Originally published on June 15, 2023 (Episode 320)
Introduction
In January 1943, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill convened in Casablanca for what Churchill later called the most important Allied conference of the war. The setting was strange—resort-style accomodations surrounded by barbed wire, sandbags, and anti-aircraft guns—but the stakes were immense. For ten days, the leaders of the United States and Britain, alongside their military staffs, hammered out plans for the year ahead and set the trajectory for the rest of the conflict.
Roosevelt’s decision to attend in person was itself momentous. As his advisor Harry Hopkins observed, FDR was tired of being represented by others abroad; he wanted to see American troops; prove wrong those who said it was too dangerous to fly; and embrace the drama of leadership on the world stage. “But above all,” Hopkins concluded, “he wanted to make a trip.”
But the conference was momentous all on its own. It introduced Roosevelt to Charles De Gaulle, which was not a successful encounter. But the conference yielded not only military plans but also public declarations of Allied unity and the principle of “unconditional surrender.”
James Conroy traces the road to Casablanca, the negotiations and arguments inside the conference, and the broader significance of this gathering in his new book The Devils Will Get No Rest: FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War (Simon and Schuster, 2023).
About the Guest
James Conroy was a practicing lawyer until 2020. His first book, Our One Common Country, was a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. His second, Lincoln’s White House, shared the Lincoln Prize.
For Further Investigation
James Conroy, The Devils Will Get No Rest: FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War (Simon and Schuster, 2023).
Related Episodes
Saving Freud, with Andrew Nagorski — another story of Nazi-era Europe and its refugees
Eisenhower’s Guerrillas, which has a great deal on De Gaulle, and the politics of France’s liberation
💬 Listen & Discuss
How did Churchill and Roosevelt’s personal dynamics shape the outcomes of the conference? And how do wartime conferences like Casablanca reveal the challenges of coalition leadership? Pass this episode along to any other World War II buff you know.
