Transcript: Chapter 13

Narrator: On July 7, the start of his fourth month in office, Truman steamed across the Atlantic on the United States cruiser Augusta.

Destination -- Potsdam, Germany.

"Dear Bess, I sure dread this trip, worse than anything I've had to face. But it has to be done."

With scientists at Los Alamos poised to test the atomic bomb, Truman was about to begin a series of negotiations that would determine the fate of the post-war world.

He had been to Europe only once before -- as a soldier on the western front. Now he was president of the United States, preparing to meet two of the legends of the twentieth century, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin -- "Mr. Great Britain" and "Mr. Russia," Truman called them.

DAVID MCCULLOUGH: Truman had to step onto the world stage with two of the most colossal figures of the century, two consummate performers, consummate actors who are very accustomed to commanding the stage. And who is he?

NARRATOR: "Dear Bess, The Prime Minister came to see me this morning."

DAVID MCCULLOUGH: Truman is suffering from a considerable amount of stage fright. He knows that Churchill had been First Lord of the Admiralty when Harry Truman was still plowing fields back in Missouri. He knows also the affection, the bond between Roosevelt and Churchill. And wonders if ever he can attain that kind of respect.

NARRATOR: Churchill liked Truman, but the man from Missouri was not impressed by the Prime Minister's flattery:

"Churchill gave me a lot of hooey," Truman wrote in his diary. "Well, I'm sure we can get along if he doesn't try to give me too much soft soap."

Following Churchill's visit, Truman asked to see Berlin. For months the German capitol had been the target of Allied bombs. Truman recorded his reactions in his diary.

"I never saw such destruction," Truman wrote. "I thought of Carthage, Rome, Babylon."

"What a pity the human animal is not able to put his moral thinking into practice. I fear that machines are ahead of morals by some centuries."

NARRATOR: While Truman was touring Berlin, the first atomic bomb was exploded over the deserts of New Mexico. Truman returned from his tour of a devastated Berlin to find Secretary of War Stimson with a coded telegram.

"Operated on this morning," it read. "Diagnosis not yet complete but results seem satisfactory and already exceed expectations."

The president now knew that the atomic bomb would work. Plans were already in motion to drop a second bomb as soon as possible -- this one on Japan.

The next day, Stalin came to call.

"A few minutes before 12:00," Truman wrote. "I looked up from my desk and there stood Stalin in the doorway."

"I got to my feet and advanced to meet him. He put out his hand and smiled."

One day Truman and Stalin would confront each other as enemies in the most dangerous ideological conflict in all of history. But on July 17 the United States and the Soviet Union were allies who had just defeated a terrible enemy. Both men were cordial and friendly.

ALONZO HAMBY: Truman was rather impressed by Stalin. He thought that here was a tough guy. Stalin struck him as frank and straightforward, a sort of political boss type, who would keep his word once he gave it.

NARRATOR: Truman said later that Stalin reminded him of the Missouri kingpin Tom Pendergast.

DAVID MCCULLOUGH: Joseph Stalin was nothing like Tom Pendergast. This was one of the most blood thirsty, murdering, evil men of our time. But Truman had that very American idea -- that old, American idea - that if he could just meet the fellow, shake his hand, look him in the eye, size him up - that they could work together, work things out. And everything would be okay.

NARRATOR: "I can deal with Stalin," Truman wrote. "He is honest but smart as hell." Stalin was less sanguine. He told an aide that Truman was worthless. The Soviet dictator had already determined that he would surrender nothing of any consequence when the bargaining began. That evening -- July 17 -- Truman, Stalin and Churchill sat down to discuss the fate of Eastern Europe.

WALTER LAFEBER: The Soviet army is occupying Eastern Europe and parts of Central Europe. The question is, how do you negotiate the Russian armies out of Central and Eastern Europe?

NARRATOR: Over the next 17 days, Truman would try to convince Stalin to withdraw his armies and allow the countries of Eastern Europe to hold free elections.

"Dear Bess, The first session was yesterday. It makes presiding over the Senate seem tame. The boys say I gave them an earful. I hope so. I was so scared. I didn't know whether things were going according to Hoyle or not."

While Truman was negotiating in Germany, the Enola Gay, a specially modified, lightweight B-29, was soaring high above the island of Tinian, far-away in the Pacific, rehearsing maneuvers to drop the atomic bomb. A list of four target cities had been prepared. It was now all but certain that the bomb would be used on one of them within the next three weeks.

GEORGE ELSEY: It was absolutely inevitable. It was a weapon that could bring the war to an early -- immediate end. And in my view, had any president -- Truman or anyone else -- not used the bomb, that man would have been subject to impeachment.

ROBERT DONOVAN: Here's a Democratic president. And the plan is about to move all our army now into the Pacific to invade Japan with who knows what casualties. And years later the public, or a few months later or sometime, it leaks out that the president had a bomb that would have ended all of that. What would have happened to the Democratic Party? What would have happened to Truman?

WALTER LAFEBER: It was quite clear that the bomb would not only shorten the war but it could be the kind of weapon that the other powers with which Truman had to deal would be in awe of. Consequently, there was no question about whether or not Truman was going to use the bomb. The question was when and how and where.

NARRATOR: At Potsdam, the negotiations were going nowhere. The first three sessions had ended in stalemate. On July 19, in the spirit of their war-inspired partnership, Truman threw a party for Churchill and Stalin and flew in two young American GI's to entertain -- pianist Eugene List and violinist Stuart Canin.

STUART CANIN, Violinist: I was so nervous when I started to play. I think I was shaking. Now I've been a professional violinist for 50 years.

And I have never played for an audience like that. I mean I could barely hold the bow on the string. I don't know if you've ever seen a little upright piano, but it has kind of a bum piano rack. And the music was not staying put very well and Truman leaped up and he just turned the pages for Gene! Which was quite exciting, to have the president of the United States turn pages for you.

NARRATOR: One night the president sat down at the piano and played for Canin and List a piece he had practiced for long hours as a boy in Independence, Missouri.

STUART CANIN: The man had great feeling for music. He didn't always have the technique to do what he wanted. But the feeling was there and -- and you could sense that he really loved music. He said, "I wonder how much better off the country would have been if I had become a concert pianist?" Amazing for a president to say that!

DAVID MCCULLOUGH: He took music very much to heart. He adored good music. He once wrote to Bess, "Did you ever hear an overture performed by a fine orchestra and imagine that things were as they ought to be instead of as they are?"

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