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American Citizens' Letters to Churchill in response to his radio broadcast to America on 16 October 1938.
  • The Defence of Freedom and Peace Speech ("The lights are going out")
  • Audio excerpt with the memorable phrase "We Must Arm"
  • Anonymized facsimiles of four letters with transcriptions of two handwritten ones
  • Psalm-style format of a single page fromThe Defence of Freedom and Peace Speech, 16 October 1938, beginning with "We must arm."
  • Lesson plan (Hart) using the speech and four letters
  • Lesson plan (Patrick) using this speech and two other speeches in 1939 and 1941
Churchill Centre. Churchill for Young People
This sixteen-page booklet, developed by Debby Hern and the Churchill Centre, is free for download here. Individual pages may also be printed.

Churchill, Winston. Churchill and the "The Flying Peril," 1913-1955
Quotes from Churchill's speeches on the topic of air power and bombing, selected by Richard M. Langworth. The title quote, so quintessential Churchill, reads, "The flying peril is not a peril from which one can fly. It is necessary to face it where we stand. We cannot possibly retreat. We cannot move London."

Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill, Volume VII, Road to Victory, 1941-1945. London: Heinemann, 1986
This excerpt from the official biography highlights the bombing of Dresden and general Allied bombing policy during March and April of 1945.

Gilbert, Martin. "Churchill and Bombing Policy" The Fifth Churchill Centre Lecture. Washington, D.C. 2005
Aviation, air power and bombing were part of Churchill's life for half a century. As a thirty-four-year-old member of the British Government's Committee of Imperial Defence, he told his colleagues on 25 February 1909: "The problem of the use of aeroplanes is a most important one, and we should place ourselves in communication with Mr. Wright, and avail ourselves of his knowledge." In 1913, Churchill learned to fly. Gilbert's lecture reviews Churchill's thinking on air power and bombing over the course of his life.

Harmon, Christopher C., "Are We Beasts?" Churchill and the Moral Question of World War II "Area Bombing." Naval War College Press, 1991
A frequent question in our educational programs is why the Allies bombed Dresden, whether Churchill was responsible for that decision, and why the decision was made. Dr. Christopher C. Harmon, formerly Kim T. Adamson Chairman of Insurgency and Terrorism, Marine Corps University, and presently Professor of Counter Terrorism at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch, Germany, wrote a monograph on this subject that was published by the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.