POTSDAM NOTE (ANIMATION)
Potsdam, Germany (July 1945)
Resources: Photo Gallery
Note written by President Harry S.
Truman, in which he brags that Stalin did not understand when Truman hinted
at Potsdam of a powerful new American weapon. (Scroll down to see the note.) Due to the success of Soviet
espionage, however, Truman was incorrect -- in fact, Stalin knew about the
atomic bomb project three years before Truman did. Truman wrote this note on the
back of a photograph of the Potsdam Conference
taken on July 19, 1945. In the photograph Stalin talks with Truman and
Secretary of State James Byrnes (both have their backs to the
camera).
The photograph of Potsdam is courtesy the Office of the Chief
Signal Officer, War Department, U.S. Army; this image, and the photograph of
Truman's writing on the back of it, are courtesy the National
Archives. Their animation is original to the History Division, 2003.
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