An Ocean Apart; No. 103; Here Come the British, Bang Bang

<v Announcer>An Ocean Apart is made possible in part by British Airways serving North America <v Announcer>in traditional British style. <v Announcer>Hanson, a company which has provided basic goods and services since 1964 <v Announcer>and attained increased profits, dividends and earnings per share every year. <v Announcer>Hanson. Here today. <v Announcer>Here tomorrow. <v Announcer>And by this and other public television stations. <v Narrator>In 1927, the United States drew up plans for a possible naval <v Narrator>war against Britain. <v Narrator>Negotiations for restricting the size of their rival fleets had just broken down. <v Narrator>If war were declared, the American navy would steam across the Atlantic to blockade <v Narrator>Britain, cutting her off from her trade with her empire and leaving America <v Narrator>not Britain, in command of the seas.

<v Narrator>Winston Churchill, then Britain's chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote, No <v Narrator>doubt it is quite right to go on talking about war with the United States <v Narrator>being unthinkable. But everyone knows this is not true. <v Narrator>However foolish and disastrous such a war would be, we cannot <v Narrator>and must not put ourselves in the power of the United States. <v Narrator>And yet only 13 years later in this English country house where he <v Narrator>came on moonlit nights to escape Hitler's bombers, that same Winston <v Narrator>Churchill, now prime minister of Great Britain, was writing to the American president, <v Narrator>urging him to come to the rescue of Britain to save her from defeat by Germany. <v Narrator>It was 1940, Britain's darkest hour, and Churchill knew that most <v Narrator>Americans didn't believe that their country should join in the war, that many didn't even <v Narrator>think Britain should be given any help.

<v Narrator>This is the story of a different Battle of Britain, not the one fought out over the skies <v Narrator>of London, but a battle of words fought to persuade the American people <v Narrator>that Britain's war with Germany was their war. <v Narrator>And it's the story of how Britain did find herself in America's power <v Narrator>because the only alternative was defeat <v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>Hello, America. <v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>Hello all my friends in America.

<v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>Hello, all you dear fools. <v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>You and poor old England got into the bankruptcy court. <v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>Our businessmen cannot find employment for 3 million of our <v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>workers and yours have had to turn away twice as many into the street. <v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>We have prided ourselves on our mastery and big business. <v George Bernard Shaw in Broadcast>And now we are bankrupt. <v Music>[Unnamed folk song]. <v Narrator>The miseries of the Depression did not unite Britain and America <v Narrator>each went its own way. <v Narrator>Many Americans blame their high unemployment on the after effects of World War One <v Narrator>and held Britain partly responsible for their involvement in it.

<v Eric Sevareid>I was in school, of course, in the middle of the Great Depression at the University of <v Eric Sevareid>Minnesota, Mississippi Valley, the heart of American isolation and <v Eric Sevareid>remoteness from Europe and its troubles. <v Eric Sevareid>And we not only had the distress of the depression and <v Eric Sevareid>the thought, we're never going to get a job when we got out, but we <v Eric Sevareid>felt that World War One was part of the cause of this catastrophic <v Eric Sevareid>depression that just impoverished all of us. <v Eric Sevareid>We couldn't see that we had achieved anything much but going into World War One. <v Eric Sevareid>And we had the feeling we'd been taken in. <v Narrator>President Wilson had led America to war in 1917 to make the world <v Narrator>safe for democracy. Now, under President Roosevelt, democracy was <v Narrator>in the grip of economic crisis. <v Narrator>In Europe, the same crisis brought Hitler to power. <v Narrator>He planned to reclaim old German lands by force. <v Narrator>In America, popular speakers like Father Coughlin, who broadcast regularly on national

<v Narrator>radio, warned of another war to come and offered a sinister explanation <v Narrator>for America's involvement in the last. <v Father Coughlin>Whether you know it or not, the stage is being set for our entrance into another world <v Father Coughlin>war. <v Father Coughlin>Whether you know it or not, <v Father Coughlin>you're preparing once more to become the cash bonds ?inaudible?, the international bankers of the British <v Father Coughlin>Empire, which empire, unfortunately, is dominated by the privately <v Father Coughlin>owned and controlled banks of ?inaudible? <v Father Coughlin>How peacefully you sleep at night. <v Father Coughlin>We Americans elected Woodrow Wilson on the pledge that he would keep us out of war, but 2 <v Father Coughlin>months following his reelection, ?inaudible? <v Father Coughlin>fine sport ?inaudible? or the fields of France. <v Father Coughlin>We are being trapped. I raise my voice to keep America from the war. <v Narrator>In 1935, Coughlin's allegations seem to be confirmed by a Senate investigation <v Narrator>of the cause of America's entry into World War One.

<v Narrator>Under the chairmanship of Senator Nye, the Great Wall Street banker J.P. <v Narrator>Morgan was summoned to give evidence. <v Narrator>In 1916, Morgan had come to the rescue of the British government. <v Narrator>As their agent in America, he had raised massive loans to buy them armaments. <v Narrator>Nye believe that to increase his profits, Morgan had encouraged President Wilson <v Narrator>to go to war. After a long and hostile cross-examination, he was satisfied <v Narrator>his case against Morgan was proved and went before the newsreel cameras. <v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>Hearings before the Senate Munitions Investigating Committee, with Mr. <v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>Morgan and other bankers as witnesses has very clearly revealed <v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>the interests of bankers and manufacturers of munitions of war. <v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>In stretching whatever may be our policies of neutrality here in the <v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>United States, it is utter folly, supreme folly <v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>to think that we can entertain a neutrality policy, make it a successful <v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>one, while at the same time enjoying the profit that may

<v Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)>flow from wars being engaged in by other nations. <v Narrator>The only surviving member of those hearings is Alger Hiss, later found guilty <v Narrator>of perjury in a contentious spying case. <v Narrator>Hiss was an assistant to the Nye Committee. <v Alger Hiss>Senators Nye and Penn what I considered a simplistic view, that the way to stay <v Alger Hiss>out of war was for America to isolate itself, contact <v Alger Hiss>with the rest of the world. This is an old American tradition. <v Alger Hiss>Goes back to George Washington's farewell address, avoid the entanglements <v Alger Hiss>in Europe. <v Alger Hiss>Progressively, the emphasis came to be on <v Alger Hiss>how to make America secure from the enticements, <v Alger Hiss>the entanglements of connections with Europe. <v Narrator>To guarantee America's isolation in a future war, the neutrality acts <v Narrator>were passed. No belligerents would be allowed to buy armaments or raise loans <v Narrator>in the United States. If Britain were to fight another war in Europe, it would be without

<v Narrator>America. <v Narrator>In Britain, 1935 was the year of King George V's silver jubilee <v Narrator>and the greatest empire the world had ever seen paid its homage to him. <v Narrator>Amid all this pomp, decisions being taken across the Atlantic to keep America <v Narrator>out of future wars seemed unimportant. <v Narrator>But some of those in power suspected this show of strength was not all it <v Narrator>seemed. They saw a Britain exhausted by World War <v Narrator>One. Robert Vansittart, senior official in the British Foreign Office, wrote: <v Narrator>We only just scraped through the last war with Germany with every assistance we could get <v Narrator>from the USA. The deduction is now playing. <v Narrator>In any crisis of life and death, this neutrality act might well <v Narrator>mean our death. <v Radio clip>Important changes in the German cabinet are announced by Hitler himself

<v Radio clip>will henceforth take supreme command of the armed-. <v Radio clip 2>Signor Mussolini has sent a telegram of congratulations to Herr Hitler, expressing great <v Radio clip 2>satisfaction at his assuming effective command of-. <v Radio clip 3>Assuming the affected Events of major importance happened <v Radio clip 3>in Europe today. German troops made a formal entry into the demilitarized <v Radio clip 3>zone, Berlin states that they're the last shackle of the treaty of Versailles. <v Radio clip 4>In the German memorandum to Czechoslovakia, there are 6 main points. <v Radio clip 4>First, certain <v Radio clip 4>territories in Czechoslovakia are to be ceded . . . the Czech government <v Radio clip 4>must discharge at once or subject to Germany's ?inaudible? anti-aircraft units- <v Narrator>Hitler's determination to create a Third Reich embracing all German peoples <v Narrator>drove Europe into crisis while in the Far East Japan's attacks on China <v Narrator>threatened the outpost of the British Empire. <v Narrator>Neville Chamberlain knew that to resist these threats would lead to war, a war

<v Narrator>Britain would lose without America's support. <v Narrator>Since there was no hope of that, he chose the path of appeasement. <v Narrator>In September 1938, he flew to Munich to meet Hitler, who was now claiming <v Narrator>the right to annex the Sudeten part of Czechoslovakia. <v Narrator>At Munich, Chamberlain and Hitler signed a piece of paper. <v Narrator>It was agreed that Hitler could have the Sudetenland, but that this would be his last <v Narrator>demand. <v Neville Chamberlain>This morning I had another talk with the German chancellor, Heil <v Neville Chamberlain>Hitler. <v Neville Chamberlain>And here is the paper which bears his name <v Neville Chamberlain>upon it as well as mine. <v Lord Home>Coming back in the plane from Munich, Chamberlain said <v Lord Home>to us that he thought that he ought to give the maximum publicity <v Lord Home>to the piece of paper that Hitler had signed pledging that <v Lord Home>Germany and Britain would settle, settle their affairs by negotiation, not by force,

<v Lord Home>in future years. He thought if Hitler broke this at any time, that world <v Lord Home>opinion would react pretty strongly, and in particular, America. <v Lord Home>He had it in mind, the importance of America's <v Lord Home>support if Hitler should come to break the promise <v Lord Home>and if war should provoke. <v Lord Home>He was beginning the process of wooing America, something that didn't completely come <v Lord Home>natural to him, to woo America. But he was beginning of the process. <v Narrator>In March 1939, Hitler broke his word and occupied the remainder <v Narrator>of Czechoslovakia. As Chamberlain hoped, Hitler's aggression was widely reported <v Narrator>in America. But the reaction was not what he'd anticipated. <v Henry Hirsch>We always like to look out through our port halls here <v Henry Hirsch>and listen to the reaction of the public and <v Henry Hirsch>with the newsreel when there were pictures of Europe shown they just <v Henry Hirsch>about sat on their hands, as we Americans call it

<v Henry Hirsch>here. We were not interested. <v Henry Hirsch>He was a funny man with a half a mustache and a <v Henry Hirsch>fancy uniform. <v Henry Hirsch>He was looked upon as a big joke. <v Henry Hirsch>We were not involved. <v Pedestrian in newsreel>Another war? Not for me, America should keep out. <v Pedestrian in newsreel>And I know I will. <v Man in a yard in newsreel>If war breaks out in Europe, I think that this country should heed the advice of its <v Man in a yard in newsreel>first president and avoid all foreign entanglements. <v Housewife in newsreel>I haven't the slightest idea of European affairs. <v Man in newsreel>Let Europe fight their own battles, they mean nothing to us. <v Narrator>In June 1939, Britain tried to woo American opinion. <v Narrator>As Europe prepared for war, King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth arrived in <v Narrator>Washington to be greeted by President Roosevelt.

<v Narrator>The first state visit to America by a British monarch captivated the republic. <v Announcer on newsreel>Extending a whole hearted salutation. <v Announcer on newsreel>So glad to see you. Delighted to be here. <v Announcer on newsreel>No stiffly starched diplomatic chill. <v Announcer on newsreel>American President and British sovereign-. <v Narrator>The formalities were also recorded on this home movie shot by the president's secretary <v Narrator>to the Treasury. <v Lord Caccia>The effects of the royal visit was a surge of pro British <v Lord Caccia>feeling throughout the United States. <v Lord Caccia>That is to say, sympathy with the ties <v Lord Caccia>which have bound us together for <v Lord Caccia>a long time. <v Man in newsreel>Now, this welcoming pageant in the United States signifies a promise of closer friendship <v Man in newsreel>between Great Britain and the United States. <v Man in newsreel>Washington receives the British sovereigns with a popular ovation. <v Man in newsreel>American cheers for a king. <v Lord Caccia>Of course, it would be the mistake to think that sympathy would necessarily mean

<v Lord Caccia>involvement if war were to break out. <v Lord Caccia>And the feeling in the United States of wishing to distance <v Lord Caccia>themselves from threatening events in Europe was very strong at that stage. <v Lord Caccia>And no president, I don't think had overidden it. <v Narrator>Roosevelt's sympathy for Britain was more than sentiment. <v Narrator>He believed that if Britain successfully resisted Hitler, America would be spared <v Narrator>the need to fight. It was therefore in America's interests to give what help she <v Narrator>could. <v Elliott Roosevelt>The king expressed his grave concern over <v Elliott Roosevelt>the approach of war in Europe. <v Elliott Roosevelt>Father agreed with him and was very, very much interested <v Elliott Roosevelt>in having the king understand that in any eventuality <v Elliott Roosevelt>that we would stand behind England, even if we weren't involved <v Elliott Roosevelt>in the war, in striving to give what assistance we could.

<v Narrator>The British government, seeing that war was inevitable, was now frantically rearming to <v Narrator>make up for lost time. <v Narrator>As in World War One, they turned to American industry for help. <v Narrator>Lockheed, then a struggling plane manufacturer near Los Angeles, was working <v Narrator>flat out to deliver bombers to Britain while the peace held. <v Narrator>Once war broke out, the Neutrality Act would halt any further supplies. <v Narrator>And despite the promises he'd made to the king, President Roosevelt would have to accept <v Narrator>the restrictions imposed by Congress. <v Narrator>The signs were that the American people would strongly support neutrality. <v Narrator>As a popular song of the time put it, wherever in history the British turned up, there <v Narrator>was trouble. <v Music>[Unnamed song, lyrics written down] Paul Revere took a ride, just to look around the <v Music>countryside. All at once, Paul got skittish, here come the British, bang bang. <v Music>Washington at Valley Forge tried to cross the river, look out George.

<v Music>All at once, they both got skittish, here come the British, bang, bang. <v Music>Just look around no matter where, you'll find that the British are there. Napoleon at <v Music>Waterloo right when Josephine ?inaudible? Josie, I have got to close it, close this <v Music>epistle, there goes the whistle, here come the British with a bang bang. <v Neville Chamberlain>This morning, the British ambassador in Berlin handed <v Neville Chamberlain>the German government a <v Neville Chamberlain>final note. Saying that unless we heard from them by 11:00 o'clock, that <v Neville Chamberlain>they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, <v Neville Chamberlain>a state of war would exist between us. <v Neville Chamberlain>I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received <v Neville Chamberlain>and that consequently this country is at war <v Neville Chamberlain>with Germany.

<v Narrator>Chamberlain's declaration triggered the American Neutrality Act. <v Narrator>The Lockheed factory and hundreds of others fell idle as the sale of armaments was <v Narrator>embargoed. But Roosevelt persuaded Congress to allow what was called <v Narrator>cash and carry. <v Narrator>It forced Lockheed and other companies to make curious new arrangements with their <v Narrator>customers. Britain could still buy planes, but only if they did not <v Narrator>leave American soil under their own power. <v Narrator>Lockheed instructed their pilots to head for a remote town on the Canadian border. <v Jimmy Matten>It was a hell of a run. Itwas in the wintertime. <v Jimmy Matten>The snow storms going up to Great Falls, Montana, <v Jimmy Matten>just absolutely blind most of the time and only can see straight down. <v Jimmy Matten>You've become quite a navigator when you've been a Bush pilot in Alaska. <v Jimmy Matten>You don't ask where the moose are. You go find them. <v Narrator>This is the American Canadian border. <v Narrator>That field is in America. That field is in Canada.

<v Narrator>The American pilots flew the planes into this field and left <v Narrator>them. A Canadian farmer brought a team of horses across the border, <v Narrator>hitched them onto the front of the planes, dragged them across the border into Canada, <v Narrator>where Canadian pilots went aboard and flew them off for delivery to Britain. <v Lillian Lapp>There's nothing very exciting there up here, and we went every day, <v Lillian Lapp>every time we got word that there was a plane coming, you <v Lillian Lapp>see. We wait, a plane would land and horses would hook on <v Lillian Lapp>and away they would go cross the line and of course then we had to go. <v Lillian Lapp>The excitement was over. <v Narrator>All winter long, the planes kept landing and taking off in these fields. <v Narrator>It was the oddest example of how things stood between Britain and America, with the <v Narrator>American government held back by the Neutrality Act but still trying to aid the British <v Narrator>war effort. For those who thought America should stay right out of the war and feared

<v Narrator>that if you began helping a country at war, you were inevitably dragged into the war <v Narrator>yourself, it was an ominous sign. <v Narrator>And so the stage was set for a battle between 2 conflicting views <v Narrator>of what America should do. <v Rep. Hamilton Fish (R)>At least 85 percent of the people did not want to go to the war. <v Rep. Hamilton Fish (R)>It's very natural. One of the biggest populations in America, the German, enormous <v Rep. Hamilton Fish (R)>population all, the Italians were against going to war, <v Rep. Hamilton Fish (R)>the erans who'd fought in World War One against going to war, the farmers <v Rep. Hamilton Fish (R)>were against going to war, and union labor was going against the war. <v Rep. Hamilton Fish (R)>Over 85 percent were steadily against going to war. <v Rep. Hamilton Fish (R)>They didn't even know where Danzig was. <v Newsreel>Remember the United States of 1940? <v Newsreel>The lights were bright. The New York World's Fair was in its second year. <v Newsreel>The Brooklyn Dodgers had a good team. <v Newsreel>There was a bumper crop in the wheat states.

<v Newsreel>There were a lot of automobiles. <v Narrator>On the 10th of May 1940, a spectacular fireworks display celebrated <v Narrator>the end of the New York World's Fair. <v Narrator>At the same moment, 3000 miles away, Hitler launched his blitzkrieg. <v Narrator>German troops stormed through Holland, Belgium and France, driving the British <v Narrator>army back towards the sea. <v Narrator>In London, Prime Minister Chamberlain, who had lost the confidence of parliament, <v Narrator>resigned. In his place came Winston Churchill, taking power as Britain <v Narrator>faced disaster. <v Newsreel>Out from the hell that is Dunkirk, back from the steel thrust of the German war machine <v Newsreel>comes the BEF. <v Newsreel>This is the most magnificent sight of a generation. <v Newsreel>This is the army under its magnificent leader. <v Newsreel>While these men live and breathe, Britain is safe. <v Newsreel>The enemy will never pass. <v Narrator>The day Dunkirk fell, Churchill made an impassioned speech in the House of Commons.

<v Narrator>Scorning Germany's success, he promised to lead a country that would fight on <v Narrator>to the last. On the beaches and on the landing grounds until, he said, <v Narrator>in God's good time a new world with all its power and its might <v Narrator>steps forth to the rescue of the old. <v Narrator>Churchill knew that the hope of American support, which he held out to the people of <v Narrator>Britain, might never be fulfilled. <v Narrator>He also knew that without it, Britain and her empire were doomed. <v Sir John Colville>Churchill realized right at the beginning that the entry of America was vital. <v Sir John Colville>And he started right away by establishing a telegraphic relationship <v Sir John Colville>with Roosevelt. We didn't, in fact, know, he'd only met him once at a dinner in London <v Sir John Colville>in 1918. Years after the war, Churchill said to me, no lover <v Sir John Colville>ever studied the whims of his mistress as I did those <v Sir John Colville>of President Roosevelt.

<v Narrator>On the 22nd of June, France surrendered. <v Narrator>Britain stood alone against Hitler. <v Narrator>Churchill cabled Roosevelt asking for the loan of 50 old American destroyers <v Narrator>last used in World War One. <v Narrator>Nothing is more important than to guard our coast against invasion, he wrote. <v Narrator>Not a day should be lost. <v Narrator>Roosevelt replied that though he would like to help, Congress would prevent it. <v Narrator>Churchill wrote again, We must ask as a matter of life or death to be reinforced <v Narrator>with these destroyers. But for 2 months, he heard nothing. <v Narrator>In desperation, Churchill tried once more, I must tell you that in the long history <v Narrator>of the world, this is the thing to do now. <v Narrator>Roosevelt again refused. <v Narrator>The American view was that Britain was on the verge of defeat, and there was no point in <v Narrator>letting American destroyers fall into German hands. <v Narrator>The American ambassador in London endorsed this gloomy view. <v Joseph Kennedy>If I am called an appeaser because I oppose the entrance of this country into

<v Joseph Kennedy>the present war, I cheerfully plead guilty. <v Joseph Kennedy>Almost every one of you will want to keep America out of this war. <v Narrator>In the late summer of 1940. There were signs of a change of heart. <v Narrator>American newspapers announced the formation of a pressure group to encourage Congress <v Narrator>to help Britain. The vice president of the White Committee was a famous Hollywood <v Narrator>film star. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>The White Committee's role was to support <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>anything which would help the allies and help Britain at that time. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>We had to persuade the president who was sympathetic but didn't want to get too far <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>ahead of the public. I remember being in the room once when he said that he <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>had to be like the captain in front of his troops. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>If he got too far ahead in expressing his own sympathies and opinion, <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>then he would lose the people behind. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>He could only be a little bit ahead and that it was our job to push public <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>opinion and he would always be a little bit ahead like that.

<v Narrator>But there was an equally powerful group of Americans who were completely opposed to <v Narrator>helping Britain. Their figurehead was an American folk hero, Charles Lindbergh. <v Narrator>In 1927, he'd been the first man to fly the Atlantic alone. <v Narrator>In the 30s, Lindbergh and his wife had left the United States after the kidnap and <v Narrator>murder of their baby son. They lived in Europe, where Lindbergh became an expert <v Narrator>on airpower. He toured German aircraft factories, was fated by the Nazis <v Narrator>and accepted a decoration from Field Marshal Gerring. <v Narrator>At the outbreak of war, Lindbergh came home to explain why America should keep out <v Narrator>of this one. In June 1940, a measure of his influence, his views <v Narrator>were carried live on all 3 main radio networks. <v Charles Lindbergh>These wars in Europe are not wars in which our civilization is defending itself <v Charles Lindbergh>against some Asiatic control. <v Charles Lindbergh>This is simply one more of those age-old struggles <v Charles Lindbergh>within our own family of nations.

<v Charles Lindbergh>If we enter fighting for democracy abroad, we may end by losing <v Charles Lindbergh>it at home. <v Joseph Alsop>The delay on the destroyers, it was caused by Lindbergh's appreciation <v Joseph Alsop>of the Battle of Britain. <v Joseph Alsop>He had told us that within 2 weeks after the Luftwaffe's off- <v Joseph Alsop>all out attack, the RAF would be driven to seek refuge <v Joseph Alsop>in Scottish and Irish bases, if it were not entirely destroyed. <v Joseph Alsop>And Roosevelt was quite smart enough to see that in that case, <v Joseph Alsop>there wasn't a great deal to be gained by transferring destroyers. <v Interviewer>Was Roosevelt at that stage then hoping still to keep America out of the war? <v Joseph Alsop>Certainly not. No, no, no. He was praying for the success, your success in the Battle of <v Joseph Alsop>Britain. But he wanted to see how it came out <v Joseph Alsop>before he took action. <v Narrator>This is the underground bunker where protected from the Luftwaffe's bombs the British <v Narrator>cabinet met during the war.

<v Narrator>It was clear by August 1940 to Churchill and his ministers here and much more important <v Narrator>across the Atlantic in Washington that Britain wasn't on the verge of collapse. <v Narrator>And Roosevelt decided that he could now offer the 50 old destroyers. <v Narrator>He told Churchill that was a price to pay. <v Narrator>In return, he wanted eight military bases on the eastern seaboard of the <v Narrator>United States on British possessions in the West Atlantic. <v Narrator>Molasses, he called it, to sweeten the pill for Congress. <v Narrator>When Churchill in the Cabinet heard this, they were aghast. <v Narrator>They didn't see why Britain should give up possessions in return for the destroyers. <v Narrator>In the cabinet minutes, it records a formal bargain on the lines proposed <v Narrator>was out of the question. <v Narrator>But they soon realized that really they had no choice in the matter. <v Narrator>The cabinet was already being told that Britain was running out of the gold and dollars <v Narrator>she needed to buy arms. <v Narrator>And so reluctantly, a few days later, the destroyers for bases <v Narrator>deal was signed.

<v Newsreel>And here are the first of the Ex-American destroyers arriving at the time the <v Newsreel>reinforcement to our flotilla. The ships are old, but having been kept in good fighting <v Newsreel>trim now approve of the utmost value-. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>The destroyers were ready for the scrap heap, they were really not very good. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>It was rather a tough deal in many ways because we got these bases in perpetuity <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>for the United States. But that was necessary, I feel, politically because the American <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>people were always being reminded that we might be taken advantage of by the very shrewd <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>Europeans and particularly by the British who were very, very ?inaudible? <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>and we were just simple folk. And so therefore, we had to make it a tough deal. <v Sir John Peck>I think it was the feeling, if I remember rightly, that it was a very hard bargain. <v Sir John Peck>But 1 that had to be accepted and in a <v Sir John Peck>sense, there was a small sop <v Sir John Peck>that we went handing over the bases. <v Sir John Peck>We were only leasing finance for nine years. <v Sir John Peck>So to that extent, we weren't giving away the British Empire, <v Sir John Peck>as it were.

<v Sir John Peck>But I think the need for them was so great that, well it <v Sir John Peck>just had to be accepted. We certainly weren't going to forego getting the <v Sir John Peck>destroyers for a matter of pride or bargaining. <v Narrator>Before the war began, the British Foreign Office had been considering how to win over the <v Narrator>American people to Britain's side if she found herself fighting Germany. <v Narrator>Nothing would be so effective, 1 proposal ran, as the bombing of London <v Narrator>translated live by air to the homes of America. <v Narrator>The idea was dismissed as impractical and in bad taste. <v Edward Murrow>Standing on a rooftop, looking out over London, off to my left, <v Edward Murrow>I can see just that red snap of the antiaircraft fire. <v Edward Murrow>Looking all the way to the dome of St. Paul, more searchlights spring up

<v Edward Murrow>over on my right. In a minute, we should have the sound of guns in the immediate <v Edward Murrow>vicinity. The lights are swinging over in this general direction now, <v Edward Murrow>moving still just a little closer. <v Edward Murrow>There you heard, too. <v Edward Murrow>I should think in a few minutes there may be a bit of shrapnel around here. <v Edward Murrow>Coming in, moving a little closer all the while. <v Edward Murrow>The plane is still very high. <v Edward Murrow>We could hear occasionally. Again, those were explosions overhead. <v Edward Murrow>There they are. That hard, stony sound. <v Eric Sevareid>We tried to report in an objective way. <v Eric Sevareid>But it got harder and harder to do that. <v Eric Sevareid>I certainly will never forget that September day of 1940. <v Eric Sevareid>The last big daylight raid on London, I got over to <v Eric Sevareid>the docks because that's where the smoke was coming from.

<v Eric Sevareid>And I tell you. <v Eric Sevareid>The horror of this fact that they would just blast <v Eric Sevareid>thousands of innocent families, little rowhouses, <v Eric Sevareid>deliberately to terrorize the place <v Eric Sevareid>was what you couldn't forget. <v Eric Sevareid>I could never think about the Germans quite the same after that. <v Eric Sevareid>Later on, we and your people did the same kind of thing, I'm afraid, but <v Eric Sevareid>this was new to me anyway. <v Eric Sevareid>You saw gla-, powdered glass banked up against the store <v Eric Sevareid>fronts like snow from the blast. <v Eric Sevareid>And thousands of people are streaming slowly out, pushing prams <v Eric Sevareid>and carrying babies and was getting dark by that time, and that's <v Eric Sevareid>when your stomach starts to tighten up. <v Eric Sevareid>Come. <v Quentin Reynolds>Here they come. <v Quentin Reynolds>The night is long, but sooner or later, the dawn will come.

<v Quentin Reynolds>The German bombers are creatures of the night. <v Quentin Reynolds>They melt away before the dawn and scurry back to the safety of their own airdrome. <v Narrator>Throughout the Blitz, America heard live radio reports and saw the devastation <v Narrator>in newsreel films. <v Quentin Reynolds>I have watched them stand by their homes. <v Quentin Reynolds>I have seen them made homeless. <v Quentin Reynolds>And I can assure you there is no panic, no fear, <v Quentin Reynolds>no despair in London town. <v Quentin Reynolds>There is nothing but determination, confidence and high courage <v Quentin Reynolds>among the people of Churchill's Island. <v Newsreel>New York City, the scene is the American end of one of those radio talks between British <v Newsreel>evacuee children and their parents over here. <v Narrator>Radio played a critical part in drawing out American sympathy. <v Narrator>Gallup polls showed a steady increase in the number of Americans in favor of aiding <v Narrator>Britain.

<v Neville's father or loved one>Hello, is that you Neville? <v Small child named Neville>Yes! <v Neville's father or loved one>How are you doing old boy? <v Small child named Neville>Alright! <v Neville's father or loved one>I see. That's grand. I say, can you make that funny clicking noise like that? <v Small child named Neville>[Makes noise] <v Neville's father or loved one>Go on again. <v Small child named Neville>[Makes another noise] <v Young child>Hello Daddy how are you? <v Young child's father>Fine. I've fared well, I suppose. <v Young child's father>I thought you'd have a terrific accent. <v Young child>No, I managed to keep it off. <v Young child's father>I got all of the boys and John listening in. <v Young child>Oh, yes. <v Young child>?inaudible? Good luck. <v Young child>Daddy, I haven't received the 5 pounds yet. <v Narrator>But there was a backlash from those who believe propaganda was being used to persuade <v Narrator>America to fight. <v Charles Lindbergh>There are still interests in this country and abroad who will do <v Charles Lindbergh>their utmost to draw us into war. <v Charles Lindbergh>Against these interests, we must be continuously on guard. <v Charles Lindbergh>But American opinion, <v Charles Lindbergh>but American opinion is now definitely and overwhelmingly <v Charles Lindbergh>against our involvement.

<v Narrator>Opponents of America's involvement now form their own pressure group. <v Narrator>America First, its figurehead was Charles Lindbergh. <v Narrator>2 months after its foundation, America First was already a mass movement. <v Ruth Benedict>America First had a strange conglomeration <v Ruth Benedict>of human beings. <v Ruth Benedict>There were ultra conservatives, people who later supported <v Ruth Benedict>Senator McCarthy. <v Ruth Benedict>There were middle of the roaders. <v Ruth Benedict>There were socialists. <v Ruth Benedict>I was 1 who was drawn into the movement by my socialist friends. <v Ruth Benedict>I thought it was possible that Germany would win, <v Ruth Benedict>and my feeling that we had to stay out <v Ruth Benedict>and remain strong to preserve Western civilization. <v Ruth Benedict>That was a very, very potent feeling with me. <v Narrator>As Lindbergh toured America, his audiences grew. <v Narrator>The message always the same. America should keep out of Britain's war.

<v Charles Lindbergh>We believe that the security of our country lies in the spring and character <v Charles Lindbergh>of our own people and not in fighting foreign wars. <v Narrator>Lindbergh spoke at Yale University, invited by a young student, Kingman Brewster. <v Kingman Brewster>Basically, I think there was a feeling that Hitler could not invade us and we could not <v Kingman Brewster>invade him. Atlantic was just too big for the technology of war at the time. <v Interviewer>And therefore, Britain went under and France went under, that wasn't America's affair? <v Kingman Brewster>That was not so. The question of how much of a price <v Kingman Brewster>are you willing to pay? And that the price in terms of democracy was <v Kingman Brewster>greater if we got involved in an intercontinental war than even if Hitler succeeded <v Kingman Brewster>in dominating Europe. <v Interviewer>But the view in Britain was that the American first people would let Europe <v Interviewer>go hang. I mean, was that? <v Kingman Brewster>Well, the consequence was I'm sure that if we didn't <v Kingman Brewster>get in the war, the chances of Hitler's winning would be greatly increased. <v Kingman Brewster>But it wasn't because we thought Europe ought to go hang.

<v Kingman Brewster>It was because we didn't think America should hang in order to prevent that. <v Interviewer>Were you right in that? <v Kingman Brewster>No, I don't think so in retrospect. I think we were right on the basis of what we know. <v Kingman Brewster>If our advice had been followed it would have been a disaster. <v Narrator>America first served notice on Roosevelt that many Americans would not accept his <v Narrator>support for Britain. 1940 was presidential election year. <v Narrator>Roosevelt's opponent, Wendell Willkie, accused him of dragging the United States <v Narrator>into war. Roosevelt was forced to repeat a promise he'd made at the time. <v Franklin Roosevelt>Let no man or woman thoughtlessly or falsely <v Franklin Roosevelt>talk of sending American armies to European <v Franklin Roosevelt>fields. I hope the United States will keep out of this <v Franklin Roosevelt>war. I believe that it will. <v Newsreel>Election Day, 1940, democracy's greatest drama. <v Newsreel>President Roosevelt, like 50 million other Americans, prepares to cast his ballot

<v Newsreel>here at Hyde Park. <v Poll worker in newsreel>Name please? <v Franklin Roosevelt>Franklin D. Roosevelt. <v Elliott Roosevelt>So he did hoodwink the American people? <v Elliott Roosevelt>I think in a literal sense, you could say he did. <v Elliott Roosevelt>I think he hoped that he wouldn't have to. <v Elliott Roosevelt>But I don't think he really, in his heart of hearts, ever <v Elliott Roosevelt>believed that we would have a victory over Hitler without <v Elliott Roosevelt>the United States being involved. <v Newsreel>The results are now conclusive, Roosevelt wins. <v Newsreel>Broadway goes wild. A roaring sea of friends of humanity shouted until hoarse. <v Narrator>Once reelected, Roosevelt was politically secure enough to respond <v Narrator>to Churchill's desperate pleas for direct financial help. <v Narrator>He proposed a scheme called lend lease. <v Narrator>America would give Britain the supplies you needed and not ask for payment until the war <v Narrator>was over. To convince Americans that his instinct was right, he went on the <v Narrator>offensive, making a live radio broadcast to explain what he had in mind <v Narrator>the night he spoke. London was in the grip of the worst fire bombing attack of

<v Narrator>the whole war. <v Franklin Roosevelt>My friends, this is not a fireside chat <v Franklin Roosevelt>on war. <v Franklin Roosevelt>It is a talk on national security. <v Franklin Roosevelt>If Great Britain goes down, the axis powers will control <v Franklin Roosevelt>the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, <v Franklin Roosevelt>Australasia and the high seas. <v Franklin Roosevelt>It is no exaggeration to say that all of us in all <v Franklin Roosevelt>the Americas would be living at the point of a gun. <v Franklin Roosevelt>There are American citizens, many of them in high <v Franklin Roosevelt>places, who unwittingly, in most cases, <v Franklin Roosevelt>are aiding and abetting the work of the masses. <v Franklin Roosevelt>I do not charge these American citizens with being <v Franklin Roosevelt>foreign agent, but I do charge them

<v Franklin Roosevelt>with doing exactly the kind of work <v Franklin Roosevelt>that the dictators want done in the United States. <v Narrator>Next day, America First picketed the White House. <v Narrator>Haunted by the specter of World War One, they argued that it was happening again. <v Narrator>America was being sucked into war. <v Hamilton Fish (R)>I opposed the lend lease because it gave too much power to the president, almost <v Hamilton Fish (R)>the power to take us into war. <v Hamilton Fish (R)>In spite of the constitution, I opposed it, and I think if there'd been a secret <v Hamilton Fish (R)>vote, it would have been defeated but they put enormous pressure <v Hamilton Fish (R)>on some of these Democrats. <v Narrator>America First campaigned energetically to defeat Roosevelt. <v Narrator>Its members besieged Congress to denounce his supporters. <v Claude Pepper (D)>I was hanged in effigy in front of the Senate wing of the <v Claude Pepper (D)>Capitol one afternoon by a group of women who had an effigy <v Claude Pepper (D)>of me almost life size, all of them dressed in mourning,

<v Claude Pepper (D)>moaning and groaning, calling out for Pepper that I was trying to murder <v Claude Pepper (D)>their sons in war. They thought that my efforts were designed to get <v Claude Pepper (D)>us into a war. I was trying to explain to everybody that was the only way we <v Claude Pepper (D)>could stay out of a war. <v Interviewer>Does that mean that you saw Britain as a sort of mercenary <v Interviewer>at that time, doing your fighting for you against it? <v Claude Pepper (D)>That's exactly right. The British were in the frontline of freedom. <v Narrator>Britain's allies took the campaign into the heart of opposition territory, Chicago <v Narrator>and the Midwest, where America First was strongest. <v Narrator>They found themselves fighting a ferocious battle. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>I was asked to speak at an enormous rally. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>Oh, I forget how many tens of thousands of people in Chicago. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>My wife and I were threatened anonymously with violence. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>Our children were threatened with kidnaping. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>We turned it all over to the FBI was that they were just empty threats. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>But just trying to scare us.

<v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>And they succeeded in that. We were scared to death. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>Isolationist people who felt it wouldn't really matter if the East Coast had been invaded <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>by the Germans on the West Coast, by the Japanese. <v Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.>They were still a thousand miles away from both coasts and it really didn't matter. <v Narrator>The argument against helping Britain wasn't just that America might be dragged into the <v Narrator>war. The opponents of lend lease here also wondered whether perhaps <v Narrator>Britain wasn't trying to make use of America. <v Narrator>Take it for a ride. Could she really be as poor, they argued, while she ruled a quarter <v Narrator>of the globe? Or was she perhaps trying to use America's wealth to prop up the British <v Narrator>Empire? Roosevelt knew that if he was going to get a major act like lend lease through <v Narrator>Congress, he'd have to persuade the American people that Britain really was in desperate <v Narrator>straits, had run out of the gold and dollars she needed to buy her supplies <v Narrator>and to convince them, he resorted to a dramatic step. <v Sir John Peck>In the middle of the negotiations for lend lease, the <v Sir John Peck>Americans suddenly said they <v Sir John Peck>were sending a cruiser to South Africa to

<v Sir John Peck>collect some I don't know what the figure was, something like 60 million pounds worth of <v Sir John Peck>gold, which was really one of the last imperial <v Sir John Peck>reserves. <v Sir John Peck>And this was definitely not appreciated. <v Sir John Peck>It gave the impression of sending the bailiffs in and well, of course it was humiliating. <v Sir John Peck>But what could we do? <v Sir John Peck>We were broke. We were in these crucial negotiations with America, <v Sir John Peck>which were going to transform the whole course of the war. <v Sir John Peck>So there really was no point in standing on our dignity <v Sir John Peck>over that. <v Narrator>Roosevelt also insisted that Britain should be seen to give up assets in the United <v Narrator>States. The British government ordered the Courtauld's company to sell their <v Narrator>profitable subsidiary American Viscose to U.S. <v Narrator>bankers at a knockdown price. <v Joseph Alsop>Your people will never understand the American <v Joseph Alsop>political system.

<v Joseph Alsop>It should be perfectly obvious to you. <v Joseph Alsop>That if Roosevelt went to the Congress and said they've run out of cash <v Joseph Alsop>and you had this enormous unsold property, which a lot <v Joseph Alsop>of quite greedy Americans no doubt were perfectly willing to draw <v Joseph Alsop>the attention of senators to, the hostile <v Joseph Alsop>senators would make a hell of a row about it. <v Joseph Alsop>Hard politics, the matter was quite simply. <v Joseph Alsop>That the lend lease bill would have been endangered if the company <v Joseph Alsop>had not been sold. Now you take your choice. <v Joseph Alsop>Which is worth more? <v Joseph Alsop>It's close cooperation to get lend lease. <v Narrator>On March the 11th, 1941, lend lease was finally passed. <v Narrator>Roosevelt signed the bill to give arms to Britain. <v Narrator>Payments suspended until the war was over. <v Sir Ian Jacob>Because lend lease was the most enormous relief, <v Sir Ian Jacob>anybody who is really concerned with the figures.

<v Sir Ian Jacob>And I don't think anybody, from Churchill downwards, considered <v Sir Ian Jacob>at all any question of paying it back, because Churchill <v Sir Ian Jacob>had very simple argument on this subject. <v Sir Ian Jacob>He said, well, 2 years of bloodshed ought to cancel any money. <v Music>["Thanks Mr. Roosevelt" by George Formby]. <v Narrator>The course of the war now took a dramatic turn.

<v Narrator>On the 22nd of June 1941, Hitler invaded Russia. <v Narrator>With the German army fully committed to the advance on Moscow, Britain enjoyed a brief <v Narrator>respite. Roosevelt took advantage of the pause to invite Churchill <v Narrator>to meet him aboard ship off the coast of Newfoundland. <v Narrator>The night before he sailed, Churchill wrote to the queen, confiding his hope that <v Narrator>America would now enter the war. <v Narrator>I do not think, he said, our friend would have asked me to go so far were he not about <v Narrator>to take a further step. <v Elliott Roosevelt>Churchill came aboard and gave my father very snappy naval salute, <v Elliott Roosevelt>and they greeted each other very warmly. <v Elliott Roosevelt>And it was almost as though electricity went between <v Elliott Roosevelt>them. The great friendship sort of blossomed <v Elliott Roosevelt>right from that moment. <v Elliott Roosevelt>There wasn't any ifs, ands or buts about it, he was there <v Elliott Roosevelt>for the purpose of trying to persuade the president to

<v Elliott Roosevelt>involve the United States as quickly as possible on <v Elliott Roosevelt>the side of the allies. <v Interviewer>Actually go to war? <v Elliott Roosevelt>Actually go to war. <v Narrator>The following day, Roosevelt went aboard the Prince of Wales for a private lunch <v Narrator>that Churchill tried to convince him that the time had come to declare war <v Narrator>on Germany. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>The most interesting part was the speech, which the 2 gave <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>that was sitting next to each other, and it was virtually <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>a heart to heart talk rather than a speech. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>Winston's speech was ?inaudible? <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>I think you would say emotional. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>He pulled every string, which he was a master at, of <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>how the 2 countries got together. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>What times we've been through. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>And so on and so forth. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>It was a really brilliant speech and I thought it <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>almost brought tears to your eyes it was so brilliantly done.

<v Commander Arthur Skipwith>And I suppose really you could say it was the only card that he held in his <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>hand at that time. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>Roosevelt's speech, on the other hand, was entirely <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>reasoned on how his country couldn't come into the war yet. <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>He quoted the Middle West as being a vast <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>area with people who had never even heard of the sea or seen it and knew nothing <v Commander Arthur Skipwith>about Europe.. <v Narrator>Roosevelt now offered Churchill a compromise. <v Narrator>Although America wasn't ready to fight, she was prepared to join Britain in <v Narrator>a declaration of common aims in the war against Hitler.

<v Narrator>The first was to liberate the countries overrun by Nazi Germany. <v Narrator>But Roosevelt had something else in mind. <v Narrator>Britain herself dominated large parts of the globe through her empire and <v Narrator>its trading system. Would she play her part by relinquishing this <v Narrator>power to create a freer world after the war? <v Elliott Roosevelt>Father's idea was that the world was changing. <v Elliott Roosevelt>The people were not going to be subjugated into colonies <v Elliott Roosevelt>and that you couldn't exploit them. <v Elliott Roosevelt>That you had to work out a system whereby all people <v Elliott Roosevelt>were able to have self-determination and self development <v Elliott Roosevelt>and that we, Great Britain and the United States, should be the leaders <v Elliott Roosevelt>in helping them to get to this state. <v Interviewer>But was he saying you can't have our help unless you agree with me on this point? <v Elliott Roosevelt>No, I think he was more subtle about it than that. <v Elliott Roosevelt>I think that he felt that it was inevitable that he would win with his

<v Elliott Roosevelt>arguments. <v Narrator>Winston Churchill disembarked from the Prince of Wales and skop of flow and <v Narrator>traveled south through the Scottish hillsides to London. <v Narrator>He was coming back from across the Atlantic without the great prize he'd gone to win, an <v Narrator>American declaration of war against Germany. <v Narrator>On the other hand, he'd struck up a close friendship with Roosevelt, and he had won a <v Narrator>promise that naval operations in the North Atlantic protecting convoys would be stepped <v Narrator>up by America. But that was all he'd got. <v Narrator>The responsibility of fighting this war was still on his shoulders alone. <v Narrator>And he was going back to London to report to the British cabinet who was disturbed by <v Narrator>some of the clauses in the Atlantic charter that he had signed. <v Narrator>In particular, what looked as though it might be a commitment to give independence to <v Narrator>Britain's colonies once the war was over, the dismemberment of the very British Empire

<v Narrator>that they thought they were fighting to save. <v Narrator>But to Churchill, as he traveled south, vague promises about the future <v Narrator>didn't matter compared with the fact that America was still firmly on <v Narrator>Britain's side. He knew that without that, not only would there be no British <v Narrator>Empire, there'd be no Britain. <v Music>[Gloomy string music]. <v Narrator>But Britain still hoped to persuade America to go to war. <v Narrator>British intelligence agents based in the Rockefeller Center in New York were instructed

<v Narrator>to use scare tactics. <v Narrator>Their Commander William Stephenson had a German map of South America passed to the State <v Narrator>Department, claiming his agents had stolen it from a German courier. <v Narrator>The map was a fake. <v H. Montgomery Hyde>The copy was sent to President Roosevelt. So it made a considerable impression upon him <v H. Montgomery Hyde>because it emphasized that in the event of <v H. Montgomery Hyde>Hitler winning the war against the European allies, he <v H. Montgomery Hyde>had plans for carving up Central and South <v H. Montgomery Hyde>America. <v Franklin Roosevelt>I have in my possession a secret map made <v Franklin Roosevelt>in Germany by Hitler's government. <v Franklin Roosevelt>That map, my friends, make clear, the Nazi design <v Franklin Roosevelt>not only against South America but against the United States as <v Franklin Roosevelt>well. <v Interviewer>Did you feel guilty about them conducting covert <v Interviewer>operations like that?

<v H. Montgomery Hyde>I don't think we felt guilty because after all, we were fighting for our lives or <v H. Montgomery Hyde>certainly fighting for the existence of the UK. <v H. Montgomery Hyde>What used to be the British, British Empire. <v H. Montgomery Hyde>In war like love, many people think that all things <v H. Montgomery Hyde>are fair. <v Narrator>The American public remained unconvinced. <v Narrator>A Gallup poll in October 1941 showed that 83 percent still believe <v Narrator>the United States should not go to war. <v Narrator>It looked as though there was nothing more Britain could do. <v Newsreel>We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this important bulletin from the United Press. <v Newsreel>Flash Washington The White House announces Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. <v Newsreel>Stay tuned for further developments. <v Ruth Benedict>Pearl Harbor News came on a Sunday afternoon <v Ruth Benedict>when I was working quietly at home, writing a speech for some member of Congress <v Ruth Benedict>saying we should stay out of war. <v Ruth Benedict>I didn't believe it.

<v Ruth Benedict>I suspected this was a gimmick started <v Ruth Benedict>by FDR to get us more involved. <v Ruth Benedict>And I had to get a lot of answers to my <v Ruth Benedict>questions before I could fully take it in and believe it. <v Interviewer>And then what happened to America First? <v Ruth Benedict>That was the end of America first. <v Narrator>3 days after Japan's attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Germany <v Narrator>also declared war on the United States. <v Narrator>A stroke of fate had delivered to Churchill the great prize he'd been striving <v Narrator>for for so long. Britain and America fighting side by side <v Narrator>would be invincible. How they'd fight, exactly what they'd fight for <v Narrator>could wait until later.

<v Narrator>On December the 7th, 1941, the night of Pearl Harbor, Winston <v Narrator>Churchill slept, as he put it, the sleep of the saved. <v Music>[Triumphant traditional music] <v Announcer>An Ocean Apart is made possible in part by British Airways, serving North America

<v Announcer>in traditional British style. <v Announcer>Hanson, a company which has provided basic goods and services since 1964 <v Announcer>and attained increased profits, dividends and earnings per share every year. <v Announcer>Hanson, here today. <v Announcer>Here tomorrow. <v Announcer>And by this and other public television stations. <v Announcer>An Ocean Apart, the companion book written by series host David Dimbleby and <v Announcer>historical adviser David Reynolds, is available for 24.95 plus handling. <v Announcer>To order by credit card, call <v Announcer>1-800-255-5990 or send a check or money order to An Ocean Apart. <v Announcer>5959 Triumph Street. Commerce, California. <v Announcer>90040. Also available in bookstores.