Historic Document Outlines Peace

The Atlantic Charter is an important part of American history. This historic document was signed by President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, representing the United Kingdom.The Atlantic Charter was the result of the Atlantic Conference, where men met in secret aboard U.S and British battle cruisers in August of 1941.  According to the document itself the meeting was designed to outline the hope "for a better world at war's end".

Of the policies, number eight in the Charter, uses powerful words expressing that "all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of force."  The beauty of the words are lost as the disarmament of weapons was intended for some of the world's people but not for all of the world's people; which according to the document was required,  to bring about the world peace the Atlantic Charter longs for.  Weapons and technology continued to be developed with enthusiasm and speed, hampering the utopia outlined in the sixth policy where the Charter describes a place where, "all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want". The utopia described in the eighth policy of the Atlantic Charter explains that there will never be peace in the world as long as, "armaments continue to be employed..."

Disagreements over the document lead to the Cold War, a four decade long dispute that ended in the early 1990's. The time of the Cold War was not a time of war or peace, but a stand-off between policies and politics that sparked  over the rights of various countries to possess and develop types of weaponry, mainly, the Atomic Bomb.

The Major players of the Cold War, were the United Stated and the Soviet Union, however, many countries throughout Europe were affected by the long Cold War. The communist rule in France and Italy lost hold and the recognition of Israel as a state were among the many events that occurred during the time of the cold war that brought effects in the decades that followed. The Policies of the Atlantic Charter were officially adopted in April, 1945 as 50 nations came together with the United Nations Charter. The United Nations remains active assisting with humanitarian affairs, human rights, and striving always for peace.