The Next Meeting

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill got set for their eighth meeting of the war. Perhaps deliberately, their meeting place was one of the war's worst kept secrets. Even Broadway columnists seemed to know it. Last week they chanted: Quebec. The New York Post ran an article called "Some Reasons Why Quebec Would Be Ideal for Coming F.D.R.-Churchill Conference."* The conservative Associated Press, which scrupulously observes censorship, mentioned Quebec.

The President and Prime Minister had much to discuss. Much had happened since Teheran (December 1943). The swift stab of Allied armor into Germany gave urgency to such decisions as what to do with Germany. Presumably the surrender terms would put Germany, for a long time, under strictest military control. But after that, what? And still to be decided was how "hard" the peace should be./- The story of the charnel house of Maidenek (see FOREIGN NEWS) revived the problem of how high, and how low, responsibility should go for Nazi atrocities.

In the Pacific, a military problem came first: the final strategy to beat Japan. The brunt of the fighting would probably be left to the U.S., but British forces might well be assigned to retaking Singapore and the Dutch Indies. The big question was: have U.S. air and sea successes permitted a big change in the oldtime Navy strategy? Is the invasion of South China still necessary, or will the main thrust be directly at the Jap mainland? Even more immediate was the problem of help to China, which is close to defeat at the moment her Allies are close to victory.

In what is expected to be their last meeting before the fall of Germany, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill had much to talk about.

*Among advantages cited by the New Dealing Post: "Easy communication with Washington during a period when the election campaign will be getting warm."

/- For controversy on this point last week, see FOREIGN NEWS.)

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