ABSTRACT
A declaration of intent by Britain about postwar economic policy had become of the utmost concern for the State Department in the context of Anglo-American economic relations by August 1941. After some uncertainty about the procedure by which Britain was to be brought to a commitment to postwar liberal economic policies, Acheson, Welles, Berle and Hawkins decided by mid-summer 1941 that such a statement should be included in the Consideration Agreement. Churchill agreed, and the result was the Atlantic Charter which was the first Anglo-American declaration of war aims. Roosevelt took with him Undersecretary of State Welles, Averell Harriman, who had been given the job of expediting Lend-Lease in London, and his Chiefs of Staff. On 17 September Winant reported to Hull that the British thought that the format of the Wheat Proposals might appear as an objectionable diktat to other countries, and that they disliked the provisions concerning importing nations.
