Gorbachev leaves behind a legacy at Westminster College

A mug and button that commemorated Mikhail Gorbachev's speech at Westminster College, which occurred 46 years after Winston Churchill spoke at the college.
A mug and button that commemorated Mikhail Gorbachev's speech at Westminster College, which occurred 46 years after Winston Churchill spoke at the college.

As the world reflects on the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, Fulton remembers the special connection the city had to him.

Gorbachev died Tuesday, with the announcement coming from Central Clinical Hospital. They said he died after a long illness, and provided no other details of his passing. He was 91.

Gorbachev is remembered as the final leader before the fall of the Soviet Union. He is also remembered for restoring democracy and helping to end the Cold War, for which he received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill visited Westminster College. It was here that he gave the landmark "Iron Curtain" speech. It was in this speech that he declared "an iron curtain has descended across the continent" and ushered in the Cold War.

It was only appropriate Westminster was also where the Cold War effectively ended. On May 7, 1992, Gorbachev gave his historic speech at the college. His speech was called "The River of Time and the Imperative of Action." Gorbachev gave his speech at the same podium used by Churchill to give his speech 46 years earlier.

Gorbachev was welcomed to Missouri by Governor John Ashcroft, who said the Cold War will symbolically end where it began.

In his speech, Gorbachev gave a potential view of what the world could look like with a stronger United Nations while also providing a critique of American views of the war. He famously described the end of the Cold War as "a shattering of the vicious circle" the world was trapped in.

Gorbachev also said in his speech that with the Cold War over, his goals remained the same.

"The goal today has not changed: peace and progress for all," Gorbachev said in his speech.

Gorbachev's 45-minute speech was originally given in Russian, with it being translated live by a U.S. State Department interpreter. An estimated 20,000 people witnessed Gorbachev deliver his speech at Westminster's campus.

He would also be given an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Westminster, which was presented by freshman student Yanina Chernenko.

Westminster has been the host of other world leaders as well, who used the symbolic setting to address the world. Harry Truman in 1954, Gerald Ford in 1977 and George Bush in 1986 and 1988 all spoke in the same palce as Churchill and Gorbachev.

In remembrance of Churchill's speech at the college, America's National Churchill Museum now stands at Westminster College. This museum is dedicated to the life and legacy of Churchill, but it also touches upon Gorbachev and the impact he had in contrast with Churchill at the college.

  photo  The original visitor's register signed by Gorbachev when he visited Wesminster College to deliver his speech “The River of Time and the Imperative of Action."
 
 
  photo  An exhibit at America's National Churchill Museum describes the "Iron Curtain" speech Churchill gave and his impact on the Cold War.