The Ogdensburg Agreement

By the summer of 1940, Germany's victories had made Britain's survival uncertain and brought the security of the Atlantic into North American planning. Roosevelt was trying to assist Britain while the United States remained legally neutral. American military leaders also wanted to reserve scarce equipment for the defense of the Western Hemisphere. Cooperation with Canada offered a way to address that immediate continental problem while the larger question of American entry into the war remained unsettled. [1]

Mackenzie King and Franklin Roosevelt met in the president’s railway car near Ogdensburg, New York, in August 1940. Their talks produced a declaration issued on 18 August establishing a Permanent Joint Board on Defence, through which the two governments could continue the military consultation begun by their leaders. [2]

The war in Europe had made the defence of North America an urgent shared problem. The board would compare military needs and assessments across sea, land, and air defence, including the personnel and equipment each required. [2]

Each country was to appoint four or five members, most drawn from the armed services, to study the defence of the northern half of the Western Hemisphere. The countries retained their separate forces and commands while establishing a standing channel for officials to assess common dangers and work out responses. [2]

Related Diplomats

1. Loring Christie [4]

Related Reading

• Canada and the United States