1941-08-24_BBC_Winston_Churchill_Meeting_With_President_Roosevelt

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I thought you would like me to tell you hunting
about the voyage which I made across the Ocean to
meet our great friend, the President of the United States.
Exactly where we met is a secret, but I don't

(00:21):
think I shall be in discreet if I go so
far as to say that it was somewhere in the Atlantic,
in a spacious, landlocked bay which reminded me of the
west coast of Scotland. Powerful American warships, protected by strong

(00:46):
flotillas and far ranging aircraft awaited our arrival, and as
it were, stretched out a hand to help with him.
Party arrived in the newest or almost the newest British battleship,

(01:07):
the Prince of Wales, with a modest escort of British
and Canadian its coils. And there for three days I
spent my time in company, and I think, I may
say in comradeship with mister Roosevelt. While all the time

(01:29):
the chiefs of the staff and naval and military commanders,
both of the British Empire and of the United States,
set together in continual council. President Roosevelt is the thrice
chosen head of the most powerful state and community in

(01:54):
the world. I am the servant of King and Parliament
at present charged with the principal direction of our affairs
in these faithful times, and it is my duty also
to make sure that I have made sure that anything

(02:16):
I say or do in the exercise of my office
is approved and sustained by the whole British Commonwealth of nations. Therefore,
this meeting was bound to be important because of the
enormous forces at present only partially mobilized but steadily mobilizing,

(02:41):
which are at the disposal of these two major groupings
of the human family, the British Empire and the United States,
who fortunately for the progress of man guid happened to
speak the same language and very largely think the same thoughts,

(03:06):
or anyhow, think a lot of the same thoughts. The
meeting was therefore symbolic, that is its prime importance. It symbolizes,
in a form and manner which everyone can understand, in
every land and in every clime, the deep underlying unities

(03:32):
which stir and the decisive moments rule the English speaking
people throughout the world. Would it be presumptuous for me
to say that it symbolizes something even more majestic, namely
the marshaling of the good forces of the world against

(03:55):
the evil forces which are now so formidable and triumphant,
and which have cast their crows fell over the whole
of Europe and the large part of Asia. This was
a meeting which marks forever in the pages of history,

(04:18):
the taking up by the English speaking nations amid all
this perial tumulta and confusion of the guidance of the
fortunes of the broad toiling masses in all the continents,
and our loyal effort, without any cloud of selfish interest,

(04:42):
to lead them forward out of the miseries into which
they have been plunged, back to the broad high road
of freedom and justice. This is the highest honor and
the most glorious opportunity which could ever have come to

(05:03):
any branch of the human race. When one beholds how
many currents of extraordinary and terrible events have flowed together
to make this harmony, even the most skeptical person must

(05:23):
have the feeling that we all have the chance to
play our part and do our duty in some great design,
the end at which no mortal can fal see. Awful
and horrible things I have been in these days. All

(05:46):
of Europe has been wrecked and trampled down by the
mechanical weapons and barbaric fury of the Nazis. The most
deadly instruments of war science have been joined to the
extreme refinements of treachery and the most brutal exhibitions of ruthlessness,

(06:11):
and thus have formed a combine of aggression the like
of which had never been known before. Which the rites,
the traditions, the characteristics and the structure of many ancient
honored states and peoples have been laid prostrate, and are

(06:33):
now ground down under the heel and terror of a monster.
The Austrians, the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Danes,
the Belgians, the Dutch, the Groups, the Croats, and the Serbs.
Above all the great French nations have been stunned and pinioned. Italy, Hungary,

(07:03):
Romania Bulgaria have bought a shameful respite by becoming the
jackals of the Tiger. But their situation is very little
different and will presently be indistinguishable from that of his victims. Sweden,

(07:25):
Spain and Turkey stand appalled, wondering which will be struck
down next. Here, then, is the vast pit into which
all the most famous states and races of Europe have
been flung, and from which unaided they can never climb.

(07:52):
But all this did not satiate Adolph Hitler. He made
a treaty of non aggression with Soviet Russia, just as
he made one with Turkey, in order to keep them
quiet till he was ready to attack them. And then
nine weeks ago today, without a vestige of provocation, he

(08:16):
heard millions of soldiers with all their apparatus up from
the neighbor he had called his friend, with the avowed
object of destroying Russia and caring her impet This frightful
business is now unfolding day by day before our eyes.

(08:41):
Here is a devil going a mere spatterm of his
pride and lust. Predomination can condemned two or three millions,
perhaps it may be many more of human beings that
speedy and violent death. Left Russia be blotted out, let
Russia be destroyed, or as the armies to advance. Such

(09:05):
were his decrees. Accordingly, from the Arctic Ocean to the
Black Sea, six or seven millions of soldiers are locked
in mortal struggle. Ah that this time it was not
so easy. This time it was not all one way.

(09:27):
The Russian armies and all the peoples of the Russian
Republic have rallied to the defense of their hearts and homes.
For the first time, Nazi blood had throwed in a
fearful flood. Certainly a million and a half, perhaps two
millions of Nati cannon fodder had bit the dust of

(09:50):
the endless flames of Russia. The tremendous battle rages along
nearly two thousand miles of front The Russian fight with
magnificent devotions. Not only that are generals who have visited
the Russian front line report with admiration the efficiency of

(10:11):
their military organization and the excellence of their equipment. The
advertise surprised Stottle staggered for the first time in his experience.
Matt's murder has become unprofitable. He retaliates by the most
frightful creative As his armies advanced. Old districts are being exterminated.

(10:37):
Score two thousand, literally scored two thousands of executions in
cold blood are being perpetrated by the German police groups
upon the Russian patriots who defend their native soil. The
Mongol invasions of Europe in the sixteenth century. There has

(10:58):
never been merciless butcherist on such a scale, or approaching
such a scale. And this is but the beginning. Famine
and pestilence have yet to follow in the bloody rots
of Victor's tanks. We are in the presence of a

(11:20):
crime without a name. But Europe is not the only
agent to be tormented and devastated by aggression. For five
long years, the Japanese military factions, seeking to emulate the
style of Hitler and Mussolini, taking all their posturing as

(11:44):
if it were a new Europeian revelation, have been invading
and harrying the five hundred million inhabitants of China. Japanese
armies have been wandering about that vast land in futile dispersions,
carrying with them carnage, ruin, and corruption, and calling it

(12:06):
the Chinese Incident. Now they stretch a grasping hands into
the southern seas of China. They snatch into China from
the wrecked VC French. They menaced by their movements Siam,
menace Singapore, the British link with austill Asia, and menace

(12:31):
the Philippine Islands. Under the protection of the United States
it is certain that this has got to stop. Every
effort will be made to secure a peaceful settlement. The
United States are laboring with infinite patients to arrive at

(12:51):
a fair and amicable settlement which will give Japan the
utmost reassurance for her legitimate interest. We earnestly hope these
negotiations will succeed. But this I must say that if
these hopes should fail, we shall of course range ourselves

(13:17):
unhesitatingly at the side of the United States. And as
we come back to the quiet day somewhere in the
Atlantic we are misty sunshine play it on great ships
which carry the white ensigns or the stars and stripes.

(13:42):
We had the idea when we met there, the President
and I, that without attempting to draw final and formal
peace aims or war aims, it was necessary to give
all people, and it's yes, may the oppressed and conquered
people as simple, rough and ready wartime statement of the

(14:08):
goal towards which the British Commonwealth and the United States
mean to make their way, and thus make a way
for others to march with them upon a road which
will certainly be painful and may belong. There are However,

(14:30):
two distinct and marked differences in this joint declaration from
the attitude adopted by the Alliance during the latter part
of the last War, and no one should overlook it.
The United States and Great Britain do not now assume

(14:50):
that there will never be any more war again on
the country. We intend to take ample precautions to prevent
it through an ruel in any period we can foresee,
by effectively disarming the guilty nations while remaining suitably protected ourselves.

(15:13):
The second difference is this that instead of trying to
ruin German trade by all kinds of additional trade barriers
and hindrances, as once the mood of nineteen one hundred
and seventeen, we have definitely adopted the view that it

(15:33):
is not in the interests of the world and of
our two countries that any large nation should be unprosperous
or shut out from the means of making a decent
living for itself and its people by its industry and enterprise.
These are far reaching changes of principle upon which all

(15:57):
countries should ponder. Above all, it was necessary to give
hope and the assurance of final victory to those many
scores of millions of men and women who are battling
for life and freedom, or who are already bent down

(16:20):
under the Nazi yoke. Hitler and his confederates have for
some time past been adjuring, bullying, and beseeching the populations
whom they have wronged and injured, to bow to their faith,
to resign themselves to their servitude, and to the fake

(16:43):
of some mitigations and indulgency to collaborate. That is the
word in what is called the new order in Europe.
What is this new order which they seek to fasten
first of Europe, and if possible, for their ambitions are

(17:04):
boundless upon all the continents of the globe. It is
the rule of the herring folk, the master race, who
are to put an end to democracy, to parliament, to
the fundamental freedom and decencies of ordinary men and women,
to the historic rights of nations, and give them in

(17:28):
exchange the iron rule of Prasca, the universal boostep and
that strict, efficient discipline enforced upon the working classes by
the political police, with the German concentration camp and firing
parties now so busy in a dozen lands, always handed

(17:52):
in the background, there is the new order. Napoleon in
his glory and ingenius, spreading empire far and wide. There
was a time when only the slows of Russia and
the white gifts of Doba, with their guardian fleets, stood

(18:13):
between him and the dominion of the world. Napoleon's army,
it had a theme they carried with them, the surgeon
of the French Revolution. Liberty, equality and fraternity. That was
the crime. There was a sweeping away about warm medieval
systems and aristocratic privilege. There was the land for the people,

(18:38):
a new code of law. Nevertheless, Napoleon's empire vanished like
a dream. But Hitler. Hitler had no theme, naught but mania,
appetite and exploitation. He has, however, weapons and machinery for

(19:00):
grinding down and for holding down conquered countries, which are
the products the sadly perverted product of modern science. Your girls. Therefore,
the conquered peoples will be hard. We must give them hope.
We must give them the conviction that their sufferings and

(19:23):
their resistances will not be in vain. The tunnel may
be dark and long, but at the end there is life.
That is the symbolism, and that is the message of
the Atlantic Meeting. Do not despair, Brave Norwegians, Your land

(19:44):
shall be cleansed not only from the invader, but from
the fifty quislings who are in tools. Be sure of yourselves, Chips.
Your independence shall be restored wholes. The heroism of your
people standing up the curl oppressors, the courage of your soldiers,

(20:06):
sailors and airmen, shall not be forgotten. Your country shall
live again and resume its rightful part in the new
organization of Europe. Lift up your heads, gallant Frenchmen. Not
all the infamies of Dalla and of love all shall

(20:27):
stand between you and the restoration of your birthright. Stout
hearted Dutch Belgians, Luxembourgers, tormented, mishandled, shamefully castaway people of
Hugo Stavia, glorious griefs now subjected to the crowning insult

(20:49):
of the rule of the Italian jack and Ape, yield
not an inch. Keep your souls clean from all contact
with the Nazi. Make them feel, even in their seeking
our brutish triumph, that they are the moral outcasts of mankind.

(21:10):
Health is coming, mighty forces are arming in your behalf.
Have faith, have hope. Deliverance is sure. There is the
signal which we have patched across the water, and if
it reaches the hearts of those to whom it is sent,
they will endure with fortitude and tenacity their present misfortune,

(21:35):
in the sure faith that they too are still serving
the common cause, and that their efforts will not be
in vain. You will perhaps have noticed that the presidents
of the United States and the British Representative, in what

(21:58):
it act be called the Atlantic Charter, have jointly redged
their countries to the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny.
That is a solemn and grave understaking. It must be
made good. It will be made good. And of course

(22:19):
many practical arrangements to fulfill that purpose have been and
are being organized and set in motion. The question had
been asked, how near is the United States to war?
There is certainly one man who knows the answer to

(22:40):
that question. If Hitler has not yet declared war upon
the United States, it is surely not out of his
love for American institutions. It is certainly not because he
could not find a pretext. He has murdered half a

(23:01):
dozen countries for far less fear, fear of immediately redoubling
the tremendous energies now being employed against him, if no
doubt of restraining influence. But the world reason is I
am sure to be found in the method to which

(23:21):
he has so faithfully adhered and by which he has
gained so much. What is that method? It is a
very simple method, one by one. That is his plan,
that is his guiding rule, That is the trick by
which he has enslaved so large a portion of the

(23:43):
world three and a half years ago. I appeal to
my fellow countrymen to take the lead, be weaving together
a strong defensive union within the principles of the League
of Nations, a union of all the countries who felt

(24:05):
themselves in ever growing danger. But none would listen. All
stood idle. While Germany rearmed, Czechoslovakia were subjugated, a French
government deserted their faithful ally and broke a fighting word
in that ally hour of need. Russia was cajoled and

(24:28):
deceived into a kind of neutrality or partnership while the
French army was being annihilated. The Low countries and the
Scandinavian countries, acting with France and Great Britain in good time,
even after the war had begun might have altered its course,

(24:48):
and would have had at any rate a fighting chance.
The Balkan states had only to stand together to save
themselves and the ruin by which they are now in gealous.
But one by one they were undermined and overwhelmed. Never
was the career of crime made more smooth. Now Hitler

(25:14):
is striking at Russia with all his might, well knowing
the difficulties of geography which stand between Russia and the
aid which the Western democracy are trying to bring. We
shall strive our utmost to overcome all difficulties and to
bring it aid. We have arranged for a conference in

(25:38):
Moscow between the United States, British and Russian authorities to
settle the whole plan. Nobody I must stand in the way.
But why is Hitler striking at Russia and inflicting and
suffering himself, or rather making its soldiers suffer this frightful slot.

(26:03):
It is with the declared object of turning his whole
force upon the British islands. And if he could succeed
in beating the life and strength out of us it
is not so hes then is the moment when he
will settle it account? Yeah, this is already a long

(26:24):
one with the people of the United States, and generally
with the Western hemisphere. One by one. There is the process.
There is that simple, dismal plan which can serve Hitler
so well. It needs but one final successful application to

(26:48):
make him the master of the world. I am devoutly
thankful that some eyes at least are fully open street
time remains. I rejoiced to find that the President saw
in that true light and proportion by which the American people,

(27:12):
as well as the British people, is set. It was indeed,
by the mercy of God that he began eight years ago,
that revival of the strength of the American Navy, without
which the new world today would have to take its
orders from the European dictators, but with which the United

(27:34):
States still retains the power the marshal her gigantic strength,
and in saving herself, render an incomparable service demand crime.
We had a church parade on the Sunday in our

(27:55):
Atlantic Bay. The President came on to the quarter deck
of the Prince of Wales, where there were mingled together
many hundreds of Americans and British sailors and marines. The
sun shone bright and warm, while we all sang the

(28:17):
old hymns, which are our common inheritance, and which we
learned as children in our homes. We sang the hymn
Bounded on the Farm, which John Hamden's soldiers sang when
they bore his body to the grave, and in which

(28:37):
the brief precariant span of human life it's contrasted with
the inmutability of him, to whom a thousand ages are
but as yesterday, and as a watch that he's passed
in the night. We sang the sailors him for the

(29:00):
d in peril, and there are very many in peril
on the sea. We sang onward Christian soldiers. And indeed
I felt that this was no vain presumption, but that
we had the right to feel that we were serving

(29:23):
a cause for the sake of which a trumpet had
sounded from on high. When I looked upon that densely
packed congregation of fighting men, of the same language, of
the same faith, of the same fundamental laws, of the
same ideals, and now to a large extent, of the

(29:47):
same interests, and certainly in different degrees, facing the same dangers,
it swept across me that here wasn't the only hope,
but also the sure hope of saving the world from
measureless degradation. And so we came back across the ocean waves,

(30:13):
uplifted in spirit, fortified in resolve. Some American destroyers, which
were carrying males to the United States Marines in Iceland,
happened to be going the same way too. So we

(30:35):
made a goodly company at sea together. And when we
were right out in mid passage one afternoon, a noble
sight broke on the view that took one of the convoys,
which carried the munitions and supplies of the New World
to sustain the champions of freedom in the old But

(30:58):
all horizons old broad riting seemed filled with ships, seventy
or eighty ships of all kinds anxieties, arrayed in fourteen lines,
each of which could have been drawn with a ruler,
hardly a whisper of smoke, not a straggler, but all

(31:24):
bristling with cannon and other precautions on which I will
not dwell, and all surrounded by their British escorting vessels,
while overhead the far ranging Catalina airboats sword vigilant protecting
eagles in the sky. And then I felt that hard

(31:50):
and terrible, and long drawn out as this struggle may be,
we shall not be denied the strange to do our
duty to the end.