the potsdam summit meeting of july 16th 1945

potsdam conference (germany)

where the leaders of the US, UK, and USSR met to settle the postwar status of europe and plan for the final stages of the war with japan

the big three

refers to the leaders of the US, UK, and USSR at the Potsdam Conference in july 1945, specifically President Harry S. Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin.

by the time of the potsdam meeting…

US forces had taken okinawa and were making plans to invade kyushu, the southernmost of the japanese home islands (november 1945)

as of november 1945, japan…

still had large armies in their home islands and on the asian mainland: the kwantung army in manchuria and the china expeditionary army in central china

gen. grove phone log (july 2nd, 1945)

the “upper-crust” insisted on an earlier date for the trinity test

the trinity test

july 16th, 1945 proved much more successful than had been expected; the plutonium implosion “gadget” had an explosive yield of about 18 kilotons

may 29th 1945 memo

john mccloy reported that gen. george c. marshal had told secretary henry stimson that atomic bombs should be used against “straight military objectives,” and perhaps later against “the manufacturing centers” whose residents had been warned to leave

stimson and memo from june 6th 1945

stimson was also concerned about the way the US air force was bombing japanese cities, as reflect in this memo of his conversation with president truman.

• he wanted a “fair background” to show the strength of the atomic bomb

kyoto and groves

groves repeatedly tried to put kyoto at the top of the atomic target list, but stimson too it off.

• truman backed the decision to remove kyoto from the target list, but these discussions may have mistakenly led him to think that the remaining cities on the list were purely military targets

truman misunderstands

truman’s “potsdam diary” entry for july 25th 1945, in which he said he and stimson afreed that kyoto would not be the target and that the atomic bomb would be aimed at a “purely military” target rather than at “women and children”

june 16th 1945 report

the science advisory panel had recommended informing russia before the first atomic bombs were used against japan, stimson gave president truman similar advice.

location of potsdam conference

the potsdam conference was held at the cecilienhof palace at potsdam

berlin, july 16th 1945

before the formal start of the potsdam conference, truman, byrnes, and leahy toured berlin in an open car

• after witnessing how thoroughly the city had been destroyed, truman wrote “never did i see a more sorrowful sight”

truman vs. stalin — atomic bomb

during a break in the conference around 7:30pm on the 24th of july (1945), truman told stalin informally that the US had developed “a weapon of unusual destructive force.”

• through espionage, stalin had known about the US atomic bomb program before truman did

churchill and his election

he left potsdam on july 25th, 1945 to wat for the announcement of the election results.

• his conservative party was soundly defeated by the Labour Party, which was led by Clement Attlee, who replaced churchill for the final days of the potsdam conference.

significance of july 26th 1945

the US, UK and china issued the potsdam proclamation which called on japan’s leaders to surrender or face the “prompt and utter destruction” of their country.

stalin and the potsdam proclamation

stalin was upset that the soviet union had not been made a party of this proclamation.

potsdam conference end

truman, stalin, and attlee issued a joint communique on august 1st, 1945 and the conference formally ended the next day