The First Summit: Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay, 1941: Revised Edition

Modern War Studies

by Theodore A. Wilson

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 discussionsfrom 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. "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.

Genres: World War II

318 pages, Paperback

First published July 23, 1991

Reviews

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a true adventure story. During the cataclysmic days of World War II, soon after the German onslaught in the Soviet Union, the two leaders of the worlds’ major democracies met at sea in the Atlantic – where German U-boats were sinking much needed supplies of convoys to England. This meeting, of quite possibly the two foremost dynamic leaders of the twentieth century, is well portrayed by Theodore Wilson.

The required secrecy and the thrill of the rendezvous off the barren coast of Newfoundland are well depicted. This was the first time these two leaders, Churchill and Roosevelt met (excepting a brief meeting after World War I when they were in entirely different positions) – so it was fraught with the emotions of how they were to take the measure of each other. It was essential for the future of humanity that both leaders establish a cordial and working relationship.

Much was discussed on the ships from the two nations – supplies and armaments to England and the Soviet Union, increasing U.S. support of convoys, relations with the ever expanding empire of Japan... When the “cat was out of the hat” and the secret meeting was revealed in England there was a letdown because it was thought and hoped for that the U.S. was to actively join the battlefield. Such was not to be the case. Also, as the author demonstrates, the U.S. war footing was still in the vestigial stages (in fact the U.S. was not to be drawn in until some months later when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor). The expectation of the amounts to be supplied was far less than the reality of what was available. The most lasting impact of the conference was the making of the “Atlantic Charter” which gave the world an alternative to the menacing, brutal, and expansionist regimes of Germany and Japan. It also served as a blueprint for the future United Nations.

The author describes as well the last minute decision of Roosevelt’s aid, Harry Hopkins, to take a trip to the war-torn Soviet Union in order to gather information for the Atlantic meeting. This is an ably written book that captures this troubled era where the future of mankind was looking very grim and depended on the fortitude of the worlds’ democracies.

[Don Heiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1969 Houghton Mifflin Company released Theodore Allen Wilson’s book “The First Summit: Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay 1941.” The book is based on Wilson’s Indiana University PhD dissertation research. In 1970 the book won the Francis Parkman prize for best book in American history. After the book was published, Wilson accepted a teaching position in the History Department at the University of Kansas where he served for 49 years. His exceptional book describes the secret meeting between President FDR and Churchill at Argentia Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. This was the first time they met and the meeting ended with the creation of the Atlantic Charter. This charter established the principles that underpinned American and British war and peace initiatives. Four months after the meeting, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and America entered World War II. This is a very exceptional book. It greatly enhanced my understanding of how Britain and the United States reached a mutual commitment to unite and achieve world peace. (P)

[Richard Munro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have an ex-library hardcover edition; it was first published in 1969. It is well written if occasionally overwritten with somewhat purple prose. But essentially all the research is from the mid 1960's and that was a long time ago. Any WWII book written before knowledge of the Ultra Secret is somewhat obsolete however useful