page_title: Atlantic Charter
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Atlantic Charter / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Conference leaders during Church services on the after deck of HMS Prince of Wales, in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, during the Atlantic Charter Conference. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (left) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill are seated in the foreground. Standing directly behind them are Admiral Ernest J. King, USN; General George C. Marshall, U.S. Army; General Sir John Dill, British Army; Admiral Harold R. Stark, USN; and Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, RN. At far left is Harry Hopkins, talking with W. Averell Harriman.
context_page_description: The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II.
  The joint statement, later dubbed the Atlantic Charter, outlined the aims of United States and the United Kingdom for the postwar world as follows: no territorial aggrandizement, no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people, restoration of self-government to those deprived of it, reduction of trade restrictions, global cooperation to secure better economic and social conditions for all, freedom from fear and want, freedom of the seas, and abandonment of the use of force, and disarmament of aggressor nations. The adherents to the Atlantic Charter signed the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, which was the basis for the modern United Nations.
  The Atlantic Charter inspired several other international agreements and events that followed the end of the war. The dismantling of the British Empire, the formation of NATO, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade all derived from the Atlantic Charter.
context_section_description: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill discussed what would become the Atlantic Charter in 1941 during the Atlantic Conference in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. They made their joint declaration on 14 August 1941 from the US naval base in the bay, Naval Base Argentia, which had recently been leased from Britain as part of a deal that saw the Americans give 50 surplus destroyers to British for use against German U-boats although the United States did not enter the war as a combatant until the attack on Pearl Harbor four months later.
  Since the policy was issued as a statement, there was no formal, legal document called "Atlantic Charter." It detailed goals and aims for the war and the postwar world.
  Many of the ideas of the charter came from an ideology of Anglo-American internationalism that sought British and American co-operation for international security. Roosevelt's attempts to tie Britain to concrete war aims and Churchill's desperation to bind the United States to the war effort helped provide motivations for the meeting that produced the Atlantic Charter. It was then assumed at the time that Britain and America would have an equal role to play in any postwar international organization that would be based on the principles of the Atlantic Charter.
  Churchill and Roosevelt began communicating in 1939, the first of their 11 meetings during the war. Both men traveled in secret; Roosevelt was on a ten-day fishing trip. On 9 August 1941, the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales steamed into Placentia Bay, with Churchill on board, and met the American heavy cruiser USS Augusta, where Roosevelt and members of his staff were waiting. On first meeting, Churchill and Roosevelt were silent for a moment until Churchill said, "At long last, Mr. President." Roosevelt replied, "Glad to have you aboard, Mr. Churchill."
  Churchill then delivered to the president a letter from King George VI and made an official statement, which, despite two attempts, the movie sound crew that was present failed to record.
caption: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales in 1941
exif: {}