My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.
ATTRIBUTION:
Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940), British politician, prime minister. speech, Sept. 30, 1938, Downing Street, London. The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches, ed. Brian MacArthur (1992).
The day after returning from Munich, where Chamberlain conferred with Hitler, Mussolini and Daladier, and it was agreed that Germany should annex Sudetenland while the remaining frontiers of Czechoslovakia were guaranteed. A week later, Chamberlain justified this policy: “We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analysing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will. I cannot believe that such a programme would be rejected by the people of this country, even if it does mean the establishment of personal contact with the dictators” (speech, Oct. 6, 1938, House of Commons).
