Atlantic Charter Broadside (2 results)

Poster. This original 1943 Second World War broadside features the text of the Atlantic Charter, designed by W. A. Dwiggins, printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office, and issued by the U.S. Office of War Information. The 28 x 20 inches (71.1 x 50.8 cm) broadside is creased once vertically and thrice horizontally to produce eight panels, as folded for original distribution, Condition is better than very good, suitable for framing. The paper is clean and complete, with no indication that it has ever been framed or hung. At the upper edge of the blank verso, two pieces of archival tape are fitted, one to the top of the vertical fold, one to the center left, the archival tape stabilizing short closed tears and causing them to disappear. The broadside shows minimal overall age-toning and a trivial hint of soiling to the right and left bottom edges. America's wartime propaganda agency, the Office of War Information (OWI), was founded by President Roosevelt's Executive Order on 13 June 1942 and dissolved in August 1945. OWI's mandate to sustain patriotic fervor exemplified the uneasy relationship between democratic ideals and wartime necessity. In the words of an OWI spokesman, OWI posters helped ensure that "every man, woman and child should be reached and moved by the message." In designing this OWI broadside, American typographer, book designer, and illustrator William Addison Dwiggins (1880-1956) joined a cadre of prominent artists, including Norman Rockwell, Ben Shahn, and James Montgomery Flagg, who contributed to OWI efforts. Dwiggins used a style that echoes historic proclamations, fitting for a document containing some of the twentieth century's most aspirational words. In August 1941, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill braved the Battle of the Atlantic to voyage by warship to Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, where he secretly met with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Their agenda included setting constructive goals for the post-war world, even as the struggle against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan was still very much undecided and the U.S. had yet to formally enter the war. The eight principles to which they agreed became known as the Atlantic Charter. "That it had little legal validity did not detract from its value Coming from the two great democratic leaders of the day the Atlantic Charter created a profound impression on the embattled Allies a message of hope and the promise of a world organization based on the enduring verities of international morality." (UN) In addition to encapsulating the Allies' postwar aspirations and catalyzing formation of the United Nations, the Atlantic Charter testified to the remarkable personal relationship between FDR and Churchill. "Support for the principles of the Atlantic Charter came from a meeting of ten governments in London shortly after Mr. Churchill returned from his ocean rendezvous. This declaration was signed on September 24 by the USSR and the nine governments of occupied Europe: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia and by the representatives of General de Gaulle, of France." Nonetheless, Atlantic Charter principles were remote from the realities of war in August 1941. Even after Newfoundland, to Churchill's frustration, America had still "made no commitments and was no nearer to war than before the ship board meeting." (Gilbert, VI, p.1176) In his live broadcast from Chequers on August 24, Churchill modestly introduced the Atlantic Charter thus: "a simple, rough-and-ready war-time statement of the goal towards which the British Commonwealth and the United States mean to make their way" Not until December 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, did America formally enter the war and not until October 1945 was the United Nations established, embodying the lofty principles of the Atlantic Charter. Even then, the Cold War was already nascent, ensuring that a geo-political reality based on those noble.

Rare printed broadside of the historic Atlantic Charter. Folio, one page. In fine condition. The broadside measures 8.5 inches by 11 inches. A very nice example. The historic secret Atlantic Conference was held between August 9th and 12th, 1941 on a warship anchored in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. At that momentous meeting, Winston S. Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and their military aides agreed upon critical policies for the conduct of a joint war against Germany, even though the U.S. was still officially neutral and would remain so until December 8. The meetings culminated in the Atlantic Charter, a declaration of principles issued a few days after the conference. Often compared to Wilson's Fourteen Points, the Charter also laid the foundation for the United Nations Declaration, signed by 26 nations in January 1942. Issued on August 14, 1941, the Atlantic Charter outlined the aims for the postwar world as follows: no territorial aggrandizement, no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people (self-determination), restoration of self-government to those deprived of it, reduction of trade restrictions, global co-operation to secure better economic and social conditions for all, freedom from fear and want, freedom of the seas, abandonment of the use of force, and disarmament of aggressor nations.