From: Everette (194cbteng@bellsouth.net)
Date: Sat Jan 14 2006 - 06:05:40 PST
January 14
1943 Roosevelt and Churchill begin Casablanca Conference
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.
Everette
In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me
light and strength.
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