Video: 'Churchill And Roosevelt Christmas Speech (1941)'

(Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 24, 1941, 5:02 p.m EST; during the Arcadia Conference and World War II) — Speaking from the high south portico of the White House, in the twinkling lights of the community Christmas tree on the lawn below them, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill this evening called on the people of their two nations to rededicate themselves in a righteous cause and to “arm their hearts’ for labor, suffering and for the ultimate victory ahead.

Thousands of men and women, banked on the south lawn in the clear, mild twilight, heard the two leaders speak, while the radio carried their voices throughout the world, with the hymns and carols of the traditional Christmas ceremony.