Winston Churchill has been named an honorary Virginian, an American distinction shared by only three others like Margaret Thatcher and Marquis de Lafayette.
The honour came 60 years after the former British prime minister addressed the Virginia House of Delegates, stressing a global commitment shared by the USA and Great Britain.
Churchill delivered his speech on March 8, 1946. Vincent Callahan, a Republican delegate who sponsored the resolution, said: Churchill, to me, as a few others, is one of the dominant leaders of the 20th century. He said also that enduring bond between USA and UK had continued through the war on terrorism.
Sixty years later, there are more democratic governments in the world than ever.
Yet such moral certainty is rare, and the authority with which Churchill's expressed it is surely rarer still.
More details about the speech at Virginia Historical Society.
March 11, 2006
