The Potsdam Conference
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Imagine the problems faced by the organizers of the Potsdam Conference after World War II--without mobile phones or the internet!
Germany had surrendered on May 8, 1945, and the heads of three of the victorious nations--England, the United States, and the Soviet Union--were to meet from July 17 through August 2 to decide how to administer the defeated nation. The U.K was represented--at first--by Winston Churchill; the U.S.S.R. by Joseph Stalin; and the U.S. by its president.
But two tremendous complications occurred. The first was that U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12 of that year. True, he died before the Germans surrendered, but certainly the long-anticipated conference was already in the planning stage at the time of his death. It was up to the new president--Harry S. Truman, FDR's former vice-president--to carry on with the responsibilities of the office.
The second disruption happened during the conference itself. England had scheduled a general election for July 5, but polling in some places was delayed, and the counting of votes--including those of military personnel serving overseas--delayed the results until July 26.
And Churchill lost. So while he was the legitimate representative of the U.K. from July 17 to July 25, he became disqualified when the election results were known. Meetings resumed on July 28, with the newly-seated Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, representing the country.
In the end, things were settled regarding Germany. The Governments of China and France were invited to adopt the establishment of a Council made up of the Foreign Ministers of the U.K., the U.S.S.R., the U.S., China, and France--to this day, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
But the war with Japan was still going on. On July 26, the leaders of the U.K, the U.S., and China issued the so-called "Potsdam Declaration," warning Japan that if it failed to surrender, it would face "prompt and utter destruction."
Japan did not respond, and U.S. planes dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9), less than a week after the conference ended.