WASHINGTON — Nearly 200 years after the British troops seized Washington and set parts of the city ablaze, one larger-than-life British official made his way into the U.S. Capitol in the most luxurious and ceremonial way.
Congressional leaders on Wednesday honored Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who died in 1965, by dedicating a bust in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
The elaborate ceremony opened with performances by the United States Army Band and Chorus. British rock singer Roger Daltrey, accompanied by a small gospel choir, serenaded the audience with some lawmakers singing along.
House Speaker John Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell, all made the case for Churchill’s recognition as one of the few non-U.S. citizens honored under the Capitol dome. Secretary of State John Kerry was also on hand.
“Winston Spencer Churchill was the best friend the United States ever had,” said Boehner, R-Ohio, who sponsored a bill in 2011 to dedicate a bust to Churchill. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of history’s true love stories. Between a great statesman and a nation he called ‘The Great Republic.’”
The former Prime Minister, as a war leader, addressed a joint meeting of Congress immediately after the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941. He spoke of the importance of the U.S. and Britain fighting together in Europe against the Axis powers.
Through the war and over the years, Churchill formed a special relationship with the United States, the speakers said. When he was a young man, he read American literature and admired President Abraham Lincoln. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy declared him an honorary U.S. citizen, a symbolic privilege bestowed by the president and Congress.
“He’s a hero to the world, but I should also tell you that he’s one of my personal heroes,” said Sen. Reid, D-Nev., at the ceremony. “Winston Churchill faced disappointments throughout his own political career. He also faced dark days when the war seemed hopeless. But through it all, he never, never, never gave up.”
Kerry pointed out the former prime minister’s strong personality and humorous comebacks.
“But we also know something about this man’s capacity to put the fear of God into his critics and anyone who dared to take him on,” Kerry said during the ceremony. “When he was invited to the White House to stay for a week, he stayed for months. He felt free to use President Roosevelt’s bathtub but no need to wear his bathrobe or any bathrobe when he was done.”
Other prominent speakers included Churchill’s grandson, Nicholas Soames, who thanked Congress for the honor.
The Churchill Centre, a U.S.-based organization that educates about Churchill and preserves his work, donated the bust to the Capitol after the House passed Boehner’s bill in 2011.
Other non-U.S. citizens represented in the Capitol include Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat who helped the U.S. during the Revolutionary War (British forces burned the Capitol in 1814 in the closing months of the War of 1812), and Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish humanitarian who saved thousands of Jews during the Nazi occupation.
“Just as a statue of Lincoln stands outside Parliament, this bust renews the ties between our peoples,” said Boehner, “and reminds us that the blessings we often take for granted were won through terrific struggle.”