The first summit

At 9:24 a.m. on August 7, 1941, there steamed into the quiet harbor of Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, a United States naval task force with escorting destroyers from the Atlantic Fleet. On board these vessels were the President of the United States; the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and a retinue of officials from the military, naval, and civilian branches of government. Two days later, rising morning mists revealed the great British battleship Prince of Wales dropping her anchor, surrounded by an escort of destroyers from the Royal Canadian Navy. Aboard the Prince of Wales was Winston Churchill, with his military commanders and civilian advisers. Thus opened the momentous and secret conference at which the Atlantic Charter was drawn up and arrangements made for American supplies for England and Russia, the escort of convoys by the United States Navy as far as Iceland, and other steps which brought America to the very limit of those measures "short of war" which for the four remaining months before Pearl Harbor brought courage and weapons to the beleaguered British. In telling the whole story of this dramatic meeting, from the inception of the idea to the results of the conference, historian Theodore Wilson has explored official and personal papers, manuscripts, memoirs, and histories. Although writing a thoroughly authoritative account, Mr. Wilson never forgets that he is describing great men caught up in a great drama, and he holds his readers tense through a long and historic voyage.--From publisher description.