August 17, 1943: The Quebec Conference

Left to right: WLMK, FDR, WLSC

August 17, 1943: While the provisional, post-Mussolini government of "a disintegrating Italy" declares Rome to be an "open city," the Château Frontenac hotel, atop the famed Citadelle, hosts the Québec Conference.

Hosting are Canada's Governor-General, Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, brother of Britain's Dowager Queen Mary and a great-grandson of King George III; and its Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, and Foreign Minister, Robert Anthony Eden (himself a future Prime Minister), are guests, as is America's President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his Secretary of State, Cordell Hull.

They meet through August 24, discussing strategy in both the European Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II. This included both which Japanese-held Pacific installations to attack and how to invade the European Continent to take on the Nazis. FDR and Churchill met one-on-one, as did Hull and Eden, and everybody involved met collectively.

The Citadelle was built in 1690, and was almost immediately the site of the Battle of Quebec in what is usually called King William's War. It was a French victory over the British, and led to the war ending in a stalemate. The British came back in 1759 and, in that Battle of Quebec, took New France and won what North America calls the French and Indian war, and their part in what Europe calls the Seven Years' War. The War of 1812, between the U.S. and Britain, led to a new fort, which was completed in 1850.

The Château Frontenac opened in 1893, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Since 2001, it has been run by Fairmont Hotels, and has officially been named The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. It is said to be the most-photographed hotel in the world, as is generally considered to be Quebec City's most familiar structure.

A second Quebec Conference would be held there from September 12 to 16, 1944.

*

August 17, 1943 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Not yet in the war, left fielder Charlie Keller and 3rd baseman Billy Johnson each had 2 hits. Butch Wensloff was the winning pitcher.

* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 10-4 at the Polo Grounds. Giants player-manager Mel Ott went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Ebbets Field.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Boston Braves, 8-0 and 4-3. In the opener, Hank Gornicki pitched a 6-hit shutout. In the nightcap, Pete Coscarart singled Johnny Podgajny home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* And the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators were not scheduled.