The Churchill Series – Dec. 1, 2006

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

On June 18, 1940, France began talks with Nazi Germany aimed at an armistice. That same day Churchill delivered first in Commons and later that evening on the radio his stirring speech ending with:

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years men will still say, “This was their finest hour.”

When we think of Churchill, those words and others from his speeches often come to mind.

But while those words represented his most deeply held feelings, they were part of his public rhetoric. He didn't, as we know, in everyday speech inform his Cabinet “This is our finest hour” or tell friends from time to time that “Never in the course of human history has so much been owed by so many to so few.”

But I want to tell you about an expression Churchill used very often that he included in a BBC radio statement delivered the day before his “finest hour” speech. It is an old Boer folk expression Churchill learned while fighting the Boer at the turn of the century. He used it often when speaking, and it appears often in his letters. I’ve no doubt it was one of his favorite expressions.


Churchill delivered his statement, meant to both stiffen the resolve and reassure the British people, immediately following the BBC’s announcement that Raynaud’s government had fallen and been succeeded by one headed by Petain. The old Boer expression is found in the last seven words of Churchill’s statement:

The news from France is very bad, and I grieve for the gallant French people who have fallen into this terrible misfortune. Nothing will alter our feelings towards them or our faith that the genius of France will rise again.

What has happened in France makes no difference to our actions and purpose.

We have become the sole champions now in arms to defend the world cause. We shall do our best to be worthy of this high honour. We shall defend our island home, and with the British Empire we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted from the brows of mankind.

We are sure that in the end all will come right.

Two comments that I think I’m making for just about all of us.

1) In that brief statement which took only a minute to deliver, we find the major themes he returned to again and again throughout 1940. Like Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Churchill’s June 17 statement briefly and eloquently sounds the beliefs and purposes that justify great struggles and sacrifices.

2) We see again in this statement Churchill the master psychologist facing up to bad news but invoking pride, purpose and resolve ; and in his closing words reassuring the British people and pointing them toward the day of ultimate victory.
___________________________________
In haste. Sources to follow this weekend.