Posted on 06/18/2010 4:55:52 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Here is the audio of that speach.
After reading earlier posts I don't know what to think.
I’ve done some research and it seems that an actor MIGHT have made a recording, but every indication is that it was never used.
The speech was given in the House of Commons and as far as I can tell it was recorded there and rebroadcast. However, I might be wrong and Churchill might have rebroadcast it later on BBC.
The French official communique is really short. I guess they just don’t have a lot to say.
And while the map of the eastern half of the front is relatively accurate, the western half is bears no relation to what is actually happening. It looks like the Germans lined up on the lower Seine and have been stopped there, when in reality they’ve swept clear the northwest of France.
I apologize that I cannot answer the question of who are actually saying the words. I tried to do some research on the actual audio file itself. No luck so far. I cant find a point of contact on the Internet Archive website. It is a real rough recording, but I will say that I do not believe that it was recorded in the House of Commons.
I do not here any response at all from what he is saying. There is no grumbling, applause, nothing.
I will try to make a point to look at this further.
This was likely the greatest speech in the English language in the 20th century.
I found page 12. It had a fish wrapped in it but I aired it out and it looks O.K.
Thank you very much!
That’s quite a list of powers Senator Pepper wants to confer upon the President. And the gallery broke into applause. I wonder who gets to decide when “this emergency” has expired.
That was Claude Pepper, he was in Congress for decades. I believe that people understood that war was definitely coming. I believe this was the groundwork for the Lend Lease Act.
It seems that most of this was based on the assumption that it was highly likely that Great Britain would be invaded and the Nazis would put install a puppet government and possibly install the Duke of Windsor as king.
The scenario would have meant that a Nazi puppet was technically soveriegn of Canada and also places such as the Bahamas, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands.
The plan all along was that Churchill, Parliament, and the Royal Family (along with many European governments in exile) would go to Canada and this Congress needed to make sure that laws were in place that allowed the United States to recognize the government it wanted to.
And interesting subplot was the case of the Islands of St Pierre and Miquelon, just off the coast of Newfoundland.
From Wikipedia:
Governor Gilbert de Bournat of St. Pierre remained loyal to Vichy France, but the islands were confronted with a difficult situation. The islands were dependent on France for subsidies; it is estimated that in the first part of the 20th century, France spent 40 million francs supporting the economy of the islands. Also, a substantial fraction of the French fishing fleet decided not to return to Nazi-controlled France and remained in the St. Pierre harbor. French General Charles de Gaulle was unhappy with the surrender of France to Germany, and created the Free French movement in London. Eventually the Free French movement was recognized by King George VI as the government of France in exile. Also, the UK, the US, and Newfoundland were nervous about allowing Saint Pierre and Miquelon to remain under the control of Vichy France. This was because Saint Pierre and Miquelon could be used by the Axis powers as a base for spying on Allied shipping (there was a radio transmitter on St. Pierre that was thought to be sending messages to German submarines).
During the early years of World War II, the United States retained nominal relations with Vichy France in an attempt to further block Nazi Germany war aims. The United States, as a result of policy established by the Monroe Doctrine was strongly opposed to any change in control of the islands; and Canada (possibly through pressure by Winston Churchill) did not want Vichy France forces so near to Canada. De Gaulle realized that Canada might want to capture Saint Pierre and Miquelon (thereby eliminating French Territory so close to Quebec), so he secretly planned an assault on the islands. On Christmas Eve 1941, Free French forces led by Rear-Admiral Émile Muselier “invaded” the islands on behalf of Charles de Gaulle, commanding three corvettes and the submarine Surcouf. The Vichy administration on the islands immediately surrendered.
This “invasion” by Free French forces exploded into a major international incident because the use of military force by Free France was contrary to the Monroe Doctrine. The United States and Canada both threatened invasion of the islands, despite Free France being a nominal ally of both countries. However, the “liberation” of St. Pierre and Miquelon had graced the front pages of major newspapers in both countries as one of the first territories to be removed from Axis control. US Secretary of State, Cordell Hull then abandoned any further interest in the islands, and the islands were no longer critical to the war efforts of any Allied country.
Thanks for posting that. I remember reading about it years ago, but had forgotten it.
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