'United we stand. Divided we fall'

16th June 1941: Millions hear Churchill spell out the dangers facing the free world as he broadcasts directly to America

United we stand. Divided we fall. Divided, the dark ages return. United, we can save and guide the world.

Mr and Mrs Churchill during his tour of the north of Britain in January 1941. “With them is, left - Mr Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's special envoy to this country,” Hopkins reported directly to the President on Britain’s capability to continue the war.

In February, Churchill had declared, “Give us the tools to do the job”. In June 1941, Britain still stood alone. Now, even more of Europe was occupied and enslaved by the Nazi regime after the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece. Although Britain was receiving substantial material support from America, the USA remained neutral. Churchill knew only too well that he needed much more than this level of support if he was to win the war. But this was about much more than Britain … this was about “the destiny of mankind”.

Many images of American aid were taken for a US audience. A nurse feeds a spoonful of boiled egg to a baby in a hospital bed, somewhere in Britain. The egg and the cup of (re-hydrated dried) milk, which can be seen on the bed, have come to Britain from America under the Lend-Lease agreement.

… our hands are joined across the oceans, and that our pulses throb and beat as one.

In a radio broadcast to the United States on the 16th June, Churchill took the opportunity to make a direct appeal to the American public. He had just been awarded an honorary degree by Rochester University¹.

Aid had prevented real hunger developing in Britain and there was no corner of British industry that did not benefit. Cotton workers eat their midday lunch of American cheese amongst the bales of cotton in their Lancashire factory. According to the original caption, American cotton is used in this mill, and the marks of origin can be seen on the bales.

The audience was given the full treatment of Churchillian rhetoric: