Roosevelt Papers
Memoranda of Agreement Between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill
[Editorial Note. The authorship of these three memoranda is not indicated, but they appear to have been worked out by Roosevelt and Churchill on the basis of drafts prepared by the latter. They were approved in substance by the President and the Prime Minister prior to the meeting at 5:30 p.m. on January 14; see ante, pp. 203ff. According to the Hopkins memorandum (ante, p. 209) the final details of the agreements were settled at the Roosevelt Churchill dinner meeting on the evening of January 14, at which time the “President and Churchill initialed the several documents.” The source texts are all initialed “WSC 14–1”, but no copies of this date have been found bearing Roosevelt’s initials or signature.
[Page 360]After Churchill’s return to London, a few minor changes were made in the wording of the memoranda, and agreement was reached on the text of a covering statement to be released to the press along with the three memoranda on January 26, 1942. The texts as released on that date in Washington and London contain editorial variations. See Department of State Bulletin, vol. VI, January 31, 1942, p. 87; British Cmd. 6332, Co-ordination of the Allied War Effort: Agreements Between The Prime Minister and The President of the United States of America; and H. Duncan Hall, North American Supply (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, and Longmans, Green and Co., 1955), p. 508.]