August 14, 1941: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, issue a joint statement, allying themselves in the cause of freedom for all the world. It becomes known as the Atlantic Charter.
The two men had first met on July 29, 1918, at Gray's Inn in London. Roosevelt was then the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Churchill, the U.K.'s Minister of Munitions. Both were men on the rise. Both had serious setbacks in the years to come: Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921, Churchill with appendicitis and election defeat the next year.
Both would return to office, and rise to become their nations' heads of government: Roosevelt was elected President in 1932, and Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940. That year, Roosevelt was elected to a 3rd term as President, for pretty much the same reason Churchill was named Prime Minister: Because of the threat of Nazi Germany.
By mid-June 1940, all of Europe was now either ruled by, or allied with, the Nazis, except for those eastern parts ruled by, or allied with, the Soviet Union. Churchill had just replaced the ineffectual Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister. In July, the Nazis began bombing Britain, but the Royal Air Force kept turning them back. In June 1941, the Nazis broke the Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviets, and invaded. Still, there was no indication that the U.S. Congress was going to allow Roosevelt to take the nation to war against the Nazis.
It was time for Roosevelt and Churchill to meet in person and talk about their plans for facing the Nazis together. Roosevelt told the press that he was going on a 10-day fishing trip to Campobello Island, in New Brunswick, Canada, where the family had long maintained a vacation home, and where he was first diagnosed with polio. And he wasn't lying: He did go there, and did do some fishing.
It was also about 1,100 miles by sea from Naval Station Argentia, a U.S. Naval base on the island of Newfoundland, then a British Dominion. (It became a Province of Canada in 1949.) Britain had given this base to the U.S. in exchange for some destroyers. So Argentia became a convenient meeting place for the two titans.
On August 9, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales steamed into Placentia Bay, anchoring next to the cruiser USS Augusta. Churchill disembarked from the Prince of Wales, boarded the Augusta, and said, "At long last, Mr. President." And Churchill said, "Glad to have you aboard, Mr. Churchill." Churchill delivered a letter from King George VI to Roosevelt, from one nation's head of state to the other's. (America is one of the few democratic nations where the head of state is also the head of government.)
They met for 5 years, and on August 14, they issued a statement, detailing their goals for the war and for the postwar world:
- No territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom.
- Territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned.
- All people had a right to self-determination.
- Trade barriers were to be lowered.
- There was to be global economic co-operation and advancement of social welfare.
- The participants would work for a world free of want and fear.
- The participants would work for freedom of the seas.
- There was to be disarmament of aggressor nations and a common disarmament after the war.
At he meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London, on September 24, representatives of the Free French Forces, the Soviet Union, and the governments-in-exile of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia, unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and United States.
On January 1, 1942, a larger group of nations, which adhered to the charter's principles, issued a joint Declaration by United Nations, which stressed their solidarity in the defense against Hitlerism. This was the 1st public use of the term "United Nations," which became the name of the worldwide peacekeeping organization after the war, what people hoped the League of Nations would be after World War I.
On December 7, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The next day, America declared war on Japan. Two days after that, HMS Prince of Wales was sunk by Japanese aircraft, with a loss of 327 men. The day after that, in solidarity with Japan, Nazi Germany declared war on America, which responded in kind.
USS Augusta would be used in many American war missions, including D-Day. She was taken out of service in 1946, and scrapped in 1959.
Naval Base Argentia is now Bristol Field, an airport in Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 2021, a book co-written by American historian Michael Kluger and British historian Richard Evans was published, titled Roosevelt's and Churchill's Atlantic Charter: A Risky Meeting at Sea that Saved Democracy.
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August 14, 1941 was a Thursday. Singer David Crosby was born on this day. He is 2-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: As a member of The Byrds; and as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators, 7-0 and 10-3 at Yankee Stadium. Marius Russo pitched a 3-hit shutout in the opener, backed by home runs from Tommy Henrich and Charlie Keller. Johnny Sturm homered in the nightcap, in support of Atley Donald. Over the 2 games, Joe DiMaggio went 4-for-8 with 2 walks and 4 RBIs.
* The New York Giants beat the Boston Braves, 4-3 at Braves Field in Boston. Mel Ott went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs.
* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1st game, 11-8. Jimmie Foxx beat his former team with a home run in the top of the 11th. The A's won the 2nd game, 10-8. Over the 2 games, Ted Williams went 2-for-9 with a home run, 2 walks, and 3 RBIs, dropping his batting average... to .408.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 and 3-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Johnny Humphries pitched a 6-hit shutout in the 2nd game.
* The Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Browns were tied 3-3 after 10 innings at Sportsman's Park, when the game was rained out. Bob Feller had pitched 4 1/3rd innings of relief for the Indians, for no decision.
* And the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Cincinnati Reds, the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled.
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