Brenda Hansen, age 15, of Utica, 'N.Y., for her question:

WHAT WAS THE ATLANTIC CHARTER?

The Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration by the United States and Great Britain issued during World War IT, expressing certain common principles in their national policies to be followed in the postwar period.

The declaration stated that the United States and Great Britain sought not territorial or any other aqqrandizement from the war. It proclaimed a belief in the right of ail people to choose their own form of government and not to have boundary changes imposed on them.

The charter expressed the hope that, after the destruction of the Nazi tyranny, ail countries would be able to feel secure from aggression and that the people of the world would be free from fear and want. It recognized the principle of the freedom of the seas, expressed the conviction that in the future humanity must renounce the use of force in international relations and affirmed the need for disarmament once the expected Allied victory could be achieved.

At a conference held in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 1, 1942, the 26 governments then at war with the Axis powers declared that they subscribed to a common program of purposes and principles embodie in the joint declaration ...known as the Atlantic. Charter."