The Atlantic
Conference (code named "Riviera") was an
historic meeting between President Franklin Roosevelt
and British Prime Mister Winston Churchill and their
staffs . The discussions at the Conference
forged the Anglo-American alliance of World War II.
Meeting at Ship Harbor, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland
from August 9-12, 1941, in great secrecy aboard the
heavy cruiser USS Augusta and the battle cruiser HMS
Prince of Wales, the two leaders and their staffs discussed
the general strategy of the war against the Axis
Powers, although the United States was not yet a
belligerent. Roosevelt and Churchill have attention
to future military operations, in particular
launching a second front in Europe to support the
beleaguered Soviet forces. Roosevelt and Churchill
also agreed that the U.S. and Britain scientists
would cooperate in developing the atomic bomb.
"With
humble duty, I have arrived safely, and am visiting
the President this morning."
--- Prime Minister Churchill to His Majesty
the King 9 August 1941
As the morning mist
lifted on 9 August, Winston Churchill stood on the
bridge of HMS Prince of Wales dressed in the
uniform of an Elder brother of Trinity House (an
exotic quasi-naval uniform). Winston Churchill
recounts the day in his memoirs as follows:
As soon as the
customary naval courtesies had been exchanged, I went
aboard the Augusta and
greeted President Roosevelt, who received me with all
honours. He stood supported by the arm of his son
Elliott while the national anthems were played, and
then gave me the warmest of welcomes.
|
| Churchill
salutes USS Augusta honor guard |
I gave him a letter
from the King and presented the members of my party.
Conversations were then begun between the President
and myself, Mr. Sumner Welles and Sir Alexander
Cadogan, and the Staff officers on both sides, which
proceeded more or less continuously for the remaining
days of our visit, sometimes man to man and sometimes
in larger conferences.
On Sunday morning,
August 10, Mr. Roosevelt came aboard H.M.S.
Prince of Wales and, with his Staff officers and several
hundred representatives of all ranks of the United
States Navy and Marines, attended Divine Service on
the quarter-deck. This service was felt by us all to
be a deeply moving expression of the unity of faith
of our two peoples, and none who took part in it will
forget the spectacle presented that sunlit morning on
the crowded the quarter-deck - the symbolism of the
Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes draped side by
side on the pulpit; the American and British
chaplains sharing in the reading of the prayers; the
highest naval, military, and air officers of Britain
and the United States grouped in one body behind the
President and me; the close-packed ranks of British
and American sailors, completely intermingled,
sharing the same books and joining fervently together
in the prayers and hymns familiar to both: "O God, and
"Onward, Christian Soldiers", O God our Help in Ages
Past", and "Eternal Father" which Macaulay reminds us the Ironsides
had chanted as they bore John Hampden's body to the
grave. Every word seemed to stir the heart. It was a
great hour to live. Nearly half those who sang from the crew of the Prince
of Wales were
soon to die when the ship was sunk in December.
Special arrangements were
made to accommodate FDR's disabilities while aboard
the Prince of Wales. A memorandum was
prepared in advance by FDR's Naval Aide, Cpt.
J.R. Beardall explaining those arrangements.
| The major
public outcome of the Atlantic Conference was
the Atlantic Charter, issued by President Roosevelt and
Prime Minister Churchill on August 14, 1941in
the form of a joint declaration. The Charter
set forth the Allies' basic postwar
principles, including the repudiation of all
territorial aggrandizement, the consent of
people to all territorial changes, the rights
of people to self-determination, freedom of
the seas, economic cooperation, and a
permanent system of postwar security. The
Atlantic Charter -- subsequently endorsed by
15 nations-- became the basis of shared hopes
and goals for the Grand Alliance of nations
that overcame the Axis powers in 1945. An
Atlantic Charter Monument was subsequently
erected onshore at Argentia, Newfoundland
commemorating the event.. |
 |
Conference
Trivia:
Three reasons why Argentia
may have been chosen as the site for the Conference: not too
heavily settled; plenty of Canadian, British and American
troops stationed nearby, and any concentration of of warships
in the harbor of the harbor of Argentia would cause no
speculation inasmuch as the U.S. Navy was already engaged in
building it up as a base (based on the opinions of Elliott
Roosevelt
During the
Conference FDR and Churchill ate six meals
together, five of which were aboard the Augusta
The joint
declaration issued by FDR and Churchill was
first christened the "Atlantic
Charter" by the Daily Herald (London)
subsequent to the Conference.
The site
chosen for the Conference was Argentia,
Newfoundland which had recently been
"delivered" to the United States
from Britain pursuant to the Lend-Lease Plan.
The U.S. subsequently built a naval base
there.
