this is the room that stalin used as his office. for most soviet leaders, and the soviets are the hardest group to read here, because many of their archives aren't open, and even if they are open, they are in russia. but from what we can tell from the contemporary primary sources, the fundamental problem that the russians saw in the paris peace conference in the treaty of versailles, was the failure to build states on the board of russia that could act as buffers. so this time what the soviets want are stable, reliable countries that will serve as a buffer not just between the soviet union and germany, but the soviet union and a west that is still seen as a potential security threat to the soviet union and the post-world war. the second thing they wanted were reparations. they wanted to take as much money and as much industrial assets as they could out of germany. and eventually they will take anything they can get their hands on. they turn entire infantry divisions, 20,000 men strong, and give them the mission of taking everything

but atta, stalin -- celtic, stalin agrees to enter the pacific war. what did american intelligence say. the joint intelligence committee reported on april 11, if at any time the ussr should enter the war, all japanese will realize .hat absolute the is inevitable i could give you more cases, july 6, a lot of these reports from the pot stem meeting make the same point over and over that once the soviets enter, the japanese are finished. what did truman understand? truman said he went to pot stem in mid-july. he had lunch with stalin. afterward, he wrote in his diary, stalin will be in the war by august 15. he writes home to his wife the next day, the russians are coming in. we will end the war a year sooner now. think about all the kids who will not be killed. when is it necessary? you have the hundreds of thousands who will suffer for the rest of their lives, but truman do he was beginning a process that ultimately could end life on the planet. he gets his first real briefing on april 13 from burns and truman writes his memoir -- burns said this was a

stalin saying that's good, we'll use it against japan. that's good, that's wonderful and walking away and truman and churchill noted in their recollections of this that stalin had no idea what had just been told to him. we know that's not true and as it turns out the conversation they had just had was a conversation over the future of poland, that it had some pretty tense exchanges. stalin read that as he told one of his advisors as atomic male so the nuclear age is just about to begin. truman made the decision that the united states should not drop the bomb over hiroshima until he, truman, was already back at sea on his way back to the united states. he wanted to be literally at sea when it was first used. he wanted to be in a position where he would not have to discuss this with stalin in any way. so what did they decide at potsdam? one thing they decided was on the boundary of germany and they divide three countries here. they break three countries into pieces here. it is an afterthought and almost done by lower level officials and one

this is the room that stalin used as his office. for most soviet leaders, and the soviets are not the hardest group to read here, because many of their crimes in the open, and even if they are open, they are in russia. but from what we can tell from the contemporary primary sources, the fundamental problem that the russians saw in the paris peace conference in the treaty of versailles, was the failure to build states on the board of russia that could act as buffers. so this time what the soviets wants are stable, reliable countries that will serve as a buffer not just between the soviet union and germany, but the soviet union and a west that is still seen as a potential security threat to the soviet union and the post-world war. the second thing they wanted were reparations. they wanted to take as much money and as much industrial assets as they could out of germany. and eventually they will take anything they can get their hands on. they turn entire infantry divisions, 20,000 men strong, and give them the mission of taking everythi

stalin has agreed to tehran. mike hears this he immediately has two thoughts, the first is, he has to get to tehran right away and scope out the place of the second thought is, where is tehran, he has to go look for a map he had no idea what country it was even in. meanwhile, as mike is finding out where this meeting of the big3 is taking place and when, the germans are fighting it out too. approximately the same time they find it out Ãthe spy is a walk in, a walk in is an interesting operative in the intelligence circles. everyone dislikes them because Ãbhe comes to you bearing gifts that you have asked for and you don't know why he's bringing you this information. is it ego is that money? is he a loose cannon? or it makes spy agencies the most suspicious the most o'leary. is he a double agent? is he bringing disinformation trying to send you off on the wrong path? into the german embassy in angora techie, a man comes about five foot three inches he says the british ambassador and each night when the british a

and nights with stalin as well. truman knows he is a junior partner and that day they will test the out of bomb for the first time in alamogordo. potsdam, germany, was eight hours ahead so he knew it would be late in the day before he found out the results of the test. in alamogordo they have 81 -- they have a 100 ft. tower and on the top is of little bomb as opposed to fat boy theu235 bombs. there's a terrible lightning strike and concern about whether the lightning would detonate the bomb before they were prepared for it and a lot of people would get killed, but no. there was also concern about the rain, and whether they might have to delay the test. groves, the general, did not want to delay the test because they he had told truman it would happen that day. and some of the scientists were concerned about the rain and lightning. the meter all just says the weather clears at exactly 530 -- exactly 5:30 p.m. local time in alamogordo. they detonate the bomb, it goes through wires and the bomb blows up. there were lit

truman had hoped that stalin would sign an ultimatum to japan but he feared that stalin might refuse because of the neutrality agreement between the soviets and the japanese. when stalin told truman that he was coming to the war truman writes in his diary stalin will be in the jap war by august 15th 50 japs when that occurs to truman knew that the soviet entry was going to be determinative american intelligence had been saying that repeatedly for months. but then truman suddenly deviated from his plan and even went as far as hindering stalin from signing why. because on july 16th truman received the decisive report from general groves in los alamos results exceed expectations wrote groves and what counts is the battle test . when truman received the 1st news of success of the determination about that of us he wrote in a there it's a real thing i got big news big news that i have blown a successful this is an enormous destructive give us the it is so enormous so powerful that the steel to 60 feet long melted. and the immediate military and the media after this but we're going to use t

one question they have is when are we going to tell stalin? they think stalin knows nothing about the development of the bomb for the last three years because roosevelt and churchill have never shared it with him. the decision is made, we want to tell him about it because if we leave potsdam and then drop it on hiroshima, he is going to be furious that we are supposedly allies and have left them in the cold. but we want to tell him as little as possible, and as late as possible. so finally, on july 24, eight days after the successful test, truman and churchill decide they're going to tell him, but they're going to do it as casually as possible. they're having the potsdam conference in a suburb of berlin. truman they decide is going to go up and kind of casually mention it to stalin. so he goes up, after the session has ended, they each had five people at the roundtable. truman goes over by himself and leaves the u.s. delegation and stalin is standing there, with his translator. the russian who is translating english to russian and russian to e

this is the room that stalin used as his office. for most soviet leaders and the soviets are the hardest group to read here both because many of their archives are not open, and even if they are open, they're in russia. but from what we can tell from the primary sources and there are quite a few contemporary primary sources, the fundamental problem that the russians saw in the paris peace conference and the treaty of versailles that resulted was the failure to build states on the border of russia that could act as buffers. so this time what the soviets want are stable, reliable countries that will serve as a buffer, not just between the soviet union and germany, but the soviet union and a west that is still seen as a potential security threat to the soviet union in the post-war world. the second thing it seems that the soviets wanted were reparations. they wanted to take as much money and as much industrial assets as they could out of germany, and eventually they'll take anything that they can get their hands on. they turned entire

roosevelt and when he met with churchill and stalin. it is during these meeting from july 17th to august 2nd that mr. truman sf truman informed his counterpart about the u.s. super-weapon to be released on hiroshima and nagasaki. the truman library provided this video. >> big numbers like a 75th anniversary are always occasions for looking back and for drawing attention. i think there is another reason to look back at potsdam as we are in our own day and age re-entering a world of great power competition and a world where geopolitics have come back to the fore of international thinking so it is worth coming back to in subject. so i'm glad to have a chance to talk about it. i wish it was in person again in kansas city. and i wish we were able to do this face-to-faceba we'll do the best that we can. the key thing here that i want to return to is shown by this photograph here of churchill, truman and stalin smiling and shaking hands. and the point that i want really to reiterate here is these three men and most of the advisers around them

truman had hoped that stalin would sign an ultimatum to japan but he feared that stalin might refuse because of a neutrality agreement between the soviets and the japanese. when stalin told truman that he was coming to the war truman writes in his diary stalin would be in the jap war by august 15th 50 japs when that occurs to truman knew that the soviet entry was going to be determinative american intelligence had been saying that repeatedly for months. but then truman suddenly deviated from his plan and even went as far as hindering stalin from signing why. because on july 16th truman received the decisive report from general groves in los alamos results exceed expectations wrote groves and what counts is the battle test. when truman received the 1st news of success of the nation about that of course he wrote in of there it's a real thing. i got big news big news at the bone successful this is an enormous destructive give us the it is so enormous so powerful that the still to 60 feet long melted. and there in here in the military and the media after this but we're going to use this

this is the room that stalin used as his office. for most soviet leaders, and the soviets are not the hardest group to read here, because many of their crimes in the open, and even if they are open, they are in russia. but from what we can tell from the contemporary primary sources, the fundamental problem that the russians saw in the paris peace conference in the treaty of versailles, was the failure to build states on the board of russia that could act as buffers. so this time with the soviets want our stable, reliable countries that will serve as a buffer not just between the soviet union and germany, but the soviet union and a west that is still seen as a potential security threat to the soviet union in the post war world. the second thing they wanted were reparations. they wanted to take as much money and as much industrial assets as they could out of germany. and eventually they will take anything they can get their hands on. they turn entire infantry divisions, 20,000 men strong, and give them the mission of taking everything

this is the room that stalin used as his office. for most soviet leaders, and the soviets are not the hardest group to read here, because many of their crimes in the open, and even if they are open, they are in russia. but from what we can tell from the contemporary primary sources, the fundamental problem that the russians saw in the paris peace conference in the treaty of versailles, was the failure to build states on the board of russia that could act as buffers. so this time with the soviets want our stable, reliable countries that will serve as a buffer not just between the soviet union and germany, but the soviet union and a west that is still seen as a potential security threat to the sick -- soviet union and the post-world war. the second thing they wanted were reparations. they wanted to take as much money and as much industrial assets as they could out of germany. and eventually they will take anything they can get their hands on. they turn entire infantry divisions, 20,000 men strong, and give them the mission of taking e

and nights with stalin as well. truman knows he is a junior partner and that day they will test the out of bomb for the first time in alamogordo. was eightrmany, hours ahead so he knew it would be late in the day before he found out the results of the test. in alamogordo they have 81 hunter foot tower, and on that tower have a 100 ft. and on the top is of little bomb as opposed to fat boy theu235 bombs. there's a terrible lightning strike and concern about whether the lightning would detonate the bomb before they were prepared for it and a lot of people would get killed, but no. there was also concern about the rain, and whether they might have to delay the test. general, did not want to delay the test because they he had told truman it would happen that day. and some of the scientists were concerned about the rain and lightning. the meter all just says the weather clears at exactly 530 local time, mount tiemann, gordo. -- exactly 5:30 p.m. local time in alamogordo. they detonate the bomb, it goes through wires and

stalin was poker faced. truman thought he didn't get it. stalin didn't understand. stalin knew exactly what that meant. >> marvin calling from tuscaloosa, alabama. welcome to the program. >> caller: thank you. i think you've played a little fast and loose with the facts and i don't think you've given enough credit to the great sacrifices that americans put into this. and the fact that it was -- if was germany, japan and italy and their dictators who started the war. i think you've ignored the fact of all of the atrocities committed by the japanese. you mentioned them, but we don't hear a lot about that. those atrocities were proven at the tokyo war trials for example. you mentioned the battan death march, the rape of nan king, the killing of all of the slaughter and torture of american p.o.w.s, one in three died in prison. the burma death railway that was built. i think you played fast and loose with the facts because truman had the facts and he made a reasonable decision. i'm not going into all of that kind of detail, but i think we owe it to americans on this 75th

truman had hoped that stalin would sign an ultimatum to japan but he feared that stalin might refuse because of the neutrality agreement between the soviets and the japanese. when stalin told truman that he was coming to the war truman writes in his diary stalin will be in the jap war by august 15th 50 japs when that occurs to truman knew that the soviet entry was going to be determinative american intelligence had been saying that repeatedly for months. but then truman suddenly deviated from his plan and even went as far as hindering stalin from signing why. because on july 16th truman received the decisive report from general groves in los alamos results exceed expectations wrote groves and what counts is the battle test . when truman received the 1st news of success with the nation about that of us. he wrote in a diary there's a real time i got big news big news at night brown successful and this is me no mr bradley kept us the it is so enormous so powerful that the still time 60 feet long melted. and their immediate melted right and immediately after this but we're going to use t

they know where and when fdr, churchill and stalin are meeting. but it is even greater because of something else. the allies since the beginning of the war, since 1940, the german intelligence has been sending agents into tehran to have a network of spies put up. they have safehouses established and communication systems. and there is even more than that. over the past three months, they have been sending sabotage teams into iran. they take off in a secret base while they jump out of the sky and try to sabotage the allied material. even better than that, the man in charge of this mission is alex scorsese, the very man that is heading the operation long jump. the german high command, the operational guys don't crash this mission, they will succeed. meanwhile, mike has gone to tehran to check it out. he lands at the airport and the first thing he sees at the airport in tehran is the star control by russian troops and the russians are walking around with machine guns and they may be our allies pay are not our friends. he didn't likshe didn't like thr

truman didn't think that stalin knew anything about that. but of course, as we know now in 2020, stalin did, in fact, have spies in new mexico that were passing the inform is a about the manhattan project back to him. a week later on october 25th, he goes into a lot more detail and talks about how the weapon is to be used against the japanese between now and august 10th so these diary entries are revealing as truman expounds on the information that he's been givenly lieutenant groves. now, we've got two contrasting documents here, two documents that -- one is a little misleading. we'll do that one second. i'm trying to keep them in chronological order. this is actually from the national archives, which the truman library is part of, rather than the collections of the truman library. this is the closest you would get to the ordering of the use of the atomic bomb. this is a memo from thomas handy, the acting chief of staff while marshall is at potsdam with truman. he's writing to general carl st. pat's, commander general of united strategic ai

stalin was poker faced. truman thought that he didn't get it, that stalin didn't understand. stalin knew exactly what that meant. >> marvin calling from tuscaloosa, alabama, welcome to the program, marvin. >> thank you. i just -- i think you've played a little fast and loose with the facts, and i don't think you've given enough credit to the great sacrifices that americans put into this and the fact that it was -- it was germany, japan, and italy and their dictators who started the war. i think you've ignored the fact of all the atrocities committed by the japanese. you've mentioned them but we don't hear a lot about that. those atrocities were proven at the tokyo war trials, for example, you mentioned the bataan death march, the killing all those slaughter and torture of american p.o.w.'s. one in three died in prison, the burma death railway that was built. i think you've played fast and loo loose with the facts because truman had the facts and he made a reasonable decision. i'm not going to go into all that kind of detail, but i think we owe it to americans on this 75th ann

stall stalin and churchhill were convinced they got away with it and stalin knew nothing about this bomb. they were pleased. stalin knew everything about the bomb because he had spies los alamos. he had a spy claus brooks who was at the trinity test who was sending back information all the time. there was a recorded conversation that took place between molotov, foreign minister and stalin after that event. that very night. this is recorded. where stalin turns to molotov and says, right. we have to get quitrotov on this and start getting it moving. he was the soviet oppenheimer. what they meant by that is right, we are now in the arms race and we've got to get moving. in a way the cold war is born in that conversation at that table in potsdam. and the fighters -- very briefly, the fighter planes, there were no fighter planes. nothing happened. there was no flak. i mean, there was no anti-aircraft fire, there was nothing. one of the reasons why that happened is because the japanese, there had been a number of practice missions that these guys had flown carrying what they call pumpkin bombs

truman didn't think that stalin knew anything about that but of course as we know now in 2020, that stalin did, in fact, have spies in new mexico that were passing the information about the manhattan project back to him. then a week later on july 25th, on his diary entry there, he goes into a lot more detail and he talks about how the weapons are to be used against the japanese between now and august 10th. so, those diary entries are really very revealing as truman expounds upon the information that he's been given by lieutenant groves. now, we've got two contrasting documents here or two documents that one is a little misleading. we're going to do that one second. i'm trying to keep them in chronological order if i can. this is from the national archives which the truman library is part of rather than the collections of the truman library. but this is the closest you would get to the ordering of the use of the atomic bomb. and this is a memo from thomas handy who is the acting chief of staff while marshall is at potsdam with truman. and he's writing to general carl spaatz the commander ge

truman had hoped that stalin would sign an ultimatum to japan but he feared that stalin might refuse because of a neutrality agreement between the soviets and the japanese. when stalin told truman that he was coming to the war truman writes in his diary stalin would be in the jap war by august 15th 50 japs when that occurs to truman knew that the soviet entry was going to be determinative american intelligence had been saying that repeatedly for months. but then truman suddenly deviated from his plan and even went as far as hindering stalin from signing why. because on july 16th truman received the decisive report from general groves in los alamos results exceed expectations wrote groves and what counts is the battle test. when truman received the 1st news of success of the nation about that of the us. he wrote in a diary there's a real time i got big news big news atomic bombs exist for this is me no misty strictly kept us the it is so enormous so powerful that the steel tower 60 feet long melted. and the immediate melted right and immediately after this but we're going to use this

he believed that stalin did not know and stalin's response was nonchalant which was well i hope you used to go to fail. against the enemy what we now know from a variety of sources including former soviet sources is that stalin knew very well what truman was talking about through his own sources in style importance to achieve none of them have one but it was to cinemas that then ridicule anybody else they would not answer in 4 months or so has been saved is a distance from him at the store he's got them there won't be real so you will do that in the beginning at the last word because that is him and barnum swaim wish for you see what. was in the car. seat business is to ensure. its own moment's notice and. you can take any. action. you care how can you cancel account i want you to stand there. every night. and you have to go. and snatch a syringe your guide. missionary. grucci was delivering mail when a 2nd plutonium bomb called 1st month fell on nagasaki kids from the blast melted the skin on his bike and left footage of his horrific injuries has become iconic assume its hero is now a l

stalin about to the different negotiations. this is very much at the beginning of the pop stem conference. m conference.da ofs is one of truman's goals the soviets to join. he has a cryptic phrase in here. he asked them about the agenda. he told him to fire away and it is dynamite but truman says i have some dynamite too that i am not exploding now. he has this cryptic reference to dynamite. it is not too surprising that he mentions this the day after finding out about the successful test. i am just using one of the diary entries today. thehe following day, on 18th, he says that he believes the japanese will surrender when the russians come in. phrase on theis 18th of july entry where he says i am sure they will win manhattan appears over their homeland. truman does not write to manhattan often in his writings. but on this door -- diary entry of july 18, he talks about manhattan appearing over the japanese homeland. he also goes on to say that i will inform stalin about it at an opportune time. during the pop stem conference, h

truman had hoped that stalin would sign an ultimatum to japan but he feared that stalin might refuse because of a neutrality agreement between the soviets and the japanese. when stalin told truman that he was coming to the war truman writes in his diary stalin will be in the jap war by august 15th 50 japs when that occurs to truman knew that the soviet entry was going to be determinative american intelligence had been saying that repeatedly for months. but then truman suddenly deviated from his plan and even went as far as hindering stalin from signing why. because on july 16th truman received the decisive report from general groves in los alamos results exceed expectations wrote groves and what counts is the battle test. when truman received the 1st news of success of the determination about that of course he wrote in a there it's a real. big news big news that i've blown successful this is an enormous destructive give us the it is so enormous so powerful that the still to 60 feet. wrong melted. and their immune melted and the media after this but we're going to use this again is th

remember, stalin dyson 53. khrushchev and mullin cough during the transition period reach out to the united states and try to break through the barrier of hostility that exists, but it was totally rejected by the eisenhower administration. and the rest is history. i appreciate your putting that on the table because it is important. a lot of people think that way. >> one more question. over there. >> should we acquired -- should require nuclear weapons before north korea attacks soul? >> there is no way that can happen because we don't know where they all are. if you're going to drop ten or 20 megatons on a hydrogen bomb on north korea, i've been to the dmz, it took me about an hour and 15 minutes by bus to get there. nuclear weapons just cannot be used on that continent to bring about any kind of result. i think we have been cut off. (applause) acting homeland security secretary chad wulf testifies thursday on capitol hill, he will discuss his agency's response to unrest in portland and the deployment of dhs la

stalin is not so happy. he does not know if i have an ace in the hall, another one is showing -- you know that truman loves his card games. that is the one time and he refers rather quick cryptically to the atomic bomb in his letters to his wife, bess truman. i find it fascinating sometimes in historical documents you learn things through letters. in some of the letters he makes no reference to the atomic bomb. and the same with letters to his mother and sister at the same. time the letters that the time are rather cryptic. moving on. we have a video clip for you. this is truman announcing the surrender from the uss, no, the dropping of the atomic bomb from the uss augusta's. you can see the window in the background. >> a short time ago, an american airplane dropped one bomb on hiroshima, and showed the usefulness to the enemy. that bomb has more power than 20,000 tons of tnt. the japanese began the war from the air at pearl harbor. they have been repaid many fold and the end is not yet. with this bomb, we h

he is talking to stalin about the different negotiations. this is very much at the beginning of the potsdam conference. this is one of truman's goals of potsdam, to get the soviets to join. he has a cryptic phrase in here. he asked them about the agenda. he told him to fire away and it is dynamite but truman says i have some dynamite too that i am not exploding now. he has this cryptic reference to dynamite. it is not too surprising that he mentions this the day after finding out about the successful test. i am just using one of the diary entries today. in the following day, on the 18th, he says that he believes the japanese will surrender when the russians come in. then he has this phrase on the 18th of july entry where he says i am sure they will win manhattan appears over their homeland. truman does not write to manhattan often in his writings. but on this diary entry of july 18, he talks about manhattan appearing over the japanese homeland. he also goes on to say that i will inform stalin about it at an opportune time. during the potsdam

he had lunch with stalin july 17th. afterwards he wrote in his diary, stalin will be in the jap war by august 15th. fini japs when that occurs. he writes home to his wife bess the next day. the russians are coming in. we'll end the war a year sooner now. think of all the kids who won't be killed. then the question is why did the united states drop the bomb? this is what historians need to debate. was the bomb necessary to end the war? absolutely not. was it the most humane way to do it? absolutely not. not only the suffering of hundreds of thousands of japanese killed and hundreds of thousands more who were going to suffer throughout the rest of their lives but truman knew he was beginning a process that could ultimately end life on the planet. he gets his first real briefing on the bomb april 13th from burns. truman writes in his memoir, burns said this is a weapon great enough to destroy the whole world. on july 25th, truman gets a fuller briefing about the bomb and writes then that stimpson said in four months we'll

stalin knew the americans were developing a bomb. he did not know exactly what -- he knew it would be tested, he did not know the results until truman finally told him at the end of the conference that the united states had a terrible new weapon. truman thought that he did not get it. stalin knew exactly what that meant. marvin calling from tuscaloosa, alabama. welcome to the program, marvin. playingthank you for fast and loose with the -- i think you have been playing fast and loose with the facts. i don't think you have given credit for the sacrifice americans put into this. it was germany, japan and italy and their dictators who started the war. i think you have ignored the fact of all the atrocities committed by the japanese purity you have mentioned them, but we don't hear a lot about that. those atrocities were proven at the tokyo war trials. you mentioned the 10 death march. the rape of man king. the killing and flattering of american pows. the burma death railway that was built. i think you played fast and loose with the fact

and in the soviet union -- in moscow, the leader of the partisan bureaucracy finally convinced stalin that he should actually issue an order that would now open the partisan movement to all people of the soviet union. whether they were red army or communist party members. so they began to move, as i said, and increase in numbers through that period of time. and most everything they did as an organized group was designed to support the regular army, the red army. okay? and so, for example, they did basically four different things, let's say, as a bipartisan movement. again, three of them in adjunct to or support of the red army. one was to provide intelligence. now, again, on my table over here we have a picture. okay? and this picture depicts one of those elements. a red army scout dressed in a camouflage uniform is consulting with partisan members. so moving back over here to this display, we then see parts of the uniform and equipment that he would have worn. in this case he wears the camouflage outfit, it is in this case a leaf pattern as opposed to what they call the amoeba patter

when stalin made his first speech to the people, he reminded them and urged them to become partisans. to rise up like the russians did when napoleon invaded russia, referencing back to the history of russia. >> this war is not an ordinary war. it is the war of the entire russian people. not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our heads, but to aid all people groaning under the yoke of fascism. >> when he said that, he probably didn't really mean it, because for the first year, the only party since that were allowed in the partisan movement were either red army soldiers who are caught behind the lines or communist party members. in many cases, that wasn't a bad deal, because you weren't getting a lot of other volunteers, especially in places like the ukraine, which were behind alliance. because the ukrainians were, initially, when the germans first invaded the ukraine, the ukrainians welcomed them. thinking, of course, like an world war i, when the germans came into ukraine and made them in independent nation, that they would again be an independent nation. i think that after abo

the truth is stalin was interested but wasn't surprised because there was a german scientist who was a refugee that was a member of the german communist party because he saw them that was resistant to hitler so he's working with the manhattan project but his loyalty is to communism so he gets of information that goes back to the russians and the postscript is later that night stalin and the foreign minister and up in the compound together and somebody overhears them having that conversation that truman says they have the bomb and it works in stalin says we have to get going. the historian says at 7:25 p.m. that night is when the nuclear arms race officially began between us and russia. >> what a moment. do you have another book and you? it seems like you really enjoyed this so what is your next one? do you have wine in mind? >> one of the thoughts that i had not just a historical thriller but to replicate. so i came up with that countdown idea i thought that thought about countdown whatever. i have a couple of ideas that writing a history book but i think there are enough ups and get

he believed that stalin did not know and stalin's response was nonchalant which was well i hope you used to go to fail. against the enemy what we now know from a variety of sources including former soviet sources is that stalin knew very well what truman was talking about through his own sources in style importance to achieve none of them have one but it was to sit in the midst of them ridicule anybody else they would not answer in 4 months or so has been saved. from on them at the store he's got them there won't be that real so you will do that in the beginning at the last word because it is him or them but i am a swim wish for you see what. was in the curse. of the seasons business is to ensure. its own moment's notice are. you going to. make you have any cares you can't afford to attend to. every night. and you have to. get smashed. missionary. taro taniguchi was delivering mail when a 2nd plutonium bomb called fatah man fell on nagasaki kids from the blast melted the skin on his bike and left footage of his horrific injuries has become iconic assume its hero is now a living symbol of

he believed that stalin did not know and stalin's response was nonchalant which was well i hope you used to go to jail. against the enemy what we now know from a variety of sources including former soviet sources is that all the knew very well what truman was talking about through his own sources in stalin pol to stay with them i won't but it was to sit in the midst of them ridicule anybody else they would not answer in 4 months or so has been saved is a distance from one of them story he's got on the bomb of that real so you will do that in the beginning at the last word because it is him or skin barnum swaim wish for you see what. was in the curse. of. business is to ensure. its one moment's notice and. you can take every. week you have can you cancel account of one to 10 day. every night. and you have to. it's nice seeing your guide. she was delivering mail when a 2nd plutonium bomb called 1st month fell on nagasaki kids from the blast melted the skin on his bike and left footage of his horrific injuries has become iconic assume its hero is now a living symbol of the suffering caused

for example, the ukrainian partisans were actually directed by stalin, the boss. they should conduct a raid down to the carpathian mountains. this would be a unit involving something like 700 partisans, a substantial number of arms, mortars, light machine guns, to draw out the germans away to chase them. that was the idea of the raid, as opposed to the sabotage. so, those are the three things, for example, that the partisans did in support of the army itself. the other thing the partisans did is they represented the government of the soviet union to the people behind the lines. for example, one of the directives, by the way, as an aside -- over again to my display. you will note a number of weapons on this other display. most of them are german. one of them is italian, an axis ally, or an ally of the germans. even the belt buckle is german. the point is that the directive was that we were supposed to be self-sufficient. one way to do it was to capture arms from the germans. we use the germans'supply chain to supply the partisans, even including the belt buckle, bu

burns are guests of premier stalin and the commissar at headquarters. premier stalin had come at a request below the balcony and the group proceeds to the garden of the villa. the sessions of the congress get underway with president truman presiding over the meetings. premier stalin exchanges handshakes with prime minister churchill and british foreign secretary anthony eden. both are to be replaced at the conference. now shaking hands with the russian premier becomes england's prime minister by virtue of his labour party's victory in july 26 elections. after daily sessions for eight days, the conference recessed until the election results became known. between sessions, president truman talked with general eisenhower and omar bradley. admiral is also present at the white house. a meeting of the british and american chiefs of staff. on july 26, a joint declaration from president truman and retiring prime minister churchill issued with the concurrence of the chinese generalissimo, calls on the japanese to surrender unconditionally. the prodigious forces

stalin exchanges handshakes with churchill and eaten. both churchill an even hearse will be replaced. now shaking hands with the russian premier becomes -- earnest having succeeds anthony even as foreign secretary. after daily sessions for eight days, the conference recess until the election results became known. between sessions, president truman talks with generals dwight the eisenhower and omar and bradley. william delay is also president at the presidents post time white house. potsdam white house. a meeting of the british and american chief's wife of staff. on 26 of july, a joint declaration from truman and retime president churchill calls in the japanese government to surrender unconditionally. this order is professes false. the british islam sea and air forces of united states, the british empire and china, many times reinforced by their armies in air fleets from the west, are poised to strike the final blows upon japan. ♪ ♪ additional films on the invasion of borneo by troops of the australian seventh division. admiral tie is

burns our guests of premier are guests of-- premier stalin and the commissar at headquarters. premier stalin has a request below the balcony and the group proceeds to the garden of the villa. the formal sessions of the conference get underway with president truman presiding over the meetings. premier stalin exchanges handshakes with prime minister churchill and british foreign secretary anthony eden. both churchill and eden are to be replaced as britain's chief spokesman at the conference. -- now shaking hands with the russian premier becomes england's prime minister by virtue of his labour party's victory in july 26 elections. after daily sessions for eight days, the conference recessed until the election results became known. between sessions, president truman talked with general dwight d. eisenhower and omar and bradley. is also present at the white house. a meeting of the british and american chiefs of staff. on july 26, a joint declaration from president truman and retiring prime minister churchill issued with the concurrence of the chinese generalissimo, calls on the jap

one of the things they are discussing is, when do we tell stalin because stalin doesn't know anything about this project, or so they think. just before the conference ends the decision is, we don't want to tell too early, we don't want to tone too much, if we don't tell him anything or supposedly analyze the data presented it will create more problems. of course russia has swept in from the east and taken over most of eastern europe and not to give it up. he goes he doesn't even bring a translator, he uses the russian translator the translator stalin and truman by themselves and truman says, i just want you know that we have an enormous indescribably powerful weapon we developed and stalin says basically, i hope you will put it to good use of the enemy and then he turns away. truman is dumbfounded. he doesn't ask a question? churchill comes up to him and says, because he wasn't there but he can see that it's a very short conversation, what happened? he said i don't know i told him and he didn't seem interested. even truman's russian translator, not the russian but the american who ser

so after one of the sessions, truman goes over to stalin to tell him about it. and he doesn't bring his translator uses the russian translator and and stalin says something basically to put it to good use with the enemy and then turns away. and truman is dumbfounded. churchill comes up and says it's a very short confrontation. he said i now. and even truman's russian translator is wondering if they translated properly. the truth is stalin was interested, just not surprised because there was a german scientist who was a refugee ending up in the united states as a member of the german communist party to be the only force inside germany resisted to hitler. dot back in the becat the bomb and we need to get going and the historian would say 7:25 p.m. on that night is when the nuclear arms race between russia and the u.s. officially began. >> host: do you have another book? it seems you must because they really enjoyed this and it's turned out to be a best-selling book, so when is your next one; do you already have one in mind? >> guest: one of the thoughts i had, is

until stalin and churchill or was it? >> i was churchill who was with human at that point. -- one of the first briefings he gets after being sworn into president -- he's briefed about the manhattan project. he stole that potsdam -- it worked. the memo is -- if any soviet saw that memo they would understand what it said. it was the most poorly coated thing in all the years of coating archives have ever seen. the americans didn't think they had to be cold all that much because they do not think the soviets would understand it even if it were encoded. -- what should we do about this and then decided to go ahead with the plan that they had gotten. it all happens very quickly. the key thing to me is that the americans didn't think the soviets had fully grasped what happened. (inaudible) it is something that greatly increases the paranoia -- >> all right. our last question comes from clare. how much influence do you think burns had on truman, the media thinking that potsdam and the earliest days of the merchant cold war? >> i t

's books include soviet events, struggle for human rights in the last days of stalin and his writings have appeared in the wall street journal, new york times, boston globe and many more, tonight they will be discussing francine's book "soviet judgement at nuremberg", a new history of the international military after world war two called the copperheads of and celebratory new history by lynn viola, author of the stalinist perpetrator on trial. i'm pleased to turn things over to connect speakers francine and josh at the podium is all yours. >> very nice, thank you. i want to congratulate francine on her wonderful book, and holding it up. francine, let's begin with kind of a preface question, let's begin by reminding our listeners about when the nuremberg trials took place and what was their purpose? >> i wanted to also say thank you to the harvard bookstore and the data center and to you joshua, it's a real honor to be here today. to begin, the nuremberg trials also known as the international military tribunal or imt, just placed november 1945 october 1946 and occupied germany and comi

american relations have been fairly good under roosevelt truman was an unknown quantity to stalin and this meeting marks a turning point in relations between the allies. truman at potsdam did indicate to stalin that we had a new weapon he did not specify what it was and he believed that stallman did not know and stalin's response was nonchalant which was well i hope you used to go to. again study the enemy but we now know from a variety of sources including former soviet sources that stalin knew very well what truman was talking about through his own sources in style informal to stay with her and she did none of them one but it was to sit in the midst of them ridicule anybody thus they were not answering for months or so as can save is a distance from one of them story he's got them there won't be real so you will do that in the beginning there was the word because that is him or barnum swaim wish so you see what. was in the. business is to ensure that. it's all moment's notice and. you can take any. action. you care how can you cancel the account of one to 10 and stand there. every n

he had lunch with stalin, on july 17th. afterwards he wrote in his diary stalin will be in the job war by august 15th. funny jabs when that occurs. he writes home to his wife the next day, the russians are coming in, will end the war each year sooner now. think of all the kids won't be killed. so then the question is, why does the united states drop the bomb? and this is where historians really -- was the bomb necessary to end the war? absolutely not. was it the most human way to do it? absolutely not. not only the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of japanese who were killed and the hundreds of thousands more who are gonna suffer from that for the rest of their lives. but truman knew he was beginning a process that could ultimately and life on the planet. he gets his first real briefing on the balm on april 13th, from burns. -- teachers memoirs, burns said this weapon was great enough to destroy the whole world. on july 25th, truman gets a full briefing about the bomb. writes then, burroughs and simpson said that with

stalin was poker-faced. truman thought he did not get it. stalin knew exactly what that meant. host: marvin calling from tuscaloosa, alabama, welcome to the program. caller: i think you have played a little fast and loose with the facts and have not given enough credit to the great sacrifices americans put into this and the italy,at it was germany, and japan who started the war. you have ignored the fact of all the atrocities committed by the japanese. you mentioned them, but we do not hear a lot about that. those atrocities were proven at the tokyo war trials, for example. batan deathd the king, the rape of an ian pows.rture of american i think you have played fast and loose with the facts because truman had the facts and made a reasonable decision. i will not go into all that kind of detail, but i think we owe it to americans on the 75th anniversary of the end of the war to say to the americans into the families that died, including my two uncles, and my father-in-law, that honor and glory to all of those people, all of the families and americans that died in world war ii, an

he believed that stalin did not know and stalin's response was nonchalant which was well i hope you used to go to. against the the enemy what we now know from a variety of sources including former soviet sources is that style they knew very well what truman was talking about through his own sources in style important to achieve not at the melbourne but it was to sit in the midst of them ridicule anybody thus they were not answering for months or so school sales is a distance from on them at the store is. real so you will do that in the beginning at the last one because it is them or a swim wish so you see what. was in the car. to see each other's business mr injuries it's one moment's notice and. you get thank. you q how can you cancel you're going to want to stay there. every night. i think you're. going to. get snatched as soon as you've got your. money gucci was delivering mail when a 2nd plutonium bomb called farts man fell on nagasaki sheets from the blast melted the skin on his bike and left footage of his horrific injuries has become iconic assume its hero is now a living symbol o

what neither knew is russian spies were keeping stalin informed of its progress. a bomb was not ready for testing until after fdr's death and germany's surrender. in july 1945 president harry s. truman authorized the use of atomic bombs against japan. in august bombs were dropped on cities of hiroshima and nagasaki. the most important legacy franklin roosevelt left the world was the united nations organization. from the earliest days of world war ii fdr worked to create a post-war organization dedicated to global cooperation and peace through collective security. on january 1, 1942, he welcomed representatives of 24 allied nations to the white house to sign a declaration pledging each to defend life, liberty, independence and religious freedom and preserve human rights and justice. fdr called this wartime coalition the united nations and later led efforts to expand it into a post-war international organization. >> i'm returning from this trip that took me so far afresh and inspired with a firm belief we have made a good start on the road to a world of peace. and i

he believed that stalin did not know and stalin's response was nonchalant which was well i hope you used to go to. to ghent the the enemy what we now know from a variety of sources including former soviet sources is that all the knew very well what truman was talking about through his own sources in style important to stay with them one but it was to say no mr then ridicule anybody thus they would not answer in 4 months or so is going to say is. throwing them at the store he's got them there won't be that real so you will do that in the beginning there was the word because it is him or and but i am a swim wish so you see what. was in the curse. business is to ensure. its own moment's notice and. you can think of. how can you cancel the account of one to 10 i stand. for every minute. i think you're on you have to go. and snatch is you and your guide. missionary. tony grucci was delivering mail when a 2nd plutonium bomb called 1st month fell on nagasaki kids from the blast melted the skin on his bike and left footage of his horrific injuries has become iconic assume its hero is now a livin