THE MEDITERRANEAN SUMMIT : Last Summit at Sea Led to Atlantic Charter

The last time an American President met at sea with a world-renowned foreign leader was in August, 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt conferred with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard a British warship in Placenta Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.

The three-day meeting, which ended Aug. 12, was held during Britain’s darkest hours in World War II. It also came four months before the United States entered the conflict, but the discussions left little doubt that America would soon be involved.

The shipboard conference’s most notable achievement was a joint proclamation setting down “certain common principles” of Britain and the United States in what became known as the Atlantic Charter. Among its eight points were an affirmation of the right to self-determination, a vow that the United States and Britain would seek no new territory or territorial changes without the consent of the people involved, rejection of the use of force to settle conflicts, free trade and joint economic development.

The charter’s main impact was as a morale-booster for democratic nations at a time of pessimism and discouragement. Endorsed by other democratic states, it became one of the building blocks in the creation of the United Nations.

Roosevelt and Churchill had brought their senior military advisers to the shipboard conference. And although the United States was still formally neutral, the meeting gave the British and American staffs an opportunity to meet and develop contacts that would become useful after the United States entered the war.