Roosevelt's and Churchill's Atlantic Charter : A Risky Meeting at Sea that Saved Democracy

Winston Churchill was no stranger to storms. They had engulfed him in various ways throughout his long career and he had always turned to face them with jutting jaw and indomitable spirit.Dark clouds had hovered over him from the moment he became Britain's Prime Minister in May 1940.Now, fifteen harrowing months later, he was setting out to meet President Franklin Roosevelt, the one man who could offer real assistance in his hour of need. And another storm awaited - this time one of a meteorological kind as his ship, HMS _Prince of Wales_, ran into a howling gale within hours of leaving its base at Scapa Flow. Churchill demanded to be escorted to the Captain's cabin.His escort was a nervous young officer who feared that, in total darkness up swaying stairs, the Prime Minister, a man of some girth, might fall into the roiling sea.But Churchill relished it, remarking later that it was like an adventure after being trapped in No.10 Downing Street.The storm was so bad that the three-destro