1943 — The Casablanca Conference

On January 14, 1943, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a ten-day war summit at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco. It was the first time an American president had left the country in wartime, and the two leaders met on African soil to map the war's next phase.

Their plans were sweeping: invading Sicily to knock Italy out of the war, stepping up the bombing of Germany, and sending aid to the Soviet Union. On the final day, Roosevelt proclaimed the demand of "unconditional surrender" for the Axis powers, words that fixed the war's terms from a hotel in Casablanca.