From the Wikipedia:

The final dramatic speech in his 1940 film The Great Dictator, which was critical of patriotic nationalism, was highly controversial, as was his vocal public support for the opening of a second European front in 1942 to assist the Soviet Union in World War II. The critical view of capitalism in his 1947 black comedy Monsieur Verdoux was also controversial, with the film being protested at many US cities. His European-made film A King in New York (1957) satirized the political persecution and paranioa which had forced him to leave the US five years earlier. After this film, Chaplin lost interest in making overt political statements, later saying that comedians and clowns should be apolitical and "above politics".

Here is the plot summary, which gives the context for this speech, from imdb:


Plot Summary for
The Great Dictator (1940)

During the last days of the First World War, a clumsy soldier saves the life of devoted military pilot Schultz. Unfortunately, their flight from the advancing enemy ends in a severe crash with the clumsy soldier losing his memories. After quite some years in the hospital, the amnesia patient gets released and reopens his old barber shop in the Jewish ghetto. But times have changed in the country of Tomania: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel, who accidentally looks very similar to the barber, has laid his merciless grip on the country, and the Jewish people are discriminated against. One day, the barber gets in trouble and is brought before a commanding officer, who turns out to be his old comrade Schultz. So, the ghetto enjoys protection from then on. Meanwhile, Dictator Hynkel develops big plans, he wants to become Dictator of the whole world and needs a scapegoat for the public. Soon, Schultz is being arrested for being too Jewish-friendly, and all Jews except those who managed to flee are transported into Concentration Camps. Hynkel is planning to march into Osterlich to show off against Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria, who already has deployed his troops along the other border of the small country. Meanwhile, Schultz and the barber manage to escape, guised in military uniforms. As luck would have it, Schultz and the barber are picked up by Tomanian forces and the barber is mixed up with Hynkel himself. The small barber now gets the once-in-a-lifetime chance to speak to the people of Osterlich and all of Tomania, who listen eagerly on the radio.

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When I was really young, I thought Chaplin and Hitler were the same person, because of that mustache.

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Title as presented on Fox News: "Historical Footage Unearthed by James O'Keefe Proves that Liberals, Obama, and Hitler Have a Shared Philosophy"

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Charlie Chaplin - Let Us All Unite has been added as a related post - related requested by RFlagg on that post.

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