On this day, 4 June 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his most famous speech. In popular mythology, his exhortation to “fight them on the beaches” on the radio energised and enthused the British people to fight Nazism. But the reality of the speech was very different.
Firstly, the speech was never broadcast, it was made without being recorded in Parliament. Despite many people after the war claiming to have heard Churchill deliver the speech, only extracts of it were read publicly by newsreaders.
Secondly, rather than inspire the population, according to the Ministry of Information in a subsequent report on domestic morale, the speech “may have contributed in some measure to the rather pessimistic atmosphere of today… The contents of the speech were on the whole expected but some apprehension has been caused throughout the country on account of the PM’s reference to ‘fighting alone’.”
Finally, in its present day retelling the most important part of the speech, which Churchill added following a request from US Pres Roosevelt, is usually omitted, which was: “even 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”.
Government reports also showed that response to Churchill’s now-lionised “finest hour” speech was also decidedly mixed, with many listeners believing he sounded “drunk” or “tired”. Churchill historian Prof Richard Toye told The Telegraph newspaper: “Many people thought that he was drunk during his famous 'finest hour’ broadcast and there is little evidence that they made a decisive difference to the British people’s will to fight.”
More myth-busting about Churchill here: https://libcom.org/blog/the-peccadillos-winston-churchill-12082008 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1442384139280065/?type=3