Evening star., 1945-12-18
Atlantic Charter

Television Productions.
Atlantic Charter
Continued From First Page.)
United States" even though Mr..
Roosevelt realized that the taking
of such further measures might re-
suit in war between the United
States and Japan"
In regard to the principles of the
Atlantic Charter which the heads
Of the two governments were dis
cussing, Mr.. Welles said In his
memorandum:
Mr.. Churchill dissented very
strongly from the form in which the
President had desired to make it
clear that no future commitments
had been entered into.
Wanted to Appease Isolationists.
The President stated that por-
ton of the proposed statement was
of extreme importance from his
standpoint, inasmuch as statement
of that character would make 1t inn
possible for extreme isolationist
leaders in the United States to allege
that every kind of secret agreement
had been entered into during the
course of these conversations.
Mr.. Welles testified earlier in the
congressional inquiry and told
something of the Atlantic Charter
meeting, but failed to bring out the
account given in the memoran-
dunn placed in the record today.
The paper was written at sea
August IL, 1941, and described
a talk between Mr.. Roosevelt and
.Mr. Churchill at which those press
mt included Mr.. Welles, Sir Aiexs.
ander Cadogan, British permanent
foreign secretary, and Harry Hop
kins. .......
Mr. Churchill was quoted by Mr.
Welles as understanding Mr.. Roose-
velt's desire to make 1t clear that the
United States had not been COM
mitted to anything. But Mr..
Churchill believed that any cate
gorical statement of that character
would prove deeply discourc .ing
to the populations of the o" )ied
countrys and would have very
serious effect on their morale. He
likewise made it clear that similar
effect would be created on British
public opinion"
Churchill Sought Positive Statement.
Mr.. Churchill, Mr.. Welles added,
asked If the statement could not be
worded in such as way as to make
it positive rather than negative,
namely, that the members of the
STATS of the Prime Minister and of
the President had solely discussed
questions relative to the furnishing
of aid to the countries resisting ag-
gression under the terms of the
Lease-Lend Act"
The memorandum continued:
The President replied that he be-
lieved that the statement could be
drawn up in that way and that II
he then were queried in the United
States he need merely reply that
nothing had been discussed or
agreed upon other than that which
had already been indicated in his
public statement"
After discussing a redraft of Ger
tain provisions in the proposed pub
lie statement of the Atlantic Char
ter with Foreign Undersecretary
Cadogan, Mr.. Welles said he went to
see Mr.. Roosevelt. Mr.. Churchill had
redrafted point 4, favoring free .ac-
cess to the markets of the world by
all people, and the President "was
entirely in accord" with the rewrit-
ten provision, saying 1t was better
than he had thought Mr.. Churchill
would be willing to concede."
Amendment Accepted.
Mr.. Welles said the President
also accepted without question the
amendment Mr.. Churchill had
made in point 7, the provision
aimed at security from aggressors.
THE President said," the mem
orandum added, that it seemed to
him essentially desirable, since the
amendment made it clear that once
the war was over, transition period
would have to take place and that
the permanent international or
ganization would only be set up
after the experimental period had
passed"
Mr.. Welles also reported: Il said
felt it necessary for me to ask
him whether he did not believe
that a very considerable opposition
on the part of extreme isolationists
in the United States would result
from that portion Of point 7 which
declares that In the judgment Of
the United States it is essential that
aggressor nations be disarmed.
II said that If a great power like
the United States publicly declares
that something is essential the in
ference is that power is going to
do something about it."
Account Continued.
Mr.. Welles continued his account
of the talk with Mr.. Roosevelt:
Il said it appeared to me more
than likely that the isolationists
will insist that this public statement
by the President meant that the
United States would 60 to war in
order to disarm not only Germany
lbut even possibly Japan and
Theoretically at least, even the
Soviet Union. II that country should
later once more embark upon ag-
'lgression on its neighbors.
THE President replied that the
whole intent Of point 7, = be ssx