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.

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 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.

Four months before Pearl Harbour, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met in secret aboard a ship in a secluded Newfoundland harbour. This was the first summit conference of World War II.