U.S. Department of State 
96/08/09 Press Release
Office of the Spokesman 
 
 
For Immediate Release 
August 9, 1996 
 
 
STATEMENT BY NICHOLAS BURNS, SPOKESMAN 
 
 
This Day in Diplomacy:  The Atlantic Conference 
 
This weekend is the 55th anniversary of the Atlantic Conference between 
President Franklin  Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston 
Churchill and their staffs.  The discussions at the Conference forged 
the Anglo-American alliance of World War II.  Meeting from August 9-12,  
1941, in great secrecy aboard the cruiser USS Augusta and the 
battlecruiser HMS Prince of Wales, the two leaders and their staffs 
discussed the general strategy of the war against the Axis Powers,  
although the United States was not yet a belligerent.  Roosevelt and 
Churchill gave attention to future military operations, in particular 
launching a second front in Europe to support the beleaguered Soviet 
forces.  Roosevelt and Churchill also agreed that U.S. and British 
scientists would cooperate in developing the atomic bomb. 
 
The major public outcome of the Atlantic Conference was the Atlantic 
Charter, issued by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill on 
August 14, 1941.  The Charter set forth the Alliesā basic postwar 
principles, including the repudiation of all territorial aggrandizement, 
the consent of people to all territorial changes, the rights of people 
to self-determination, freedom of the seas, economic cooperation, and a 
permanent system of postwar security.  The Atlantic Charter--
subsequently endorsed by 15 nations--became the basis of shared hopes 
and goals for the Grand Alliance of nations that overcame the Axis 
powers in 1945.