Winston Churchill

[T]he Battle of Britain is about to begin. . . . The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us . . . . Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

From a speech delivered to Parliament by Prime Minister Winston Churchill on this date in 1940 -- two days after the French threw in the towel.