The First Summit

Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay, 1941

By: Theodore a. Wilson

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Paperback | 1 July 1991

At a Glance

Paperback
338 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
20.96 x 13.97 x 2.54

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Four months before Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met in secret aboard a ship in a secluded Newfoundland harbor. This was the first summit conference of World War II.

Although it would soon be overshadowed by the events to come, the 1941 summit at Placentia Bay produced dramatic results. It confirmed the policy of material aid for Britain and sanctioned the "Atlantic Charter." It also laid the groundwork for the three-way alliance that would bring about the destruction of the Axis powers. "I am sure that I have established warm and deep personal relations with our great friend," Churchill cabled his cabinet from Argentia Harbor.

In this revised edition of his classic study, which won the Society of American Historians Parkman Prize, historian Theodore Wilson has expanded and updated the narrative. Drawing upon a wealth of primary sources made available since the first edition (British official records, declassified material in the Roosevelt Library and National Archives, along with the papers of such British and American officials as George C. Marshall, Adolf Berle, Orlando Ward, Sir Alexander Cadogan, and Lord Halifax), he has added nearly 40% new material. The First Summit is now totally grounded in archival research and authoritative in a way that the original version could not be.

Wilson carefully analyzes the events of August 1941 and concludes that President Roosevelt was not totally in control. As the country lurched from crisis to crisis, bureaucratic politics and organizational dynamics were far more influential than FDR in determining the evolution of U.S. strategy, U. S. policy toward Japan, Anglo-American economic relations, and the efforts to mobilize for war.

Wilson also recaptures the drama and color of the shipboard discussions from Roosevelt's bizarre working methods to Churchill's choice of entertainment in the evenings. The resulting narrative bristles with detail and puts forth a rounded, confident argument establishing the meeting at Argentia as a landmark in the history of war diplomacy.

Industry Reviews

The new material puts The First Summit once again on the cutting edge of the historical debate. Even bureaucratic politics comes alive. . . . This is a most important book.--J. Garry Clifford, author of The First Peacetime Draft

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History General & World History Regional & National History European History British & Irish History Politics & Government International Relations Diplomacy Warfare & Defence Military & Defence Strategy Military History

Second World War History of the Americas Biographies & True Stories Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies

Preface	p. vii
Beginnings	p. 1
Final Preparations	p. 21
Down to the Sea in Ships	p. 37
Through Rough Seas to Safe Harbor	p. 56
The Meeting Begins	p. 77
United in Purpose	p. 97
Hypothetical Questions	p. 111
The Third Climacteric	p. 135
The Atlantic Charter	p. 149
Good-bye, Columbus	p. 176
Homeward Bound	p. 190
The Aftermath	p. 205
Epilogue	p. 228
Notes	p. 237
Selected Bibliography	p. 291
The Participants	p. 309
Index	p. 311
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

The First Summit

Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay, 1941

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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