Charles L. Mee

In the summer of 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin met a few miles from the war-shattered seat of Nazi power -- in the Cecilienhof Palace at Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin.

Unlike the previous "Big Three" Conferences conducted during the War -- at Teheran in 1943, and Yalta in 1945 -- the universe of potential conflicts between the "allies" was now intensified. Harmony ended at Potsdam, along with the hope for world peace.

The author concludes that each delegation perceived that they could respectively better expand their power in a world of discord than of tranquility. This book shows how each delegation managed to "rescue discord from the threatened outbreak of peace."

But only one of the three leaders indulged in outright cool and deliberate dissembly. And he did so with a breath-taking indifference and denial of human suffering, economic facts, and political reality.

The author begins with a detailed description of the three leaders. Drawing from diaries, leading historians, and political records, the impression I have is that he was very fair in his assessments. In turning to the events, he recites the facts--providing the dramatic details -- Potsdam took place just before the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan. "Trinity" was tested at Alamogordo, July 16. Should the Americans tell Churchill? Stalin?

The actual text of the Potsdam Proclamation and the more detailed Declaration are included.… (meer)