On this day, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt meet in Casablanca, Morocco, along with the Combined Chiefs
of Staff, to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war. This meeting
marked the first time an American president left American soil during wartime.
Participants also included leaders of the French government-in-exile, Gen.
Charles de Gaulle and Gen. Henri Giraud, who were assured of a postwar united
France.
The success of the North
Africa invasion, which resulted in the defeat of Vichy French forces, compelled
President Roosevelt to meet with Prime Minister Churchill (Joseph Stalin, president
and dictator of the USSR, declined an invitation to attend) to confer on how
best to push forward an end to the war. Top priority was given to destroying
German U-boat patrols in the Atlantic and launching combined bombing missions.
Most important, in a controversial declaration, they announced that the Allies
would accept only unconditional surrender from the Axis powers, a decision that
caused consternation on all sides as too extreme and allowing too little room
for political maneuvering. The meeting was kept secret--even by newspapers that
knew about it--until the participants left Morocco on January 27.
Taken from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roosevelt-and-churchill-begin-casablanca-conference [14.01.2015]
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