19421776 Club
Queen Wilhelmina, governing in exile, tells Congress the Dutch will not surrender
Wilhelmina tells the House chamber the Dutch will not surrender; the next day she lays flowers at Washington's tomb.
By August 1942, the Netherlands had been under Nazi occupation for more than two years, and Queen Wilhelmina governed only in exile from London. On August 5, she stepped into the chamber of the United States Congress, the first reigning queen ever to address that body, and told American lawmakers the Dutch position was simple: no surrender. She pledged her people would stand with the Allies until victory. The next day, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt drove her to Mount Vernon, where she laid flowers at George Washington's tomb…
