The Accidental President by A. J. Baime

Author:A. J. Baime [Baime, A. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2017-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

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On May 29 the Big Three leaders decided on a time and a place for their upcoming tripartite conference, which now promised to be a political brawl of historic proportions.

“I shall be very glad to meet you and President Truman in what is left of Berlin in the very near future,” Stalin cabled Churchill, who forwarded the note to the president. “I hope this might take place about the middle of June.” Truman responded that he would not be able to leave the United States until July, and Stalin replied directly to Truman: “I have no objections against the proposed by you date—July 15th.”

And so the date was set for the meeting, in bombed-out Berlin. Truman was considering a one-on-one with Stalin first, before Churchill joined in, as the future of the world clearly depended on the negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Britain’s role was no longer primary. The prime minister certainly would not like the idea of a Truman-Stalin meeting without the United Kingdom represented, but Churchill might not have a choice, Truman figured.

Churchill continued to plead for a sooner date. “I will gladly come to Berlin with a British delegation,” he cabled Truman. He added some biting British sarcasm: “But I consider that July 15, repeat July the month after June, is much too late for the urgent questions that demand attention between us, and that we shall do an injury to world hopes and unity if we allow personal or national requirements to stand in the way of an earlier meeting.”

The prime minister could not understand what felt to him like procrastination. Truman could only hope the bomb was going to work.

“Nothing really important has been settled yet,” Churchill cabled Truman, “and you and I will have to bear the great responsibility for the future.”

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