Québec Conferences (1943-44)
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The Québec Conferences: W.L. Mackenzie King, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, with British and American chiefs of staff at the Québec Conference of August 18, 1943.
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In May 1946, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) recognized the Québec City Conferences of 1943 and 1944 as events of national historic importance. The designation came less than two years after the strategic meetings were held. In the midst of the Second World War, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met in Québec City to take stock of operations under way and plan the strategy they would follow. Canadian Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King hosted the two leaders but took no part in their discussions in Québec City.
The conferences had an impact on the course of the war and the shape of the world order once peace was restored. Held in Québec City at the suggestion of President Roosevelt, a first conference took place in the Citadel (given HSMBC designation in 1980) from August 10 to 24, 1943. The leaders decided in favour of the Normandy landings of June 1944. A second conference was held in the same location from September 11 to 16, 1944, where Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt coordinated their postwar plans and discussed arrangements for the occupation of Germany.
