the potsdam proclamation is the the potsdam proclamation is the ultimatum that the allied powers issued to japan. the first document is the draft that stimson gave to president truman before president truman left washington for potsdam. after this proposal itself, the draft proposal was actually written by the main agent that produced that document is the organization called opd, the operational division of the army. and then i give you the second document, that is the final form of the potsdam proclamation. i was going to give you a quiz, and you would have to compare the two. you notice immediately the two major differences. one, in the stimson proclamation, of course, the soviet union was expected to participate in the proclamation. stalin was supposed to sign the declaration, right, the proclamation. the final form was that the soviet union would have stalin not abandon his signature. but the soviet union was excluded from the potsdam proclamation. the question is, of course, why? the second point is very important, paragraph 12 of the stimson's draft, that is stimson's draft contai

and so those are the situations before the potsdam conference. and so the potsdam conference was open and it was held from 10, i meanil august august 2. 16th -- you know, by the way, i must mention that dispatched that telegram, of course, the united states intercepted the diplomatic dispatches. -- it was decoded and distributed to the highest states of the united government, so truman knew and stimson knew, and japan was very , so theysurrender thought, if we demand unconditional surrender, then japan would fight it. dispatch of japanese request for mediation was toloited totally by stalin prolong the war. the government said, well, gee, we need more clarification. stimson,he 16th, encouraged by togo's dispatch, went to truman did he said, mr. president, this is the first very important sign, and i urge you to adopt more than ever this paragraph 12, this three,utional monarch that -- constitutional monarchy, and we have a very good chance with japan. -- did notsaid respond, he said, go see burns. went to go see burns, the secretary of state burn

potsdam even as they laid the foundation for a stable european peace, harry truman and joseph stalin had decided on common action against japan. insia joined the alliance war on the last remaining axis enemy. japan's stronghold in manchuria was attacked. for emperor here is eco-and japanese militarism, the war was lost. japan sued for peace. in washington, the secretary of war and secretary of state hurried to the white house with the secretary of the navy. the united states cabinet meeting with president truman studied japan's surrender messages in full coordination with the government of britain, china, russia, and other allies. the world remembers frequent eleanor roosevelt. years of grave responsibility took their toll. a grateful world honors him today. douglas macarthur named supreme allied commander in japan. china,der of fighting the commander of the mighty pacific fleet. harry truman, four months after taking over as president, leads his country to victory and peace. mr. truman and his cabinet meet in emergency session. secretary was on hand as the president breaks the momen

most of what happened at potsdam am a discussion about the settlement of europe. truman objected to a lot of things that fdr committed to at yalta, but ultimately caved. cuburns negotiated with molotov and stalin a division of europe and germany. the russians were happy with it, but at the same time, presented stalin with a fait accompli in the far east. both behind the scenes and in discussions with stalin, truman carefully positioned the united states -- during his first meeting with the soviet leader on july 17, truman asked for assurance that the open door would apply to all of manchuria and that it be internationalized as stipulated in yalta. this was a test of stalin's intentions, because in treaty negotiations stalin demanded that china gave the soviets sole control in violation of yalta. raising the issue of the open , because stalin aback with a new demand from an american president in ventura -- anin mancurahuria. truman also wanted to know when the russian army would be ready to move. but stalin's chief of staff were vague offering differing dates. this

i deem this reply a full acceptance of the potsdam declaration, which emphasized the unconditional surrender of japan. is no qualification. arrangements are being made for the formal signing of the at the earliest possible moment. general douglas macarthur has been appointed the supreme allied commander two receive the japanese surrender. great britain, russia, and china will be represented by high-ranking officers. meantime, the allied armed forces have been ordered to suspend offensive actions. the proclamation of vj day must await the formal signing of the surrender terms by japan. rush the newsman a waitings report to world. in new york city and throughout the rejoicing nation and world, vast throngs of happy people celebrate the end of fighting, the dawn of peace. square, it is official. it is all over. it is total victory. [cheering] narrator: all night long, the rejoicing continues. never before in history has there been greater reason to be thankful for peace. the world's free people are united in their determination that the world's piece shown never be endangered again -- the world

this went on through early 1945, after potsdam, and culminated with the offensive launched in 1945. many of the figures were chosen because of what they would have to perform. the same with units. we had no idea of the extent to which that operated throughout the entire offensive. a few words, to highlight those burning questions that lead me to the conclusions i make at the end of the presentation. i'm going to talk about force structure, operational planning. if you want details on these, i have these up here. force structure in the far east. 1941, the soviets brought forces back from the far east to counter operation barbarossa. it peaked in october when the germans marched on moscow. they brought back 18 divisions and 12 naval brigades. they were pacific fleet personnel sense to the euro district and formed into marines used in the defense of moscow. we know in 1942, they brought 10 more divisions. they took place in the defense of stalingrad. most consumed any battles against the sixth army west of stalingrad. unlike 1941, when the 18 divisions played a significant role in the

would acceptta the demands going out of potsdam . if so we mediation is our. the united stateslast have them and they know it is placed. it is like playing poker. he does have to look at the ridges hand. it is really well. this attitude very close to his vest about where he is. , this gets-july glossed over and all the entries i have read. but they create this story and mountain, or what is the place in west rigid as the president is supposed to go and hide? the japanese have one of those as well in world war ii. it is in the mountain. he is supposed to go to the mountains across the bounds will kill you. he refuses. he did not want to eliminate his field of action by giving the army control over what he says and does. good decision when we see what happens with many to the tried .o use the sizet gives up on and for all. it will not happen. aircraft carriers are roaming the pacific and will, they are able to bomb japan. it is really a mess. the thing that pushes him over the edge is the bombing of the imperial shrine. most sacred place in japan. it is like the

they do reply with a full acceptance of the potsdam declaration, which codifies the unconditional surrenderf japan. there is no qualification. arrangements are now being made for the formal signing of the surrender terms at the earliest possible moment. ,eneral douglas mcarthur identified as the supreme allied commander, will receive the japanese surrender. great britain, russia, and china will be represented by high-ranking officers. in the meantime, the allies armed forces have been ordered to system -- to suspend offensive action. day mustamation of vj await upon the final signing of the surrender terms by japan. >> news bennett rushed the president's report to a waiting world. tuesday,rly evening, august 14, the faithful news is dispatched. vast throngs of grateful, happy people celebrate the end of fighting. 2 million new yorkers in times square, it is official, it is all over. it is total victory. [applause] narrator: all night long the rejoicing continues. never before in history have there been greater reasons to be grateful for peace. the world's people are united in determination

. >> in potsdam, yugoslavia, president truman and british prime minister churchill were meeting with joseph stalin to decide how to end the war in the pacific. it was not their preference to include russia unless absolutely necessary. >> we were very -- to hear that when truman had asked stalin about our test, we were told, yes, truman had mentioned it and stalin had reacted -- he did not in a noncommittal way. >> because he already knew. >> he already knew. >> after the successful test at trinity, the man who began what became the manhattan project was concerned that the weapon, which was made to stop hitler, should not be used. he and other scientists felt it should be demonstrated to japan to encourage them to surrender. he started a petition among the scientists to appeal to the president to consider alternative plans. >> even before the test, sometime i believe end of june, i got a letter from a very good friend, leo, whom i had driven to see einstein at the time and he signed the letter that got things going. and he had circulated a petition. that the bomb should not be dropped

promise from stalin that three months after the end of the war in europe, truman said he would to potsdam in july to meet with winston churchill and stalin. he wanted to make sure that the soviets were coming in. he gets the agreement from the soviets. he writes in his journal that end the warn will by thursday. he said the russians are coming in. the war will end soon though. truman also knew the japanese were trying to surrender. the intercepted july 8 telegram as the telegram from the emperor asking for peace. we all knew the japanese were finished. american intelligence reported repeatedly that the entry of the , left union into the war complete defeat inevitable. , truman who is not bloodthirsty, he is not hitler, he did not take pleasure in killing people, why would truman use the atomic bomb knowing that the japanese were defeated? knowing that they were not militarily necessary? historians is, as that a big part of his motivation was that he was sending a message to the soviets , and if the soviets interfered with american plants in europe or in asia this was the fate they would g

casualties on the allied forces they could win a negotiated settlement because if you remember at the potsdamconference allied said no conditions that no conditions at also these japanese diehards figured if they cause enough trouble for the allied forces we would negotiate. emperor here quico saw it differently. he had seen several hundred thousand of his people vaporized not to mention the firebomb raids that we have been conducting for months before that. he like most knowledgeable japanese assumed a ground invasion of japan was in the planning stages and it was. it was called operation downfall. it had two parts. one would have started in late 1945 in the second part in early 1946. it would have been the largest amphibious invasion in history and it would have been even had it been successful disastrous for the attacking allies and the defending japanese are the casualty estimates among the allied invading troops and these were americans australians brett were in the hundreds of thousands are in terms of the japanese casualties to rake in millions because of the resistance. so here he'd t

going into the cold war, which many historians will tell you overlap each other, going back to the potsdam conference and the soviet union realizing that the u.s. has something greater than they're revealing and feelings being caught up in that. how offutt field in -- and omaha fall into this history is going from the martin bomber plant to offutt field to then becoming an actual air force base in 1947. with that, strategic air command, which was stood up in 1946, was looking for a new home. they were placed in control of the strategic bombers and primarily atomic bombs and it was a big challenge. should we have to launch an atomic attack somewhere, to obtain the bombs from one government agency and transfer them over to a command. so the department of defense created the strategic air command to control all of that. and as the strategic air command grew, they gained more bombers. more support, and ventured into greater weapons and ultimately rsued ballistic missiles and stationing those around the country and controlling all nuclear weapons and become the -- becoming the nuclear deterrent