Gallup Vault: Americans’ Views as the Iron Curtain Descended

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seventy-five years ago this week, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered one of the seminal speeches of the 20th century at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. In that March 5, 1946, speech, Churchill highlighted several aggressive moves by the Soviet Union, including the occupation of Eastern Europe, noting, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” The phrase “iron curtain” would become shorthand to describe what was then the Soviet Union, along with its client states, during the Cold War.
Additionally, Churchill called for a “fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples” and a “special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States,” which amounted to a military alliance between the two countries. Shortly after the speech, and amid growing tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets, Gallup asked Americans their opinions of Churchill’s proposed alliance.
The poll found Americans were widely aware of the speech, with 68% saying they had heard or read about it. But their reactions to Churchill’s proposed U.S.-Great Britain alliance tilted negative. Forty percent of all Americans said they disapproved of the U.S. and Great Britain continuing their present military cooperation as a check on Russia, while 18% approved. Another 4% thought the two countries should “stick together,” but not with a military alliance. The rest either had no opinion or weren’t familiar with the speech.
Gallup’s original press release that reported these findings listed some of the specific reasons respondents gave for disapproving of an alliance between the U.S. and the British, including:
In the same 1946 poll, Gallup asked the public how they felt about the policy Russia was following in world affairs and how the U.S. should respond. A solid majority of Americans, 71%, disapproved of Russia’s foreign policy, while 7% approved and 22% had no opinion.
When asked what the U.S. should do in response, half of Americans favored strong action, while 16% favored negotiation or “appeasement,” and 12% favored no action at all.
The largest percentage of Americans, 44%, believed the U.S. should “be firm” with the Soviet Union, “make her stick to agreements” and not appease it.
Fewer Americans supported strong and punitive approaches — such as cutting off material support, including the then-ongoing World War II-era Lend-Lease program (5%) or totally severing relations (1%).
Larger percentages of Americans favored negotiation with the Soviets — including taking the dispute before the United Nations (8%) or attempting to “get together and work things out” (7%). One percent of the U.S. public supported outright appeasement of the Soviet Union.
Twelve percent of the U.S. public supported the U.S. “doing nothing.”
Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech is remembered as one of the opening moves of the Cold War, and the Gallup data show why it may have been needed to stir U.S. support for a bilateral response to Russia. It was a confrontation Americans weren’t quite sold on, having just finished fighting the Second World War. But despite Americans’ doubts, Churchill’s speech would prove remarkably prescient. Just three years later, in 1949, Churchill’s proposal for a “fraternal association” would be given form in the newly created North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And for decades to come, foreign policy analysts and politicians in both countries would refer to the U.S. and Great Britain as having a “special relationship.”
View the original 1946 Gallup news release on Russia and Great Britain (PDF download).
Read more from the Gallup Vault.