The Beginning of Wartime Consultation, 1943

Abstract

1943 was a busy year for postwar planners. In March, Roosevelt initiated practical discussion of the principles outlined in the Atlantic Charter and Article VII when he announced an international conference in two months’ time to discuss the principles and politics of food. The purpose of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conference in Hot Springs, Virginia was not simply to eliminate the shortage of food, but to test the level of commitment to postwar cooperation in the United States and abroad. Convening the conference sent out a signal that America was ready to discuss other postwar issues, including trade. The British government responded by preparing for the commercial talks which would follow the FAO meeting. British policy-makers had to map out a strategy for Anglo- American discussions, which would precede a full international gathering.

So much were we indifferent to the great forces that were in gestation that I don’t remember a single discussion in Cabinet on any events or tendencies in the ‘Manchurian to Munich’ period – except what I now look back on as a most unreal discussion on Munich, the implications of which were entirely hidden from us. Australia had its head in the domestic sand in those years, with a vengeance.₁

(Richard Casey)

Planning for peace is an essential part of the job of winning the war.₂

(John Winant)