Second Washington Conference

The Second Washington Conference (19 – 25 June 1942), did not have a code name because it was hastily called and was regarded at the time as a set of military staff conversations rather than a formal conference. The two delegations were led by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Immediately before the Conference started, Roosevelt held preparatory talks with Churchill in his home town of Hyde Park, New York on 19 and 20 June.

The conference discussed how the Western Allies could best aid the Soviet Union. The Americans were keen to open up a Second Front in France, but the British did not think that it was yet a feasible option and Churchill proposed developing a joint campaign in the Mediterranean Theater leading to an attack on Italy as the "soft under-belly" of the Axis. Agreement was reached to start preparations for an invasion of the North African Colonies of Vichy France (Operation Torch). One of the first concrete measures taken by Roosevelt to facilitate this strategy was to appoint General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Forces in the European Theater of Operations on 25 June.

Roosevelt and Churchill also held discussions with members of the Pacific War Council, King Peter II of Yugoslavia and his Foreign Minister, and with Soviet and Chinese representatives with whom they discussed strategic problems.