Roosevelt Papers
White House Press Release1
There is, of course, one primary objective in the conversations to be held during the next few days between the President and the British Prime Minister and the respective staffs of the two countries. That purpose is the defeat of Hitlerism throughout the world.
It should be remembered that many other nations are engaged today in this common task. Therefore, the present conferences in Washington should be regarded as preliminary to further conferences which will officially include Russia, China, the Netherlands and the Dominions. It is expected that there will thus be evolved an over-all unity in the conduct of the war. Other nations will be asked to participate to the best of their ability in the over-all objective.
It is probable that no further announcements will be made until the end of the present conferences,2 but it may be assumed that the other interested nations will be kept in close touch with this preliminary planning.
- Published in Department of State Bulletin, vol. v, December 27, 1941, p. 573.↩
- Earlier on December 22 the White House had released a brief statement to the press, indicating that Churchill had arrived in Washington to discuss “all questions relevant to the concerted war effort.” See Department of State Bulletin, vol. v, December 27, 1941, p. 573. On December 23 the White House released to the press a statement indicating that Prime Minister Churchill’s first official engagement after being received by the President was to meet with the representatives in Washington of the British Dominions. See ibid., p. 573. Roosevelt issued a general statement on the progress of the conference on the evening of December 27. See ibid., p. 578.↩