242. [World War II]. Broadside of “The Atlantic Charter”, 1 page (20 x 28 in.; 508 x 711 mm.), Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943. Printed across the lower edge: “OWI Poster No. 50 Additional copies may be obtained upon request from the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C.” Folded. Lightly toned with minor separations at folds; pin holes at corners. Minor reinforcement on verso at edges of folds.

Scarce large Atlantic Charter Broadside by U.S. Government printing office.

The charter reads in full: The Atlantic Charter The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world. 1.) Their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other. 2.) They desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned. 3.) They respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them. 4.) They will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity. 5.) They desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations on the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security. 6.) After the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want. 7.) Such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance. 8.) They believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons, must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measures which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill August 14, 1941.

Although this 1943 broadside makes it appear that FDR and Churchill each signed the original, no signed copy ever existed. It was drafted at the Atlantic Conference by Roosevelt and Churchill aboard warships in a secure anchorage in Ship Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada and was issued as a joint declaration on 14 August 1941. The text was then telegraphed to London and Washington. In December 1944, at a press conference, FDR revealed that “Nobody signed the Atlantic Charter.” Very few of these large broadsides survived.
$2,000 - $3,000