An original Second World War Official U.S. Navy photograph of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill with a retinue of their senior staff in the garden of Roosevelt's residence at the end of the Casablanca conference on 24 January 1943
Casablanca, Morocco: United States Navy, 1943. Photograph. This original Second World War U.S. Navy photograph captures U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, and a retinue of their senior staff in the garden of Roosevelt’s residence at the end of the Casablanca conference on 24 January 1943. Standing left to right behind Roosevelt and Churchill are Harry Hopkins, Lieutenant General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, Admiral Ernest King, General George C. Marshall, Admiral Dudley Pound, RAF Marshal Charles Portal, Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, Field Marshal John Dill, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, and General Brehon B. Somervell. Others are unidentified.
The gelatin silver print measures 10.25 x 8 inches (26 x 20.3 cm). Condition is very good, the paper complete and the image clean, with no appreciable fading, toning, or scuffing. Trivial wear appears confined to the edges and within the white border margins. The upper white border margins feature blue ink notation identifying eight of the individuals in the image. The verso features a four-line ink stamp reading “OFFICIAL U. S. NAVY PHOTOS | ANTHONY F. WIN | 2439 NORTH FRANCISCO AVE | CHICAGO 47, ILLINOIS”. Above and to the right of the ink stamp in three lines in pencil is written “Casablanca Conference | Jan. 14 – Feb. 26 1943 | Surrender Terms”. The image is protected within a clear, archival sleeve.
From 14-24 January 1943, two months after the Anglo-American landings in French North Africa, Roosevelt and Churchill met in Casablanca, Morocco, to plan Allied military strategy. Stalin was invited but declined to attend allegedly due to the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad. The Conference determined that invasion of Sicily would follow North Africa, addressed force deployments and lines of attack in the Far East, and agreed on concentrated bombing of Germany. Perhaps most important, Roosevelt and Churchill resolved to demand “unconditional surrender” from Germany, Italy, and Japan as the necessary precursor to postwar peace – a policy that aroused criticism and controversy both during and after the war.
This photo captures the two Allied leaders and their retinue in the garden behind the villa where President Roosevelt stayed, called “Dar Es Saada” which Churchill translated as “Abode of Divine Favor”. (FDR Presidential Library) There Roosevelt and Churchill held a press conference at approximately 12:30 PM for fifty Allied newspapermen. Roosevelt read out a prepared statement in which he outlined the events of the Conference and “The determination that peace can come to the world only by the total elimination of German and Japanese war power” and “the destruction of the philosophies in those countries which are based on conquest and the subjugation of other people.” (Gilbert, VII, p.309) Churchill appealed directly to the agents of the press in their presentation of the Conference to their readers: “Give them the picture of unity, thoroughness and integrity of the political chiefs." (ibid.) Of this meeting with the press Churchill told Roosevelt, “We charmed them all right.” (Roberts, Walking with Destiny, p.768). Item #007911
Price: $350.00