Foreign Relations of the United States, Conferences at Washington and Quebec, 1943

Hopkins Papers

Draft Joint Statement by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill¹

[Washington, May 25, 1943.]

Joint Statement by the President and the Prime Minister²

The complete destruction of the Nazi Afrika Korps and their Italian allies in North Africa completed one phase of the military decisions made at Casablanca. Progress on other operations, determined at that time, are [sic] proceeding satisfactorily. Aggressive warfare, however, requires a constant implementation of strategy, based upon military events. Further operations, in addition to those determined upon at Casablanca, must be set afoot. Therefore, the President and the Prime Minister decided to meet again with their Chiefs of Staff.

They have agreed on further steps to be taken in the overall planning of a global war. It is important to state that the operations which have been agreed to include every theater of war all over the world.

There has been a complete meeting of minds on—

(a) The war in the Pacific from the Aleutians to Australia

(b) The war in China and Southern Asia

(c) The war in the Near East

(d) The war in all parts of the Mediterranean

(e) The war in the North and South Atlantic

(f) The war in Europe

All of these plans are related to each other in regard to shipping, air support and the command of the seas by our navies.

The state of the war at this time is in a far more satisfactory condition than when the Chiefs of Staff met with the President and the Prime Minister in Casablanca. The unrelenting anti U–boat campaign is prospering, with the result that there are far more merchant ships available than had been anticipated.³

The vast production of war materials assures the United Nations of weapons with which to destroy the enemy.

The President and the Prime Minister also discussed⁴ with the Chiefs of Staff the⁵ temporary civil and military organizations to be put in effect⁶ when and as Nazi, Fascist or Japanese occupied territories are freed.

A complete report of the conference has been sent to Stalin and the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek.⁷

1. This draft joint statement, which bears neither date nor indication of authorship, appears to be the revision of the earlier draft printed supra. In the course of the meeting of the Combined Chiefs of Staff with Roosevelt and Churchill on the morning of May 25, it had been agreed that Hopkins should prepare such a revision; see ante, p. 204. The source text covers two typewritten pages. There are two identical copies of page 2, each of which bears a number of amendments in the handwriting of Roosevelt and Churchill. These amendments are indicated in footnotes. Roosevelt and Churchill presumably worked at revising this statement during their meeting on the evening of May 25; see the editorial note, ante, p. 221.
2. The word “Tentative” in Hopkins’ handwriting appears above the title of the document.
3. The word “Air” in the President’s handwriting appears in the margin at the beginning of this paragraph. The following sentence, in the Prime Minister’s handwriting, appears at the end of this paragraph: “The weight & intensity of the air offensive grows continually.”
4. The word “discussed” is crossed out and replaced with the word “examined” in the Prime Minister’s handwriting.
5. Following the word “the” the phrase “form of” in the Prime Minister’s handwriting is inserted.
6. The phrase “put in effect” is crossed out and replaced by the phrase “set up” in the Prime Minister’s handwriting.
7. This paragraph is crossed out and the phrase “See amendment” in the President’s handwriting appears in the margin. The paragraph is revised, in the Prime Minister’s handwriting, to read: “A complete report of the conclusions of the conference is being sent to Stalin and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek.” The introductory phrase “A complete report of the” is crossed out and replaced by the phrase “The fullest possible” in Hopkins’ handwriting, which is also crossed out.