through the words, works, and deeds of Sir Winston 
     Churchill, published in its journal, Finest Hour, statements 
     issued by world leaders and the media supporting the 
     designation of Winston Churchill as the ``Person of the 
     Century''. Here are two of those statements:
       ``Churchill was the century's best example of how 
     individuals can shape history rather than being shaped by it. 
     The force of his will and his words gave courage to his 
     country and saved the West. Yet it was also Churchill who, 
     after World War II, discerned the dangers to come from 
     communist tyranny. Just as he defined the moral issues of the 
     1930s and 1940s, he defined the great moral challenge up to 
     our own time. Totalitarianism was the greatest evil of the 
     20th century, and Churchill its most able adversary.''--
     Governor George W. Bush in Time, 22 November 1999.
       ``We can make sense of the future if we understand the 
     lessons of the past. Winston Churchill, my first prime 
     minister, said that `the further backward you look, the 
     further forward you can see.' And it was this importance of 
     history which was much in my mind when I opened the new 
     Scottish Parliament in July this year.''--Her Majesty the 
     Queen, Christmas Message, 25 December 1999.
       Why should the world remember a man who lived so long ago 
     at a time seemingly so remote from the present? Quite simply, 
     because the words, the deeds, and the works of Winston 
     Churchill take on an aura of immortality that transcend years 
     and generations and can provide guidance to the world today 
     and into the future.
       Churchill was a defender of the family as it is 
     traditionally understood. He believed that government should 
     foster independence of spirit. He believed this requires that 
     people own property, with little hindrance and light 
     taxation, and remain responsible for their own well-being. 
     Churchill believed Western Civilization is a force for good. 
     He believed that the traditions of the English-Speaking 
     Peoples, rightly understood, reflected truths of 
     unchanging vitality and application to all persons and all 
     times. He thought socialism and bureaucracy incompatible 
     with human liberty and even with the survival of nations. 
     He believed that certain codes of morality find sanction 
     in a permanent law, not made by mankind. A violation of 
     this law is, he believed, always wrong. Virtue, not 
     creativity, was his touchstone. These principles will 
     continue to require champions in this century.
       Churchill's motto, expressed as the ``moral'' of his 
     acclaimed six-volume history of The Second World War, clearly 
     expresses these ideals.
       In War: Resolution.
       In Defeat: Defiance.
       In Victory: Magnanimity.
       In Peace: Good Will.
       Now, forty years after his passing, Winston Churchill is 
     still quoted, read, revered, and referred to as much, if not 
     more, than when he was alive. Let us, therefore, take a 
     moment to reflect on a man who gave so much to the world 
     during his lifetime, and who will be remembered and honored 
     as long as a free world continues to exist and continues to 
     honor its heroes.

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