The dramatic secret meeting between Churchill and FDR that forged their alliance against global fascism is brought to life in this WWII history. On August 14, 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a joint declaration of goals for the world after the Second World War. The Atlantic Charter was a powerful statement against tyranny and an important display of the “Special Relationship” between the UK and the US. Roosevelt and Churchill: The Atlantic Charter tells the story behind this momentous document and the secret meeting that led to its creation. Churchill and Roosevelt barely knew each other when they met off the coast of Newfoundland aboard the USS Augusta. After a desperate dash across the U-boat infested Atlantic, Churchill spent four days at sea with Roosevelt, establishing both a personal friendship and an international alliance that would change the world. Exploring the lives of both men, the authors also include biographies of those who were vital to the process: Roosevelt’s Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins and foreign policy advisor Sumner Welles; and Churchill’s confidants Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Cadogan, and his son Randolph Churchill.

In August 1941 Churchill and Roosevelt met in a secluded bay off the coast of Newfoundland. It was the first of their wartime meetings and in many respects the most significant. The Atlantic Charter, its result, proclaimed the two leaders' vision of a new world order, a set of principles that would govern international relations with the coming of peace. This remarkable collection of essays is the result of an international conference of American, British, and Canadian scholars held at Memorial University of Newfoundland that marked the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting. The essays discuss both the Charter's formulation and its long-term significance, and provide fascinating perspectives on the Second World War and its aftermath.

In a work of sweeping scope and luminous detail, Elizabeth Borgwardt describes how a cadre of World War II American planners inaugurated the ideas and institutions that underlie our modern international human rights regime. Borgwardt finds the key in the 1941 Atlantic Charter and its Anglo-American vision of “war and peace aims.” In attempting to globalize what U.S. planners heralded as domestic New Deal ideas about security, the ideology of the Atlantic Charter—buttressed by FDR’s “Four Freedoms” and the legacies of World War I—redefined human rights and America’s vision for the world. Three sets of international negotiations brought the Atlantic Charter blueprint to life—Bretton Woods, the United Nations, and the Nuremberg trials. These new institutions set up mechanisms to stabilize the international economy, promote collective security, and implement new thinking about international justice. The design of these institutions served as a concrete articulation of U.S. national interests, even as they emphasized the importance of working with allies to achieve common goals. The American architects of these charters were attempting to redefine the idea of security in the international sphere. To varying degrees, these institutions and the debates surrounding them set the foundations for the world we know today. By analyzing the interaction of ideas, individuals, and institutions that transformed American foreign policy—and Americans’ view of themselves—Borgwardt illuminates the broader history of modern human rights, trade and the global economy, collective security, and international law. This book captures a lost vision of the American role in the world.

Reproduction of the original: State of the Union Addresses by Franklin D. Roosevelt

The most powerful military alliance in history, NATO shaped the geopolitical contours of the Cold War and continues to structure the contemporary international system. The NATO agreement is reprinted here with speeches and essential historical documents concerning the alliance’s founding and subsequent evolution. Accompanying essays by major scholars discuss debates about NATO’s evolving governance, its role in nuclear politics, and its appropriate mission during and since the Cold War.

In the summer of 1941, the Atlantic Charter marked the first of many meetings between President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Charter laid out eight articles promoting ideals such as equality among nations and promising post-war freedom of the seas. It was ironic that in a conference concerning war aims, the United States was still a neutral country and the British were far from sure they could win the war against Germany.