The Unrelenting Struggle.

inscribed to the head of Roosevelt's Secret Service Detail

An important wartime presentation copy, inscribed by Churchill at the Casablanca Conference to the head of Roosevelt's Secret Service Detail: 'To / Colonel William Starling / from / Winston Churchill / Anfa lunch / January, 1943'.

Colonel William Starling joined the White House Secret Service Detail during Woodrow Wilson's first term and remained through Franklin D. Roosevelt's third. His record as personal bodyguard to Wilson won him the position as Head of the Detail and, in that capacity, he found himself in daily contact with five successive Presidents - Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and Roosevelt.

The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) was held in Anfa, north of Casablanca, from 14th to 24th January 1943. Its objective was to plan the Allied strategy for the European theatre during the next phase of the Second World War. The idea for the conference began with a proposal put to Prime Minister Winston Churchill in late 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who felt that as soon as the Allies had driven the Germans out of Tunisia in North Africa, which was imminent, there should be a meeting between the military leaders of Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. However, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin did not attend due to the Battle of Stalingrad.

The conference ratified wartime policies and post-war principles set out by Churchill and Roosevelt in the Atlantic Charter of 1941. Most notable of these was Roosevelt's announcement of the 'Unconditional Surrender' policy. The Atlantic Charter called for an end to wars of aggression, the promotion of collective security, and the complete disarmament of aggressor nations. At Casablanca, Roosevelt argued that the only way to achieve those goals and guarantee long-term peace was the total destruction of the Axis philosophies of conquest. Demanding unconditional surrender ensured that no separate, compromised peace treaties would be signed, aligning the Allies strictly with the charter's vision.

Together with an ALS tipped-in addressed to Starling from Churchill's aide-de-camp, Commander C.R. 'Tommy' Thompson, stating: 'The P.M has asked me to send this book along to you + hopes you will accept it with his thanks for all that you did to make the Anfa party go so well, in particular for his comfort and convenience'. He then goes on to personally express his gratitude towards him, and hopes that they 'shall meet somewhere, sometime soon.'

First edition, one of 100 copies specially bound for presentation, inscribed by the author, with ALS from Churchill's aide-de-camp tipped in; 8vo; 5 half-tone plates, light spotting to flyleaves and endpapers; publisher's presentation binding of navy pebble-grained morocco, white moiré pastedowns and endpapers, top edge gilt, light spotting to fore- and bottom edges, an excellent copy.