Video: 'Churchill And Roosevelt At White House (1941)'

(Monday, December 22, 1941, 6:50 p.m. EST; during the Arcadia Conference) — 15 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the American entry into World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived at the White House tonight in Washington, D.C., after a secret ten-day journey across the Atlantic aboard HMS Duke of York to confer with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on “all questions related to the war effort.”

Video: 'PBS American Experience - FDR (1994) 4of5' (Dec. 22-23, 1941, at 46:20, stills in this segment are from Dec. 23, 1941, press conference)

The main policy achievements of Arcadia would include the decision for “Germany First” (or “Europe first”—that is, the defeat of Germany was the highest priority); the establishment of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, based in Washington, for approving the military decisions of both the U.S. and Britain; the principle of unity of command of each theater under a supreme commander; drawing up measures to keep China in the war; limiting the reinforcements to be sent to the Pacific; and setting up a system for coordinating shipping.

All the decisions were secret, except the conference drafted the Declaration by United Nations, which committed the Allies to make no separate peace with the enemy, and to employ full resources until victory