Our Nation's Longest War

For us old dudes, today is a pretty historic day. Some younger readers won’t be so familiar with the events which we commemorate on March 5. Let me clue you in.

On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill, probably the greatest orator of our time, stood before an audience at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and said, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.” The term iron curtain was first used in that speech. Today marks the first day of what we came to know as The Cold War.

I still vividly remember crawling under my desk at school with hands covering head. We were rehearsing our final acts on earth which would transpire when “Russia” dropped an atomic bomb on North Elkin, NC, USA.

It may be comical now, but we were serious as death. Somehow, we knew that inch-and-a-half of pressed fiber board would protect us from a 20 megaton bomb.

Churchill had some other interesting things to say at Westminster College that day long ago:

“As you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done, but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. Opportunity is here now, clear and shining, for both our countries. To reject it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of the aftertime.”

And,

“Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them. They will not be removed by mere waiting to see what happens; nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement.”

I speak a prayer when I say, “Thank God for Ronald Reagan!”