Beschreibung:

ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. Autograph draft letter signed ("Roosevelt") as President, TO GENERALISSIMO CHIANG KAI-SHEK (1887-1975), President of the Chinese Nationalist Government, [Washington, D.C.], dated 12 November [1943] in another hand. 1 page, 4to (10 7/16 x 8 in.), signature and last 6 lines in pencil, faint mat burn, two punch holes at top, small traces of old mounting.
ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. Autograph draft letter signed ("Roosevelt") as President, TO GENERALISSIMO CHIANG KAI-SHEK (1887-1975), President of the Chinese Nationalist Government, [Washington, D.C.], dated 12 November [1943] in another hand. 1 page, 4to (10 7/16 x 8 in.), signature and last 6 lines in pencil, faint mat burn, two punch holes at top, small traces of old mounting. PRELUDE TO THE CAIRO AND TEHERAN CONFERENCES: ROOSEVELT INFORMS CHIANG KAI-SHEK THAT HE WILL VISIT STALIN, "OUR FRIEND FROM THE NORTH" As the winter of 1943-1944 approached, the leaders of the Big Three, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made arrangements to meet for the first time at Teheran to discuss critical Allied strategic issues. Prior to this meeting, Roosevelt had planned a preliminary meeting in Cairo, November 22-26, to enable Churchill and Roosevelt to discuss their position vis-a-vis the Soviet leader and to confer with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek regarding Allied operations and postwar policies in the Far East. In 1938, the American President had offered financial and material support to the Nationalist Chinese leader, and U.S. support had increased since America's entry into the war. Chinese resistance to Japanese aggression had become a key element of Roosevelt's Pacific strategy. Here, just ten days before the Conference was due to begin, he drafts a friendly communiqué to the Chinese leader: "I am just off for French North Africa and our meeting place where I am scheduled to arrive by the 22nd. I expect to stay there until the 26th when I will go to see our friend from the North and then return to our conference place in 3 or 4 days. I do hope you can come by the 22nd and that Mrs. Chiang is much better. Please give her my warm regards." In the middle of the letter, Roosevelt's pen ran out of ink, and he completed the text in pencil. The President and the Generalissimo finally met face to face at Cairo, their only personal meeting. Roosevelt made China the first order of business and held long conferences with Chiang, to Churchill's annoyance. Roosevelt, unlike his British counterpart, saw the Allies relationship with a nation of 400 million as a matter of enormous long-term significance. One crucial subject of discussion was the return of colonial territorial possessions to their original owners. "Roosevelt's efforts to ensure China's national aspirations and postwar status as a Great Power particularly pleased the Chiangs" (R. Dallek, Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy , 1932-1945, p.428). At the Tehran Conference, two days after the Cairo Conference ended, the conduct of the war in Europe was of primary focus, partly at the insistence of "our friend from the North," who was adamant that a second front must be opened in Europe. While he remained skeptical of Stalin's post-war intentions, Roosevelt told the American people, in a radio broadcast upon his return that "At Cairo and Teheran we devoted ourselves...to plans for the kind of world which alone can justify the sacrifices of this war" (quoted by Dallek, p.439). Provenance: "A New York Collector" (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 9 April 1980, lot 50).