Analogies can be overdrawn, but help to explain life. In Autumn 1942, the world changed – almost imperceptibly, but significantly. A relentless slide toward loss of freedom, and attacks by a rogue ideology, were reversed. Winston Churchill called it “The Hinge of Fate.” History never repeats, but patterns do. We are at a “hinge.” Needed, now as then, are redoubled effort, faith, and focus.
People resist the imposition of government on their lives, and the theft of individual freedoms, whether quietly or violently. People reach a breaking point and can take no more. Suddenly, things change, momentum shifts and everything is different.
In the Autumn of 1942, after watching values attacked, seeing lives altered, safety, survival, and culture undermined, and liberty upended – people leaned into the fight.
Eighty-four years ago, Churchill, whose mother was American, with America at his side, turned the tide. We are not in a “hot war” today, but we do face an insidious foe, an individual-denying ideology, embraced by power-concentrating extremists.
The six months after Autumn 1942 were incredible, because – on a global scale people summoned their courage, worked together, and began restoring freedom.
From that moment forward, things changed. The crowds thronging Churchill were enormous, the largest in modern British history. What he said, in his witty, authentic, sometimes rude, always direct way, lifted them, encouraged them, revealed that he understood them, all their fears and yearning, untapped strength, love of freedom.
After being demoralized for years, at war with this ideology that aimed to crush them, silence their voices, and displace their will, they found their voice, and in that way asserted their rights. They put differences aside and focused on winning.
That epic fall, a friend of Churchill’s wrote, “These have been exceptionally active days. I do not remember anymore so … huge and enthusiastic crowds, with scarcely enough police to control them…” While attacks continued in London, they began to taper. While Vichy France had folded, the Allies retook North Africa.
Quietly, women got more involved, unity for freedom spread, and adversaries cracked. Rommel lost Egypt, Germans were stopped at Russia’s border, and American aircraft production jumped to 46,000 from 3000. Everything changed.
At that moment, the “hinge of fate” turned and those near Churchill felt it. They knew a big turn was happening. They knew the terrible ideology they disdained was in full retreat. They were relieved, ecstatic, and wanted to “ring out the bells.”
Churchill stopped them, not because he missed their joy, but because he knew rogue ideologies, those aiming to tear things down, die hard. While the “hinge of fate” turned, much work lay ahead. History is made by inches, seldom by yards. We are there again, locked in an ideological battle, and it will take effort to win.
Churchill, in the Autumn of 1942, when his advisors were celebrating, was the realist. Good things take time, but victory comes to those who never stop fighting. He reminded them: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Americans just spoke bravely and proclaimed their love of freedom in a hard-bitten election. That election puts America on a new course, but the fight is not over.
Truth is, the work to date pales by comparison to what remains, a slog by good men and women to reduce the power of a bad ideology, in our day to reduce an unaccountable government’s adverse impact on American lives.
As in 1942, “the hinge of fate” has turned, but – to requote Churchill – “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Needed now are redoubled effort, faith, and focus.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
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