Log of the President’s Trip to the “Berlin Conference”
Learning the News
The Berlin conference, which lasted from July 7 to August 7, 1945, was held in Potsdam, Germany, located just outside of Berlin. Truman learned about the successful deployment of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima while returning home from Europe by ship. One of the trip’s log books notes that, before learning of the event 'the President and members of his party spent some time on deck this morning enjoying the sun and listening to a band concert by the ship’s band' and 'afterwards, the President worked on his address to the Nation.' Upon hearing the news regarding Hiroshima, Truman was reportedly delighted. Below is the most complete recording we have of his announcement to the United States regarding the news. The speech was made aboard the USS Augusta, the ship that carried the President and his crew to and from Europe.
Note: The chemical “TNT” mentioned in the video is trinitrotoluene, a substance used to measure energy released by atomic bombs and other explosives. A kiloton of TNT equals 4.184 terajoules (4.184 x 10^12 joules).
At his desk in the USS Augusta, the President works on his "report to the nation"
A Final Conference
Before boarding the USS Augusta to return to the United States, President Truman had met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (later replaced by newly elected Clement Attlee) and USSR Generalissimo Joseph Stalin in Germany for one month to discuss the new world order post-1945. Germany had surrendered on May 7, 1945, and the US, the USSR, and the UK all believed that Japan would surrender shortly. During the conference, Truman informed Stalin and Churchill of America’s plan to deploy an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The USSR, United States, and United Kingdom were the strongest Allied Powers—known collectively as "the Big Three"—and they discussed numerous important issues at the Berlin Conference. These included Germany’s fate; Poland’s borders; the status of various Eastern European countries (these nations were ultimately incorporated into the USSR); and post-war reparations and penalties. The US, UK, and China also drafted and sent the “Potsdam Declaration,” which demanded that Japan surrender and warned that 'prompt and utter destruction' would occur if this did not immediately take place. That ultimatum, released on July 26th, was hotly debated by the Japanese government, but, ultimately, no official response was formulated. The Allied Powers believed that Japan had rejected the ultimatum.
Conference table at the Potsdam Conference
The New World Order Post-1945
The Berlin Conference marked the last time that the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union would meet to discuss post-war reconstruction. In the following months, the Cold War cast a chill over the West, firmly separating communist and capitalist countries. Meanwhile, inspired by the United States’ successful deployment of the atomic bomb, the United Kingdom and Soviet Union both ramped up their production of nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age. Although nuclear warfare has receded from the minds of many, today, the United States, Britain, and Russia still have large stockpiles of atomic bombs at their disposal, and we continue to live in the Atomic Age.