July 17, 1945 - Allied leaders meet at the Potsdam Conference (right). At the February 1945 Yalta Conference, the Allied leaders agreed to meet again following the defeat of Germany. With the death of Franklin Roosevelt in April, Harry S. Truman ascended to the White House and represented the US when the Potsdam Conference began in mid-July. Joined by Winston Churchill (UK) and Joseph Stalin (USSR), they worked to lay out the borders of postwar Europe, determine treaties, and deal with issues raised by Germany's defeat. The power dynamic of the meeting changed on July 26 when Churchill, defeated in the 1945 elections, was replaced by Clement Attlee. Clashing with Stalin, Truman was forced to give territorial concessions to Soviet-backed Poland in exchange for reduced war reparations for Germany. In the Potsdam Agreement, issued at the meeting's end on August 2, the Allied leaders outlined the above as well as the occupation, demilitarization, and denazification of Germany. While in Potsdam, Truman, along with Churchill and Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek proclaimed the Potsdam Declaration which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan.
World War II - Agreements & Conferences
Photograph Courtesy of the US Naval History & Heritage Command
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