Avi Davis’ Speech for the Heroes of Conscience Dinner May 16, 2010

Seventy years ago this week four men sat over cigars and scotch and decided the fate of Western civilization. On the afternoon of May 9, 1940 Neville Chamberlain, who had lost the confidence of Parliament, was faced with the challenge of choosing a successor.
The stakes were very high. Poland and Czechoslovakia had fallen to the Nazi armies eight months before. Denmark had collapsed within 12 hours in April and Norway was on the verge of surrender. Only that morning Chamberlain had been informed by British intelligence that an invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands was imminent - a certainty that France would be next. The Blitzkrieg that had ripped across Eastern Europe and Scandinavia was rumbling dangerously close to home.

There were only two real contenders for the job of prime minister. Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary - who had supported the appeasement policies of the Prime minister and the irascible, unpredictable Winton Churchill. Chamberlain naturally chose Halifax. There was a long silence in the room. Halifax finally spoke up and said he could not take the position. He was a member of the House of Lords and leading parliament during war time from that position would be impractical.

Chamberlain swallowed, looked down at the floor and then stared directly at Churchill

“ Winston, you will be the next prime minister of Great Britain. God’s speed”

That statement changed history.

For what would have happened had Halifax accepted Chamberlain’s offer and Churchill been overlooked?

Well, we have a hint of it. Exactly two weeks later when Mussolini offered to broker a peace pact between the Britain and the Germany, Halifax, still a member of the cabinet gave the offer his enthusiastically endorsement . He argued that Great Britain should cede control of the European continent to Hitler in order that it could then marshal its resources for a fight against the Japanese in the Pacific.

The result of that surrender would not only have been Nazi domination of Europe , but German control of the Atlantic sea lanes, leaving the United States completely isolated, relatively unprepared and fighting wars on two fronts. Left to his own resources, Hitler would no doubt have completed his liquidation of the Jews of Europe and without anything to impede his progress would have swept into Palestine whose Jewish population would have also fallen into his hands. The war eventually fought might have extended years longer than the one we have recorded in our history books and could have ended with the United States, severely bled of men and munitions, having to sue for a compromised peace.

Why do I tell you all this? Because the episode demonstrates how one moment in time and one man’s vision can affect the course of history. It was not only that Winston Churchill was a fighter who refused to surrender. He was a man could envision, like none of his contemporaries, what such surrender would mean for the future of Western civilization.

Winston Churchills, ladies and gentlemen, don’t emerge too often and when they do, they must endure a level of ridicule and mockery that would drive most men or women into seclusion.

Tonight we are going to meet individuals who, in their way, are seeking to change the course of history They have tried to sound warning bells about threats to our civilization. And they are actively seeking to address deeply troubling challenges to our survival.

At the American Freedom Alliance, we see much around us that gives us reason for discomfort. From the threats posed by radical Islam; to cultural and moral relativism to excessive emphasis on multiculturalism - to policies of appeasement, we see threats arising that present a deep danger to our future.

We and other organizations like us have been branded scaremongers and doomsayers, gripped by anger and cynicism. But that is not true at all. We are people who believe strongly in human destiny, the sacredness of human life and the value of human progress.
We stand for the values and ideals which have enriched this civilization and given us hope for own future.

And so do the honorees we come to pay tribute to tonight. Each one of them, in their own magnificent way, have given of themselves to the fight for the protection of western values and ideals. Tonight we honor them for their courage and determination.

It is important to understand that while Churchill had been politically alone, the British people were ready to fight and displayed it over the next five years, in the one of the most rousing demonstrations of self sacrifice in recorded history..

And to you who have come to support us here tonight - you are all Winston Churchills –in your own way, for you are people who understand the magnificence of the civilization we have created and the importance of protecting it against internal degradation and external assault.

Help us in our efforts to protect the West. You can make a difference.

God’s speed.