Atlantic Charter

A joint statement issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in August 1941, outlining Allied principles and aims for the postwar world.

Atlantic Conference: A meeting between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill aboard ships off Newfoundland in August 1941. The leaders drafted the Charter during this meeting, before the United States entered the war.
Four Freedoms: Four freedoms Franklin D. Roosevelt named in 1941: speech, worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The Charter’s commitments to economic cooperation and security echoed Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms.
Declaration by United Nations: The 1942 declaration by 26 nations pledging to uphold the principles of the Atlantic Charter and fight the Axis powers. It turned the Charter’s principles into a public commitment by a broader wartime coalition.
German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty: A 1939 agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that formalized their partition of occupied Poland. Its secret territorial bargains starkly contrasted with the Charter’s public rejection of territorial aggrandizement.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: The 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. Roosevelt helped shape the Charter while seeking to support the Allies without entering the war.
Self-determination: The principle that peoples should be able to determine their political status and form of government. The Charter invoked peoples’ right to choose their government, though its application to colonies remained contested.
United Nations: An international organization founded in 1945 to maintain peace, foster cooperation, and address global problems. The Charter’s call for lasting collective security helped prepare the ground for the United Nations.
Atlanticism: A political tradition favoring close cooperation between North American and European states. The Charter became an early expression of the transatlantic political partnership later associated with this tradition.
Winston Churchill: The British prime minister who led the United Kingdom through most of the Second World War. Churchill negotiated the declaration as Britain faced the Axis powers largely alone.
Free trade: An economic policy that reduces or removes government restrictions on trade between countries. The Charter called for equal access to trade and raw materials.

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