‘Lend Me Your Ears’ Not Fears

Prime Minister Winston Churchill shakes hands with President F. D. Roosevelt after conferring aboard USS Augusta (CA-31), off Newfoundland, Aug. 9, 1941.

By Bill Doughty––

Last February in an interview with journalist Bob Woodward, author of “Rage,” President Donald Trump said he knew the COVID-19 virus was a serious threat, but “I wanted to always play it down; I still like playing it down.” To justify minimizing the COVID-19 pandemic threat to the public, Trump claimed that Churchill and FDR also downplayed threats so as not to panic their citizens.

Trump’s claims led me to read what Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt actually said. Their greatest speeches are found in William Safire’s “Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History” (W.W. Norton; 1992).

Safire showcases Churchill’s address to Parliament of May 13, 1940. Hitler and Nazism presented an existential threat to the people of Great Britain. Churchill warned of “a monstrous tyranny never supposed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime.”

Safire reflects on Churchill’s truth-telling “to pound home the period of stress and sacrifice ahead.” Churchill said: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.”

Heroic evacuation from Dunkirk at the end of May and first week of June, 1940.

Churchill called for “united strength.” That is exactly what he got later that month with the heroic evacuation of 340,000 British soldiers from Dunkirk retreating across the English Channel, thanks to hundreds of military and civilian ships and boats.

Safire shows how Churchill spoke the truth about the retreat; Churchill called it a “colossal military disaster.” But Safire notes how the venerated leader balanced truth-telling “with an expression of confidence that the New World –– that is, the United States –– supported by surviving British seapower, would ‘step forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.’”

Churchill did not play the threat down. He inspired citizens to steel themselves and “never surrender.”

Sir Winston Churchill visits USS Randolph (CVA-15) Oct. 26, 1958. (NHHC) 

Using strong imagery such as a Nazi “invasion,” “originality of malice,” “aggression,” “malignancy,” and “brutal and treacherous maneuver,” Churchill gave what may be the most inspiring speech in Western history:

“We shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our island home, ride out the storms of war, outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary, for years, if necessary, alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. that is the resolve of His Majesty's Government, every man of them. that is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and their need, will defend to the death their native soils, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength, even though a large tract of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule. We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the 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, will carry on the struggle…”

By contrast, Trump told Americans COVID was a “hoax,” that it would “disappear,” and "This is a flu; this is like a flu,” even after telling Bob Woodward he knew it was different and “deadly.” At the same time, Trump spreads panic about a “rigged election,” attacks on “suburban housewives,” a free press as "enemies of the people," and god-hating, gun-confiscating Democrats, among other falsehoods.

Safire’s nearly 1,200 page collection includes Churchill’s warning of an autocratic “iron curtain” descending on Europe. Churchill told the truth to the public, both British and American, about Cold War threats of “war and tyranny” and “poverty and privation.”

At President Truman’s invitation, Churchill gave a memorable speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946, calling for “sinews of peace” and power of a free democracy. His call for “free unfettered elections” rings loud and clear in 2020.

“All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom.”

Prior to the Cold War and WWII, the United States and the rest of the world faced another existential threat: the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Americans the truth in his first inaugural address, calling himself, in effect, a wartime president: “I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems,” FDR said.

Roosevelt told the truth about telling the truth:

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.”

In that fearless (and fear-less) speech nearly 87 years ago Roosevelt acknowledged the causes of the depression, including unbridled greed of “self-seekers.” He asked Americans to embrace American values of selflessness over selfishness.

“Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men. Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.”

According to Safire, FDR’s “general promise to do something –– to stop the drift and reverse direction –– coupled with the steel in the speech of the imposition of ‘discipline’ into the chaos, and the vigor of the voice heard on radio, had an electric effect on popular opinion. The bold tone and buoyant delivery encouraged people parched for hope.”

It is clear both Churchill and FDR were not afraid of panicking their populace. They placed the health and safety of people above elections, immediate profits, and stock markets. They were great unifying leaders in a time of need who spoke honestly and with integrity. They did not downplay threats. They offered hope in the face of fear.

(President George W. Bush honors William Safire with the 2006 President Medal of Freedom Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, at the White House. Bush said the former White House speech writer and newspaperman is "a voice of independence and principle, and American journalism is better for the contributions of William Safire." White House photo by Shealah Craighead)