President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called the ‘United Nations’ on this day in 1942. The signatories of the declaration vowed to create an international post-war peacekeeping organization.
On December 22, 1941, Churchill arrived in Washington, DC, for the Arcadia Conference, a discussion with President Roosevelt about a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a future peace. The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the US was involved in the war, and it was important for Great Britain and America to create and project a unified front against Axis powers. Toward that end, Churchill and Roosevelt created a combined general staff to coordinate military strategy against both Germany and Japan and to draft a plan for a future joint invasion of the Continent.
Among the most far-reaching achievements of the Arcadia Conference was the United Nations agreement. Led by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, the signatories agreed to use all available resources to defeat the Axis powers. It was agreed that no single country would sue for a separate peace with Germany, Italy, or Japan – they would act in concert. Perhaps most importantly, the signatories promised to pursue the creation of a future international peacekeeping organization dedicated to ensuring “life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom, and to preserve the rights of man and justice.”
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Photo Caption – Representatives of 26 Allied nations fighting against the Axis Powers met in Washington, DC, to pledge their support for the Atlantic Charter by signing the Declaration by the United Nations on January 1, 1942. The document contained the first official use of the term “United Nations”, which was suggested by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (seated, second from left) –Wikipedia
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