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Let us strive for the impossible. The great achievements throughout history have been the conquest of what seemed the impossible.

Charlie Chaplin, speech to a New York rally, 22 July 1942

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Chaplin sent these words by telephone from Hollywood to a rally in Madison Square Park, New York, on 22 July 1942. The crowd was demanding a “second front”: an Allied landing in Western Europe to relieve the Soviet Union, which was bearing most of the land war against Germany. Chaplin urged people in factories, fields and uniform to aim for victory in the spring, and ended with this line. The landings came in Normandy in June 1944. His wartime campaigning later fed claims that he was a communist.

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İmkânsızın peşine düşelim. Tarih boyunca büyük başarılar, imkânsız görüneni fethederek kazanıldı.
Charlie Chaplin, New York'taki mitinge seslenişi, 22 Temmuz 1942

Chaplin bu sözleri 22 Temmuz 1942'de, New York'taki Madison Square Park'ta toplanan kalabalığa Hollywood'dan telefonla seslenirken söyledi. Kalabalık “ikinci cephe” açılmasını, yani Müttefiklerin Batı Avrupa'ya çıkarma yapmasını istiyordu; Almanya'ya karşı kara savaşının yükünü o güne dek büyük ölçüde Sovyetler Birliği çekiyordu. Chaplin fabrikada ve tarlada çalışanlardan, askerlerden baharda zafer kazanmayı hedeflemelerini istedi; konuşmasını da bu cümleyle bitirdi. Müttefikler Normandiya'ya Haziran 1944'te çıktı. Chaplin'in savaş yıllarındaki bu çabaları, sonradan komünist olduğu yönündeki iddiaları besledi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Charlie Chaplin
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