The Atlantic Charter

In the summer of 1941, Great Britain is still fighting, the USSR is reeling under Barbarossa, and the United States, although a non-belligerent, is committed up to the neck in material support to the Allies. Roosevelt and Churchill, who have been corresponding for months, decide to meet in person for the first time in the war, in secret, aboard warships anchored in Placentia Bay, off Newfoundland.

Churchill hopes to wrest a clearer American commitment, even an entry into the war. Roosevelt cannot go so far: opinion and Congress remain attached to non-belligerency, and a declaration of war is out of reach. The meeting nonetheless seeks to give the camp of the democracies a common foundation.

The two leaders must decide the scope of the document to be published: seal a formal military alliance committing the United States; confine themselves to mere joint protests with no binding content; or proclaim a charter of principles — self-determination of peoples, freedom of the seas, renunciation of conquests — that would define the war aims without immediate military commitment. The stake is to set a political course for the post-war.