Upper Elementary
Open almost any 20th century history book, look at the index, and you will see included the words “iron curtain.” According to the Geoffrey Best, in his book Churchill: A Study in Greatness, very few Britons and Americans, after the World War II ended in 1945, wanted to believe Russia, their war time ally, was going to be “a peace time menace,” but Churchill, much like he voiced in 1938 about Hitler, perceived this as very likely to happen and called attention to this very genuine possibility. Best writes, “He took advantage of his unique status to sound the trumpet in Fulton.”
Clement Atlee, in an obituary essay of Churchill, stated:
“By any reckoning, Winston Churchill was one of the greatest men that history records. If there were to be a gallery of great Englishmen that could accommodate only a dozen, I would like to see him in. He was brave, gifted, inexhaustible and indomitable. . .
Energy, rather than wisdom, practical judgment or vision, was his supreme qualification . . . However, it is not the full story of what he did to win the war. It was the poetry of Churchill, as well, that did the trick. Energy and poetry, in my view, really sums him up.”
His granddaughter, Celia Sandys, also focused on this energy in her book, Chasing Churchill. She followed his travels over four continents and writes, “…following the trail of my grandfather’s travels…has made me understand him better, and appreciate all the more his ceaseless energy and incredible zest for life.”
Why did he, at a very early age, know “promotion and advancement” would come with travel and to eagerly seek out those experiences? What in his nature allowed him to observe, and internalize, his surroundings? How much of his knowledge of the world, not through second-hand accounts, allowed him to understand the political climate following World War II?
Using the Churchill Memorial exhibits, students will follow his travels until he ventures to Fulton, Missouri and once again, put his mark on history.
Students will be divided into twelve teams according definitive time periods in Churchill’s life. His travels during the periods, and with the assistance of the information in the exhibit, student teams will have to determine the impact of his travels on his life and the world.