Evening star., 1943-01-27
Historic Meetino

NC oouDIeu IldJ anNtnlng WnlCn has
gone before in this war can equal
. the meeting between President
Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Churchill at CaSablanca. As Mr..
Roosevelt said, 1t was a conference
unprecedented in history.
The setting can be clearly visual
lied from the cabled accounts. Mr..
Roosevelt flew 5000 miles to keep
this rendezvous-the first American
President to fly and the first to enter
an active war zone since Abraham
Lincoln. Presumably, Mr.. Churchill
also travelled by plane They met,
these two leaders of the great de-
mocracieS, In a small villa on the
outskirts Of the city. Barbed wire
surrounded the place and armed
e guards were on patrol. Overhead a
protecting umbrella of American and
British fighter planes maintained
constant vigilance lest the enemy,
learning Of the meeting, should send
bombers to terminate it.
. Also in the picture were the top
representatives Of the men who still
fight for France, General Henri Gil
. raud, High Commissioner for French
, North Africa, and General Charles
de Gaulle Of the Fighting French
Surrounding all Of these were the
staff officers plus the ranking mill
tary, economic and political advisers.
Incontrovertibly, it was a setting
from which the most important de-
velopments are to be expected AS
yet, however, there is little to indi-
cate what these developments will be.
b For the present, the Allied peoples
and their enemies-muSt be satisfied
with the dramatic. It will take time
for the rest OF the picture to be
filled IN.
Receiving the press after his con-
ference with Mr.. Churchill, the Pres
ident divulged all that could safely
be made public. He and the British
Prime Minister are in complete
agreement" on war plans for 1943
to bring about the unconditional
surrender" of the Germans, Italians
: and japanese This does not mean
the destruction of the peoples of
those nations, but the eradication of
the philosophy of conquest under
which they have lived.
The Allies are determined to main
tain the battle initiative in every
part Of the world Each coming
campaign has been discussed, theater
by theater. Broadly, there has been
a decision to pool "all resources" of
the United Nations and to administer
= them according to "one central plan"
agreed upon at the conference. The
prime objective has been to draw as
much weight as possible off the Rus
sian armies, and this effort will be
continued. The maximum" Of ma
terial aid will be sent to Russia and
China, but there is nothing to indi-
= cate that greater emphasis than
heretofore will be placed on the Far
East, nor that any decision was
reached with respect to the setting
up of an authoritative Allied military
command Perhaps there will be
developments along this line AS the
future campaigns unfold, but they
are not yet in evidence.
Next in order of importance was
the meeting between Generals Gil
raud and De Gaulle, between whom
there have been differences which
seemingly have varied in Importance
according to the predictions Of in
dividual commentators. Whatever
the extent Of the breach, however
substantial progress apparently has
been made in bringing these men
together. After their conference
they announced entire agreement on
the end to be aCheved-t liberia
ton Of France and the total defeat
of the enemy-and declared this
would be attained by a union Of all
with all the Allies. Given this broad
foundation of agreement it would
seem reasonable to believe that out
standing political differences can be
composed This aspect Of the an
nouncement, incidentally, should be
gratifying to Secretary Of State Hull
Once again it has been his role tC
endure criticism, knowing that the
matters Of which his critics com
planned were being worked out, but
under veil of secrecy which HI
could not lift
An interesting aspect of the meet.
ing was the absence of Joseph Stalir
and GenerahSSimo Chang Kai-Shek
Stain was cordially invited TO at
tend, and it was even proposed tC
hold the meeting much farther east
to accommodate him, but the pres
sure of his military duties, it was
said, kept him away, and this may
account for the absence Of any ex-
preston from him indorSing the con-
ference and It's results. The General
iSsimo, apparently was not invited
but both were kept informed of de
velopments. This, obviously, contains