1942 USA / DEFENCE: World War II: Winston Churchill speech to US Senate

Date: 8th January 1942

Location: WASHINGTON D.C, U.S.A.

Source: Reuters Historical News Collection: BRITISH PARAMOUNT NEWSREEL (REUTERS)

Churchill speech SOT

"The onslaught upon us, so long and so secretly planned by Japan, has presented both our countries with grievous problems, for which we could not be fully prepared.

"If people ask me - as they have the right to ask me in England - why is it that you have not got ample equipment of modern aircraft and weapons of all kinds in Malaya and in the East Indies, I can only point to the victory which General Auchinleck has gained in the Libyan campaign.

"...The United States has been found at a disadvantage at various points in the Pacific Ocean, we know well, that is to no small extent because of the aid which you have been giving to us in munitions for the defence of the British Isles and for the Libyan campaign, and above all because of your help in the battle of the Atlantic, upon which all depends and which has, in consequence, been successfully and prosperously maintained.

"Of course, it would have been much better, I freely admit, if we had enough resources of all kinds to be at full strength at all threatened points, but considering how slowly and reluctantly we brought ourselves to large-scale preparations and how long these preparations take, we had no right to expect to be in such a fortunate position.

"The choice of how to dispose of our hitherto limited resources had to be made by Britain in time of war and by the United States in time of peace, and I believe that history will pronounce that upon the whole - and it is upon the whole, that these matters must be judged - that the choice made was right.

"Now that we are together, now that we are linked in a righteous comradeship of arms, now that our two considerable nations, each in perfect unity, have joined all their life energies in a common resolve, a new scene opens upon which a steady light will glow and brighten.

I will turn for one moment more from the turmoil and convulsions of the present to the broader statis of the future, here we are together facing a group of mighty foes who seek our ruin, here we are together defending all that to free men is dear

- It has been proved that pestilences may break out in the Old World, which carry their destructive ravages into a New World, from which once they are afoot, the New World cannot escape.

"Duty and prudence alike commands first that the germ centres of hatred and revenge should be constantly and vigilantly purged and treated in good time and that an adequate organization should be set up to make sure that the pestilence can be controlled at its earliest beginnings before it spreads and rages throughout the entire earth. (Cheers.)

United States of America, Personalities - Politicians, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)

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