Table of Contents
- Anger among right wing British politicians after the newly-sworn-in US President – Joe Biden – removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office in the White House.
- Winston Churchill – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1940 to 1945 and 1951 to 1955 – is held as a national hero of Britain.
A Brief Background
- A Churchill bust was first displayed in the Oval Office during George W Bush’s time as president.
- Tony Blair, then prime minister of the UK, loaned it to him for the duration of his time in office, as a personal gift.
- When Obama became president the bust was returned to the British embassy.
- Boris Johnson had then blasted President Obama, for the move, saying that he did it because of his “ancestral dislike of the British Empire.”
- When Donald Trump took over as the President, he brought in a different version of Churchill bust, to the Oval Office.
- The White House has had that version, since the 1960s.
- It had previously been on display in the private living area of the House.
- Now, after moving in to the White House, President Joe Biden has removed the Churchill bust from the Oval Office again.
- He has replaced it with a bust of late American civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.
- The bust of Chavez sits alongside framed photographs of Biden’s family members.
- The bust, which had been at the Cesar Chavez National Monument in California, was sent to Washington at the request of the White House.
- Cesar Chavez, a leader of the American working class people, was championed by Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Who is Cesar Chavez?
- In 1962, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association – now known as the United Farm Workers.
- In September 1965, he began leading what became a five-year strike by grape pickers and a nationwide boycott of California grapes which attracted liberal support throughout the country.
- Subsequent battles with corporate farm companies, lettuce growers, table-grape growers, and other agribusinesses ended with the signing of bargaining agreements.
- He was willing to sacrifice his own life for his long-standing beliefs and fasted many times.
- In recognition of his non-violent activism and support of working people, Chavez was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994.
- Last year, America saw a massive anti-racism, and anti-colonial wave of sentiments, as a part of the ‘Black Lives Matter’
- Joe Biden’s Democratic Party made #BLM their rallying cry, for the elections
The Reaction
- As soon as media reports of the bust removal in Biden’s Oval Office came in, far right British political leaders were quick to express anger against America.
- The US Ambassador to the UK, avoided a diplomatic row by indicating that US and UK would still remain close partners, just like they were during the war.
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson also assured that “nothing will change”, on Britain’s loan of Churchill bust to USA.
- He also said that he wanted a close relationship with US under President Biden.
Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF
WhatsApp