An avatar of history

In the wake of Dunkirk, Sir Winston Churchill stood in the House of Commons and delivered his inspiring "We shall fight on the beaches" speech on this day in June 1940.

"We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight 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 the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender ..."

Although Churchill's famous words are worth recalling today for their inspiration and sheer beauty, hagiography is not my purpose. Writer Allen Barra provides the context: "It is probably no longer possible for us to truly understand [Churchill]. Vital as he was to the 20th century, he was still, as he put it, 'A child of the Victorian era,' assuming the white man’s burden with a born allegiance to an empire that no longer matters to us, that no longer even holds nostalgia for us ... The great lines from Churchill’s great speeches are still alive to us, but they evoke the past without illuminating the future. ... Winston Churchill appears to us now only as the avatar of a past still strongly felt but only dimly remembered."