THE GREATEST SPEECH EVER GIVEN

 There are very few times when one can point to words in a speech that made a difference. Coming in a strong but distant second place is Abraham Lincoln. His Gettysburg address, his second inaugural address, his letters to grieved mothers are words and letters and speeches that influenced history. The words were powerful, but they saved a county. Winston Spencer Churchill, Prime Minister of England, saved the western free world when he addressed parliament on June 4, 1940. 

The stage on June 4, 1940 was that England was alone and in deep trouble.  The British had 300,000 troops representing the bulk of their army trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, France. Belgium had fallen to the Nazis. So had France and Poland. Europe was gone.  England, an island nation, was all that was left in Europe and England was facing invasion, starvation, and a German naval and submarine blockade. London was being bombed every night. The United States, under the laws of the neutrality act, could not and would not  help. "Lend lease'- the program that gave the British naval war ships and planes and ammunition was not yet in effect. England, nearly broke, had to pay cash for any supplies the US agreed to sell. And England and England alone had to see to the safe transfer of those supplies through the German naval blockade and submarine wolf-packs. 

It was when things were bleakest that Churchill addressed Parliament. Having become PM 24 days before, facing the loss of the British Army and constant nightly bombing, there was strong sentiment in his own party to sue for peace. Lord Halifax, often mentioned as candidate to replace Churchill as PM, part of Churchill's war cabinet, and a friend of the King, was pushing for Churchill to sue for peace with Hitler. Many in Churchill's party shared the same sentiment- the wounds of WWI still being fresh,  and facing the loss of most of the British army. The days from May 26 to June 6 1940 arguably represent the most challenging two weeks any leader of any country has ever faced. 

Left with nothing but his own words and power of speech, Churchill rose as PM to address parliament on June 4 1940. Churchill needed to warn the British public that France was going to fall, the English army was facing obliteration and a total loss AND that it did not matter and England would go on fighting. His audience was three fold. The British people, who he intended to inspire while preparing them for the worst; President Roosevelt and the politicians who favored isolationism who Churchill needed to convert into supporting England;  and Hitler, who Churchill needed to dissuade from deciding to invade England. 

As to Roosevelt and the isolationists, Churchill needed to let them know that England would never surrender. That any money, arms and ammunition lent to England would not be lost; that the British would fight to the last man AND even then would never surrender. Here is what he said: 

First he spoke to his own people, letting them know England had faced invasion before: 

Turning once again, and this time more generally, to the question of invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion, still less against serious raids, could have been given to our people. In the days of Napoleon, of which I was speaking just now, the same wind which would have carried his transports across the Channel might have driven away the blockading fleet. There was always the chance, and it is that chance which has excited and befooled the imaginations of many Continental tyrants. Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemy displays, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous manœuvre. I think that no idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered and viewed with a searching, but at the same time, I hope, with a steady eye. We must never forget the solid assurances of sea power and those which belong to air power if it can be locally exercised.

Churchill had supreme confidence in the British fleet and was arguably the first British politician to recognize years before that air power would be decisive in the next war. Churchill had as strong belief in the ability of the RAF to defeat the Luftwaffe as he had in the English navy to defend his island. 

Next he began the theme of never surrendering even if England received no aid:

 I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny,  if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

[you have to hear Churchill, slowing his speech down so Roosevelt and Hitler understood in no uncertain terms his resolve to fight for years...and to fight alone. These words are pure genius]: 

[repeat those words to yourself- "to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone." they are so very powerful.] 

 At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government – every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.

And now, rising to the challenge of his words and his tasks ahead, Churchill brings poetry and his genius to the English  language- "mobilizing the English language and sending it into battle":  a phrase which was  attributed to Halifax in the movie Darkest Hours, but was most likely said by others and repeated by President Kennedy.   This  paragraph  of the speech arguably saved Western Civilization when it was on the brink of falling to Nazism. These words are some of the greatest ever spoken in the English language. Their importance cannot be overestimated. They rallied the English public and they rallied the world to the cause of freedom. Read them many times, as we do, and rejoice that there was a human being who could think and write and speak such words in one of the darkest hours of humanity: 

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. [Look at how Churchill interweaves being the underdog-  a small island nation - and yet having the strength and resolve to never give up "whatever the cost may be."] 

We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old

That last sentence is overlooked for the genius of political speech that it is. Churchill, without ever naming the United States, is telling Roosevelt and the world that he trusts that the "New World"  (meaning the US) "with all it's power and might"  will step forth to rescue and liberate Europe. He is expressing faith in the US when the US itself did not have the faith and strength at that particular moment to save Europe "from the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of the Nazi rule." 

Those words saved Western Civilization when the man and the moment met,  and Churchill who had such faith in his abilities, fulfilled what he always believed was his destiny ("We are all worms, but I believe I am a glow-worm.). 

It's the greatest speech ever given. There is no second place.