MUNINN

Churchill and the Atlantic Charter MUNINN Volume 2 (2013)23, 1942, President Roosevelt informed the American public in one ofhis radio broadcasts that the Atlantic Charter applied to every nation orcolony: “The Atlantic Charter applies not only to parts of the worldthat border the Atlantic, but to the whole world; disarmament ofaggressors, self-determination of nations and peoples and the fourfreedoms: Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom fromwant, and freedom from fear.” 18 Questions and concerns surfacedimmediately regarding its universal application, since the US had itsown protectorates including the Philippines that were occupied byJapan since December 1941. In 1942-43, the US was already workingwith Vietnamese and Filipino rebels against Japanese forces on thepremise that their independence would be the result of winning thewar. 19Whether or not FDR wanted to avoid further complications inthe special relationship with Churchill, the president allowed otherpoliticians to take the leading voice for his maximalist vision for theAtlantic Charter. Some even saw the charter as an opportunity toextend statehood to American territories such as Hawaii and PuertoRico. On February 13, 1943, New York Congressman Joseph ClarkBaldwin (1897-1957) gave a speech on the implementation of theAtlantic Charter in front of the Foreign Policy Association ofPennsylvania, and said:Probably at no time in the history of this country has our Congressfaced so grave a responsibility as confronts it today. In theRevolutionary War we fought to create the Union. In the Civil War,we fought to preserve the Union, and in this war, as in the last war,we are, in my opinion, fighting to extend the Union. 20Baldwin emphasized that he was not an imperialist, and even suggestedthat the United Nations, although only a name for the alliance againstthe Axis at this point, might become another mechanism towards globalunity and democracy. By the time of Baldwin’s speech, twenty-ninenations had signed the Atlantic Charter since August 14, 1941.Congressman Baldwin stressed the necessity and centrality ofdemocracy as the main principle of the Charter and that democracyneeded to be made efficient and available to these new states thatwould emerge: “Democracy must be streamlined if it is to hold itsown. [Yet it need not] lose one iota of its democratic effectiveness in18Committee on Africa, 30.19The Philippines observed their independence from the US on the Fourth of July, 1946.The French ignored FDR and reoccupied Vietnam and fought a bitter colonial war, 1945-54.20Joseph Clark Baldwin, "Implementing the Atlantic Charter," Vital Speeches of the Day9, no. 12 (April 1943): 380. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 16,2012)7