Editorial Note
The Pacific War Council was established in Washington on March 30, 1942, following discussions among the Allied Governments involved in the war effort against Japan, and it held its first meeting on April 1, 1942. Some discussion of the founding of the Pacific War Council may be found in Sherwood, pp. 510, 515–516, Churchill, Hinge [Page 449] of Fate, p. 197, and Matloff and Snell, pp. 166–167. The Council was composed of President Roosevelt (who presided at all meetings), Harry Hopkins, and diplomatic representatives, from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The Pacific War Council served as a consultative body to consider matters of policy relating to the Allied war effort against Japan, and it provided a forum where President Roosevelt informed the Allied Governments of the progress of the war and made known his views with respect to the conduct of military operations in the Pacific and other problems related to the general war effort. Meetings of the Council were held almost every week during the early months of its existence. For the record of the Council’s 36th Meeting, January 12, 1944, the last meeting for which minutes have been found, see Foreign Relations, the Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943, p. 868.