The memories of 1919 lay heavily upon the Allied leaders during the Second World War. A number of lessons had been learned, one of which was not to wait until the war was over before planning for the postwar world. While the Allies were hard pressed militarily through 1942 and 1943, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain had already put in place bureaucratic mechanisms to begin assessments, projections, and plans for the postwar order. The Atlantic Charter, negotiated by Roosevelt and Churchill on a naval vessel off the coast of Newfoundland four months before formal American involvement in the war, spelled out general political and economic principles that would constitute both war aims and guidelines for constructing the postwar order.