FULTON, Mo., March 5, 1946 (UP) - Winston Churchill said today that Russia seeks indefinite expansion of her power and doctrines, and called for a permanent Anglo-American military alliance which might some day include common citizenship.
Pointing to the Soviet shadow upon "scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory," the former British Prime Minister called for firm and immediate steps, including establishment of an international armed force by the United Nations, to prevent another war.
Mr. Churchill was introduced by President Truman and he spoke at little Westminster College here. The President had seen the prepared text before it was delivered.
This small Missouri town and its college campus heard Mr. Churchill's thundering denunciation of the manner in which Communists in Europe have obtained "power far beyond their numbers, and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control."
At the outset Mr. Churchill told his audience of college students and rural Missourians that he spoke without any official standing, that he was speaking only for himself.
Then he made these points in rapid succession:
The United Nations must immediately begin an international armed force, with each participating nation providing air force units.
It would be wrong to give the atomic bomb secrets to the United Nations. They should be held for the time being by this country, Great Britain and Canada.
The people of any nation should be given the right of free, unfettered elections, with secret ballot.
There should be co-operative Anglo-American use of sea and air bases.
A special relationship between this country and the British Commonwealth would be consistent with overriding loyalties to the United Nations.
"Nobody knows what Soviet Russia or its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies."
The "Russian-dominated" Polish government has made "enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany... ."
One of the more "somber facts ... on the morrow of a victory" is the "growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization" caused by "Communist parties or fifth columns" around the world.
Mr. Churchill's speech had been discussed with Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador in this country.
British sources said it was highly unlikely that Mr. Churchill would make such an address if it ran counter to the international polices of Prime Minister Clement Atlee's government, despite the fact that Mr. Churchill is now the opposition leader in Parliament.
Mr. Churchill and Mr. Truman came here by train from Washington after an overnight ride. Tomorrow Mr. Truman speaks at Columbus, Ohio, to a special meeting of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America.
Mr. Churchill painted a picture of the world alternately cheerful and gloomy.
"I do not believe that Russia desires war," he said.
"What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines."
"Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them," he said, "they will not be removed by mere waiting to see what happens; nor will they be relieved by a policy of appeasement. What is needed is a settlement, and the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our dangers will become. From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for military weakness."
Pointing to the fact that the United States already has a permanent defense agreement with Canada, he said that this principle "should be extended to all the British commonwealths with full reciprocity."
After reviewing the world situation Mr. Churchill then recalled that "last time I saw it all coming" and said that up until "even 1935" the last war could easily have been prevented, "but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool."
"We surely must not let that happen again," he said. "This can only be achieved by reaching now, in 1946, a good understanding with Russia under the general authority of the United Nations organization and by the maintenance of that good understanding through many peaceful years, by the world instrument, supported by the whole strength of the English-speaking world and all its connections."