Churchills Speeches During World War II - Essay Example

• Churchill’s Speeches During World War II

A soldier, writer, artist, and statesman— all rolled into one, Sir Winston Churchill is undoubtedly one of the greatest leaders of Britain for all time to come. His exploits during World War II have won him honors unknown to a political leader from that period in history. As a man with impressive oratorical skills, Churchill’s speeches during World War II gave hope to and restored the resilience of a beleaguered English people. This paper shall mainly touch upon the following topics:

1.Churchill’s speeches during World War II

2.His use of radio as an effective tool to disseminate his message

3.His use of language, rhetoric, and verbal engagement

4.The role of propaganda directly related to Churchill.

Historian Arnold Toynbee was of the firm belief that Churchill’s wartime speeches were indispensable to the Allied victory in World War II. During the darkest days of the war, Churchill's expertly crafted, and brilliantly delivered words gave courage and succor to the English people cramped by the horrors of war. Such was the impact of his speeches that when the U. S. Congress, in 1963, voted in favor of conferring honorary American citizenship on Churchill, President Kennedy remarked, "He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." However, this observation is quite paradoxical for this man hailed as the greatest speaker of modern times. He frankly admitted, "for many years, I was unable to say anything…I had not written out and committed to memory beforehand". Churchill suffered from a slight lisp and a voice that was not that of a classic orator-- rather high-pitched and weak in tone, he was not able to blast speeches at audiences. His inability to speak impromptu was a more serious problem so much so that his maiden speech took six weeks to prepare and was completely memorizeds. However, after a horrific incident in 1904 where he forgot his speech entirely, he was never able to speak in public again without copious notes.

But one must remember the Churchill who was primarily a writer. In spite of his careers as a soldier and a politician, it was as a writer that Churchill made his name and earned his living. One need only throw a glance at an average Churchill speech to see the rich literary content.

The 1930s produced some of the finest and proverbial examples of his rhetoric, yet due to the prevalence of his quotations during the Second World War they often lie forgotten:

"So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent…They will say to me, 'A Minister of Supply is not necessary, for all is going well.' I deny it. 'The position is satisfactory.' It is not true. 'All is proceeding according to plan.' We know what that means".

One of the reasons why Churchill’s rhetoric worked so well in 1940s was the fact that it has been written well in advance of speaking, with some phrases that had been used before, polished and reproduced in time for the great trial. For instance, Martin Gilbert quotes a line from the launch of a ship in 1935--