IMLS Director Crosby Kemper with historian Andrew Roberts, and the museum’s Sandra L. and Monroe E. Trout Director and Chief Curator, Timothy Riley, held a conversation commemorating the 75th Anniversary of Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech. The discussion focused on the importance of character in history and highlighted the significance of the Churchill Memorial.
This was the first in a series of conversations on the importance of our cultural institutions in preserving heritage and sharing ideas.
Crosby Kemper
Crosby Kemper III is the sixth director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. He was commissioned by the White House on January 24, 2020, following his confirmation by the United States Senate. IMLS, an independent government agency, is the primary source of federal support for the nation's museums and libraries.
Kemper is a dedicated advocate for education and learning for people of all ages and backgrounds. He comes to IMLS from the Kansas City Public Library, where as director, he established the library as one of the city’s leading cultural destinations and a hub of community engagement. Kemper also recently served as chair of the board of directors of the Schools, Health, & Libraries Broadband Coalition, which supports open, affordable broadband connections for local community organizations.
Kemper is the editor of and a contributor to Winston Churchill: Resolution, Defiance, Magnanimity, Good Will, published by the University of Missouri Press. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University. Full bio.
Andrew Roberts
Andrew Roberts is a Visiting Professor at the War Studies Department of King’s College, London, the Lehrman Institute Distinguished Lecturer at the New-York Historical Society, and the author of 13 books, including Eminent Churchillians, Hitler and Churchill, A History of the English-speaking Peoples Since 1900, The Storm of War: A History of the Second World War, Masters and Commanders: How Roosevelt, Churchill, Alanbrooke and Marshall Won the War in the West, Napoleon: A Life and now his single-volume biography, Churchill: Walking with Destiny, which reached No 8 in the New York Times bestseller list and has been described in reviews in the Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times of London, New York Times, Daily Telegraph and three other newspapers as the best single-volume life of Churchill ever written.
In 2019 it won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize. Roberts is a Trustee of the International Churchill Society, the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust and the National Portrait Gallery. He is also the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His website is www.andrew-roberts.net
Timothy Riley
Timothy Riley serves as the Sandra L. and Monroe E. Trout Director and Chief Curator for America’s National Churchill Museum at Westminster College. Mr. Riley is a graduate, cum laude, of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and pursued post-graduate study at Columbia University in the City of New York. He served as a curatorial and education assistant at The Cloisters, a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From 2006 through 2012 Mr. Riley served as director of The Trout Museum of Art in Appleton, and was appointed Director Emeritus in 2012. Mr. Riley was inducted into the Association of Churchill Fellows of Westminster College in 2016.
Mr. Riley has expanded the Churchill Museum’s reach, curating exhibitions aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, at the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida and at Washington University in St. Louis, among others. The latter exhibition was hailed as “the most significant exhibition of Churchill’s paintings in North America.” He also curated From Winston to the White House, an exhibition showcasing together for the first time paintings by U.S. Presidents Kennedy, Eisenhower and George W. Bush alongside works by the artist and statesman who inspired them—Winston Churchill. He is an in-demand speaker about Winston Churchill is a contributing editor for Finest Hour, the journal of the International Churchill Society.
Additional Videos
C-SPAN3 American History TV - Churchill, Truman and the "Iron Curtain" Speech
Author Candice Millard and Institute of Museum and Library Services Director Crosby Kemper III talked about Winston Churchill’s 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech with Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle. They examined his motivations for giving the speech and his relationship with Harry Truman as both men looked towards the future of the West and the Soviet Union. The Truman Library Institute hosted the event and provided the video.
Truman Library Institute - Our Supreme Task: Churchill, Truman and the Opening Shot in the Cold War
Watch the anniversary event with special guests David Von Drehle, R. Crosby Kemper III and Candice Millard. Best-selling authors and Churchill experts, they go beyond the historic transcript to deliver rich portraits of Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and a friendship that changed the world. This program was presented online on March 10, 2021.