Video: 'Sir Winston Churchill's Fighting Speech To U.S. Congress (1943) | British Pathé'
(Wednesday, May 19, 1943, 12:32 p.m. EWT; during the Third Washington Conference, codenamed Trident, during World War II)— On his second wartime visit to the U.S. Capitol, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill today gave a cheering, applauding joint session of Congress a generalized preview of plans for American-British aerial attacks that will lay the great cities and munitions centers of Japan in ashes, and other British-American military moves designed to “take more of the weight off Russia in 1943.”
Churchill warned American lawmakers today that the real danger facing the Allies was “dragging out of the war at enormous expense.” They risked, he said, becoming “tired or bored or split,” which would play into the hands of the German and Japanese enemy.
It was Churchill’s first public appearance since he arrived in Washington for the Trident conference with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which began on May 12 and continued through May 25, 1943.
The conference included discussions on the plans for the Allied invasion of Sicily, the extent of military force, the date for invading Normandy, and the progress of the Pacific War.
Video: 'Sir Winston Churchill's Fighting Speech To U.S. Congress (1943) | British Pathé'
“It is the duty of those who are charged with the direction of the war,” Churchill said, “to overcome at the earliest moment the military, geographical, and political difficulties and begin the process so necessary and desirable of laying the cities and other munitions centers of Japan in ashes; for in ashes, they must surely lie before peace comes back to the world.”
“Let no one suggest,” Churchill continued, “that we British have not at least as great an interest as the United States in the unflinching and relentless waging of war against Japan. But I am here to tell you that we will wage that war side by side with you, in accordance with the best strategic employment of our forces while there is breath in our bodies and while blood flows in our veins.
“The African war is over,” he said. “[Benito] Mussolini’s African empire and Cpl. Hitler’s strategy are alike exploded. One continent at least has been cleansed and purged forever from fascist and Nazi tyranny.”
The assembled lawmakers greeted Churchill’s speech with tumultuous applause and a standing ovation.
