More than 70 years after he delivered a speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Winston Churchill is being honored again at the U.S. Capitol with the installation of a bust of his likeness in the National Statuary Hall. Churchill is one of only a very few foreign dignitaries to be so honored.
The bust, sculpted by Oscar Nemon, was donated by the Chicago-based Churchill Centre, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating new generations on the statesmanship and courage of Sir Winston Churchill, who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 through 1945 and from 1951 through 1955.
In his remarks at the October 30 dedication ceremony, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (shown here at left) said Churchill “understood that even the greatest patriots are not just citizens of their own countries, but citizens of the world, with responsibilities that go with it.” Churchill’s bust at the U.S. Capitol, Kerry said, will remind all who see it to work to “fulfill the solemn duty to carry forward the cause of freedom and fundamental rights” and to “strengthen our alliances.”
Churchill was made an honorary citizen of the United States by an act of Congress in 1963, and in 1969 was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian awards in the United States.
