All language subtitles for 02-Roosevelt, Truman & Wallace-eng

( men singing in russian )

Stone:
In January 1943,

Just days before the final
german surrender at stalingrad,

Roosevelt and churchill met

At casablanca
in french morocco.

Stalin was not
in attendance.

He'd withdrawn his ambassadors
from london and washington.

The alliance was in crisis.

The red army was moving west
against the germans.

The momentum had shifted.

Appreciation
of the soviet sacrifice

Was finally growing
in the u.S.

Even fervent anti-communist
media-baron henry luce

Made stalin "time" magazine's
man of the year in 1942,

Praising
his industrialization,

Stating, "stalin's methods
were tough, but they paid off."

Another luce magazine, "life,"

Painted the soviet union
as a quasi-america,

With its citizens
"one hell of a people

Who to a remarkable degree
look like americans,

Dress like americans
and think like americans."

His ruthless secret police
was even described

As a national police
similar to the fbi.

Roosevelt felt
he had to take action,

Or he risked
the breakup of the alliance.

Both he and churchill
feared stalin might indeed
make a deal with hitler

To save the soviet union
further destruction.

After all
he'd done it before.

But on many issues
roosevelt, unlike churchill,

Saw eye-to-eye with stalin.

Both wanted a weakened,

Pastoralized postwar germany
without industry.

It was germany's militarism

That had been the cause
of such unrest in europe.

Roosevelt's voice:
We either have to castrate
the german people

Or we have to treat them
in such a manner,

So that they can't just
go on reproducing people

Who want to continue the way
they have in the past.

Stone:
It was at casablanca that
the president announced

A policy
of "unconditional surrender."

He wanted to send
a message to stalin

That the u.S. Would not rest

Until hitler's germany
was destroyed.

"unconditional surrender"
was a declaration of war

Not merely
on the enemy governments,

But on the german
and japanese people themselves.

Which in its unintended way,

Would lead to terror bombing
of civilian populations,

Harden the resistance
of those populations,

And result
in the most controversial
decision of the war:

The dropping
of the atomic bomb on japan.

In hindsight
one might argue

That the declaration
of "unconditional surrender"

Was one of roosevelt's
greatest blunders.

To make matters worse,
roosevelt and churchill
confirmed at casablanca

The allied decision to land
in sicily after north africa,

Again postponing
the second front in europe

And relegating their nations
to further irrelevance

In determining
the outcome of the war.

This would lead
to the disastrous

Italian campaign
of 1943-'45

That achieved little
but a fierce bloodletting

Of allied troops in sicily,

And at slaughterhouses like
the beach-head at anzio

And the four battles
for monte cassino,

Which did little damage
to the nazis.

With the allies
bogged down in Italy,

And the soviets
increasingly suspicious
of british intentions,

Roosevelt and stalin met
10 months after casablanca

For the very first time
in tehran in iran

In November 1943.

After trying unsuccessfully
to exclude churchill
from the meeting,

Roosevelt accepted
stalin's offer to stay
in the soviet embassy.

But roosevelt found
stalin cold and aloof

During the first three days
of meetings

And feared
he would not succeed.

But on the fourth day,
after teasing churchill

In front of stalin
about his britishness

And about his cigars,

Churchill,
according to roosevelt,

Grew red and scowled.

And the more he did,
the more stalin smiled,

Until finally stalin broke out
into a deep, hearty guffaw

At the expense of churchill.

And before long,
roosevelt was calling him
"uncle joe."

The ice had been broken,

And roosevelt felt
that he and stalin

Were now talking
like men and brothers.

Roosevelt reiterated
to the soviet leader

That he would open
the long-delayed second front

The following spring.
Churchill was forced
to commit,

But argued still
the landing should be made

To the east through
the balkans,

Heading off
the advancing soviets.

Roosevelt's voice:
The p.M. Is thinking too much

Of a postwar world
and where England will be.

He's scared of letting
the russians get too strong.

Stone:
Roosevelt clearly indicated

He would allow the soviets
considerable latitude

In shaping the future
of eastern europe

And the baltic states,

Requesting only that stalin
implement changes judiciously

And not offend world opinion.

Roosevelt had written stalin
a personal note promising...

Roosevelt's voice:
The United States will
never lend its support

In any way to any
provisional government
in poland

That would be inimical
to your interests.

Stone:
Crucially, roosevelt made
important headway

When he got stalin
to agree to enter
the war against japan

When the war
against germany was concluded.

Exhausted, roosevelt wrote
of the tehran conference,

"we made great progress."

Roosevelt:
To use an american

And somewhat
ungrammatical colloquialism,

I may say that
I "got along fine"

With marshal stalin.

And I believe
that we are going
to get along very well

With him
and the russian people,

Very well indeed.

( gunfire )

The soviet war continued
with a bloody campaign
in belorussia,

Followed by their entry
into poland in January 1944--

Russia's ancient
border enemy.

The retaking of poland
and particularly warsaw

Is a tragic
and bloody story.

Few suffered as much
as the poles in this long war.

Six million were killed,
three million of them jewish.

But the u.S.S.R. Too

Paid a stiff price
to free poland.

600,000 soviets perished.

It was here that
the first death camps
were actually found

In 1944 by soviet troops,

And revealed unquestionably
to the world,

Pictures of the true insanity
of hitler's regime.

The soviets quickly set up
a friendly government in lublin

That cracked down
on the opposition,

Triggering a civil war.

They had excluded the fiercely
anti-communist representatives

Of the polish exile government
that had been set up in london.

The westerners thought
of them as democrats,

But stalin said
they were terrorists--

Descendants
of the white russians

Who had fought against
the revolution

In the russian civil war
of 1919-1922.

No stranger himself
to terrorist tactics,

Stalin,
in order to prevail

Against the hated
anti-communist poles
in london,

Committed the dual atrocities

Of killing thousands
of polish army officers

In the katyn forest in 1940,

And then in 1944,

He ordered the red army
to halt outside the capital

While the germans crushed

The native warsaw uprising.

Soviet defenders argued

That the red army
had exhausted itself

In a grueling 45-day,
450-mile advance

Against tough german troops,

Over-stretching their supply
and communication lines--

That they needed
to stand down.

Differences over poland
would become

The single greatest
source of distrust

Between the u.S., britain,

And the soviet union
during and after the war.

But to be fair,
many westerners
did not understand

That anti-semitism
had long been common

Among a significant portion
of polish catholics,

Or that to stalin
poland was a matter

Of life and death
for the soviet union,

Because the polish territories
were the corridor

Through which the hated germans
had twice passed

Into russia
in the 20th century.

For these reasons
stalin demanded and enforced

A friendly government
on his border.

It was no less
an issue to him

Than canada or mexico was

For the United States.

Through 1944 and '45,

The soviets continued
to advance,

Taking romania, bulgaria,

Hungary, czechoslovakia,

And with the significant help

Of partisan guerillas,
yugoslavia.

Mile by mile,

Across eastern
and southeastern europe,

The germans fought
to the last man.

Cities became fortresses
and were reduced to rubble.

Warsaw, budapest, vienna--

An estimated
million soviet troops perished

Liberating these areas.

And as the soviets fought
their way to berlin

From several directions,

In the west
on June 6th, 1944,

The long-delayed second front

Was finally opened,

One and a half years
after roosevelt first
promised it to stalin.

The largest armada
the world had ever seen,

Involving 11,000 planes

- And some 4,000 ships.
- ( gunfire )

Over 100,000 allied troops

And 30,000 vehicles

Landed on the french beach
at normandy.

An estimated 3,000 men
died in this landing.

Allied forces were
now approaching germany

From both east and west.

Victory was inevitable.

A month later in July 1944,

A key event in the future
of the world was taking shape--

The democratic party convention
opened in chicago.

His health clearly failing,

Roosevelt easily secured
the nomination

For an unprecedented
fourth term.

Henry wallace,
his vice president,

Was probably the second
most popular man in america,

The people's choice
to be his running mate.

But he had made
many enemies over the years.

In may 1942,
wallace had given

The acclaimed
"common man" speech.

Some have spoken
of the american century.

I say that the century
on which we are entering,

The century which will
come out of this war,

Can be and must be

The century
of the common man.

There must be neither military
nor economic imperialism.

The March of freedom
of the past 150 years

Has been a great revolution
of the people.

There were
the american revolution...

The french revolution...

The latin american
revolutions...

The russian revolution.

Each spoke
for the common man.

Some went to excess,

But people broke
their way to the light.

Stone:
He called for a worldwide
peoples' revolution

And an end to colonialism.

His speech was received coldly
across the atlantic.

Churchill charged
his secret agents

In the u.S.
To spy on wallace.

Wallace detested
the british empire.

Wallace's voice:
I said bluntly that
I thought the notion

Of anglo-saxon superiority,

Inherent
in churchill's approach,

Would be offensive to many.

Churchill had had quite
a bit of whiskey,

Said why be apologetic
about anglo-saxon superiority,

That we were superior,

That we had
the common heritage

That had been worked out
over the centuries in England

And had been perfected
by our constitution."

Stone:
Wallace's hatred
of imperialism

Was universally known
and widely acclaimed.

In March 1943,
roosevelt sent him

To latin america
on a goodwill tour--

Secretly charging him

To recruit nations
for the allied cause.

65,000 greeted him
in costa rica,

15% of the population.

More than one million cheered

As he moved down the streets
of santiago, chile.

( cheering )

( wallace speaking spanish )

Stone:
The vice president returned

With a dozen countries
declaring war on germany.

It was more than anyone
had imagined possible.

Back home,
in a gallup poll,

Wallace was
the choice of 57%

Of democratic voters
to succeed roosevelt.

But opposition to him

From inside
the party was enormous.

Jesse jones was allied
to a powerful group

Of democratic party bosses,
led by party treasurer

And oil millionaire
edwin pauley.

United by their hatred
of wallace,

Their champion was
a man known to many

As the "assistant president."

James byrnes had been raised

In the hot-house politics
of sultry south carolina,

An environment where
white superiority

And segregation
trumped all other issues.

He was a driving force
behind blocking

A federal
anti-lynching bill in 1938.

After making his name smashing
trade unions in the south,

Byrnes became
a powerful u.S. Senator.

If you wanted something done
on capitol hill,

You saw jimmy byrnes.

By 1943, the mood
in washington had shifted.

It was no longer
the "new deal,"

And roosevelt removed
wallace from the bureau
of economic warfare

And put byrnes
in charge of the new office
of war mobilization.

But wallace still had
a powerful supporter--

The american working man.

( people singing )

Stone:
Today, few remember
that the second world war

Saw more strikes
by organized labor

Than at any other time
in u.S. History.

In 1944 alone
one million workers

Were on strike
at one time or another.

The war had rejuvenated
american capitalism.

Corporate profits rose
from $6.4 billion in 1940

To $10.8 billion in 1944.

Put simply,
the war was good business.

But in the face
of rising corporate profits,

Workers' wages were frozen.

As a result, a wave
of strikes rocked the nation.

( people shouting )

Man:
Americans versus americans--

A tragic spectacle
in these critical times

When unity is essential
to the preservation
of democracy.

Stone:
Detroit was the key city

In roosevelt's
"arsenal of democracy."

Roosevelt:
A great arsenal of democracy.

Stone:
Many african-american families
migrated north

In search of work
in the armaments factories.

Racial tensions
soon escalated.

One demonstrator jeered...

Man:
I'd rather see
hitler and hirohito win,

Than work beside a nigger
on the assembly line.

Stone:
In June, violence exploded,

Exacerbated by the city's

Nearly all-white
police force.

Federal troops arrived
to restore order...

With live ammunition.

34 were killed
in the riots--

25 of them black.

Wallace went to detroit
to survey the damage.

He was appalled.

Stone:
Years later
this remark would be echoed

By civil rights leader
martin luther king

In reference
to the vietnam war.

By 1944
powerful labor leaders

Sidney hillman
and scotsman phil murray,

Expressing complete
confidence in wallace,

Had taken a dislike
to the new men like byrnes

Taking power
in washington.

But the anti-wallace forces
told the president

That a wallace re-nomination
as vice president

Would split the party.

The president would
not answer their ultimatum.

He stalled for time.

Eleanor roosevelt reminded him
that wallace had been there

With him since the beginning,
a fellow visionary.

But the president's attitude

Towards wallace
remained a puzzle.

He sent wallace to evaluate

The war's forgotten front--
in china.

U.S. Ally jiang jieshi
had been fighting japan

Since the early 1930s,
and with his wife,

The powerful,
american-educated madame jiang,

Had strong ties
to the u.S. Conservatives.

Wallace, however,
saw the growing power

Of mao tse-tung's
communist army

And was unsure
of jiang's future.

His final report
was considered

Too controversial
and suppressed.

On his return, wallace was
summoned immediately

To meet the president.

The ticket would be
the subject of discussion.

It was the moment
wallace had been dreading.

Wallace:
His affection for me seemed
to be completely undimmed,

Because I can remember
him pulling me down

So his mouth was next
to my ear and saying,

"henry, I hope it will be
the same old team."

Stone:
When the convention opened,

He was waiting
for that support.

But increasingly ill,
the president,

Staying in san diego,
only sent a note.

Franklin delano roosevelt
said, "if I were

A delegate
to this convention,

I would vote
for henry a. Wallace."

Stone:
Despite these words,
it was a cruel blow.

The president was not willing

To fight
for his vice president.

But wallace remained
the favorite.

Labor told the president

That the strike-breaking
jimmy byrnes

Was not acceptable.
He was out.

Desperate,
the party bosses,

Led by edwin pauley,

Robert hannegan, ed flynn,
ed kelley and others,

Needed an 11th-hour
substitute.

And they settled
on missouri senator
harry truman,

A man of limited
qualifications,

But one with few enemies.

A graduate of high school,

He'd been involved
in three failed businesses.

He'd served honorably
in world war I.

His most ambitious
business venture,

A haberdashery,
went belly up in 1922.

And in 1933 he wrote...

Truman's voice:
Tomorrow I'll be 49,

But for all the good
I have done,

The 40 might as well
be left off.

Stone:
A year later

Kansas city political boss
tom pendergast,

After having been turned down

By his first four choices,

Picked the 50-year-old truman

To run for the senate.

When asked why,
pendergast replied...

Pendergast's voice:
I wanted to demonstrate
that a well-oiled machine

Could send an office boy
to the senate.

Stone:
Shunned by most senators,

Who dismissed him as
the "senator from pendergast,"

And failing to gain
roosevelt's endorsement
in his re-election bid,

Truman worked hard
to achieve respectability

In his second senate term.

But a gallup poll
on the opening day

Showed 65% supporting
wallace as vice president--

Jimmy byrnes had
3% of the vote,

And truman came in
eighth with 2%.

As wallace arrived
at the convention,

Labor leaders hillman
and murray had delivered.

Wallace supporters were there
by the thousands.

Murray,
in a thick scottish accent,

Shouted to his men,
"wallace! That's it!
Just keep pounding!"

The future must bring

Equal wages for equal work

Regardless of sex or race.

- ( cheering )
- stone: Wallace's speech

Was interrupted constantly
by applause.

A chant of "we want wallace"
filled the hall.

We want wallace!
We want wallace!
We want wallace!

Stone:
Someone hijacked
the loudspeakers

And played wallace's
campaign song

With its chorus
"iowa, iowa, that's where
the tall corn grows!"

♪ iowa, iowa, that's where
the tall corn... ♪

Stone:
Furious, ed pauley threatened

To cut the sound
to the amplifiers.

A victorious vote was almost
a foregone conclusion--

A wallace victory
was certain.

Florida senator claude pepper
realized that

If he got wallace's name
in nomination this night,

Wallace would sweep
the convention.

He fought his way
through the crowd
to get to the microphone.

But the bosses were
now demanding

That session chair
samuel jackson adjourn.

This chaos was a fire hazard,
they screamed.

Not knowing what to do,
jackson called the vote
for adjournment.

A few said "aye,"
but the overwhelming majority

- Boomed "nay."
- ( gavel pounds )

And yet,
jackson had the gall

To announce that the vote
to adjourn had passed.

It was outrageous.

Confusion filled the hall.

Pepper had reached
the first step of the stage,

Only five feet--
probably nine seconds--
from the microphone,

Before the bosses
forced adjournment

Against the will
of the delegates.

If he could have
nominated wallace
in those moments,

There is no doubt
henry wallace would have been

Overwhelmingly returned
as vice president.

"what I understood,"
pepper wrote,

"was that
for better or worse,

History was turned topsy-turvy
that night in chicago."

Samuel jackson apologized
to pepper the next day,

And pepper wrote
in his autobiography
that jackson said,

"I had strict instructions
from hannegan

Not to let
the convention nominate

The vice-president
last night."

Hillman and murray rallied
the same troops

To return the next day
and see it through to victory.

- ( cheering )
- but over that night,

Edwin pauley
and the anti-wallace forces

United behind harry truman.

Deals were cut.
Positions offered--

Ambassadorships,
postmaster positions.

Cash payoffs.

Bosses called
every state chairman,

Telling them
that roosevelt wanted

The missouri senator
as his running mate.

Bob hannegan managed to put up
16 "favorite son" nominees

To draw votes away
from wallace,

And then channeled
those votes to truman.

Even so, the next day
when voting began,

Things started to swing
wallace's way again.

Iowa, the greatest
agricultural state

In the union,
gives to this convention

And to the democratic party

Its illustrious,
distinguished son

Henry a. Wallace
for this nomination

Of the vice presidency
of the United States.

( cheering )

( chanting )
we want wallace!
We want wallace!

We want wallace!

Stone:
When the first ballot ended,

It was wallace 429,
to truman's 319.

Then a second ballot
got underway,

And now the deals
the bosses had made
kicked into action.

Jackson announced
that the second ballot
would begin at once--

Therefore,
no new convention tickets
would be honored.

Mayor kelley's police
barred thousands more

Of wallace's supporters
from the hall.

But those inside
began chanting as before--

Attempting to drown out
the proceedings.

Wallace started
the second ballot
firmly in the lead,

But gradually
he lost ground to truman

As the nominees
put up by hannegan

Signed over their votes
to truman, one by one.

Truman prevailed.

It was over.

I guess this is just
another lost cause, mr. Paine.

All you people don't know
about lost causes.

Mr. Paine does.

He said once
they were the only causes
worth fighting for.

And he fought for them once.

And I loved you for it.

And you know that you fight
for the lost causes

Harder than for any others.
Yes, you even die for them.

You think I'm licked.

You all think I'm licked.

Well, I'm not licked!

And I'm gonna stay
right here

And fight
for this lost cause!

Even if this room gets filled
with lies like these

And the taylors
and all their armies

Come marching
into this place,

Somebody'll listen to me.

( exhausted sigh )

( woman screams )

Stone:
Henry wallace,
accepting his defeat,

Pledged his loyalty
to the roosevelt-truman ticket

And agreed to remain
in the cabinet.

Today, buried by
the traditional tale
of the second world war,

The events of the 1944
democratic convention

Have been largely forgotten.

They would however change
the course of history.

The man who might
have been president

Could now only watch
from the sidelines

As events unfolded.

There were
other deals going on

Behind the scenes
in this critical year.

Mistrusting roosevelt's
optimism in europe,

Churchill flew to moscow

In October 1944

To meet alone with stalin.

Based on
the previous experience

Of u.S. Isolationism
after the first world war,

Neither leader
seriously believed
that american troops

Would remain in europe
after the war.

Therefore
it was vital to churchill

That he shore up
the british position
as strongly as possible.

On the back
of a scrap of paper

Churchill proposed
the share of influence

Each nation would exert
in postwar europe.

The u.S.S.R. Would get
90% in romania,

75% in hungary
and bulgaria.

Yugoslavia would
be split 50/50,

But britain would
get 90% in greece.

Greece was vital
to the british position
in the mediterranean--

Close to egypt
and the strategic suez canal,

Through which came
the trade which kept
the empire alive--

From eastern africa
through the middle east,

The near east,
and at the heart
of this empire--

India, the crown jewel,

And beyond it
the far east,

Where singapore was
now british again.

Although churchill wanted
a non-communist poland,

The truth was that poland
was simply off the agenda

And churchill was
more concerned

With safeguarding
british power.

Stalin took the paper
and made a large check

With a blue pencil
before handing it back.

Churchill remarked...

Churchill's voice:
Might it not be thought
rather cynical

If it seemed we had disposed
of these issues

So fateful
to millions of people

In such an offhand manner?

Let us burn the paper.

Stone:
But stalin urged churchill

To hold onto
the historic scrap of paper,

Which churchill called
a "naughty document."

Newsreel voice:
For the first time on record,

Stalin came to the airport

To wish his guests godspeed.

Stone:
This was exactly
the kind of secret deal

That roosevelt had
set out to prevent.

At a press conference
in 1944

He'd said of british gambia
in west africa,

Which he had visited
the previous year...

Roosevelt's voice:
It's the most horrible thing
I've ever seen in my life.

The natives are
5,000 years back of us.

The british have been there
for 200 years.

For every dollar
that the british have
put into gambia,

They have taken out 10.

It's just plain
exploitation."

Stone:
Roosevelt spoke repeatedly

About a postwar
trusteeship system

That would prepare
the colonies for independence.

One of these
would be indochina,

Which he insisted
not be given back
to the french after the war,

As churchill
and the french exiled leader
charles de gaulle demanded.

Roosevelt told cordell hull,

His secretary of state
in 1944,

That "France has had
the country--

30 million inhabitants--
for nearly 100 years,

And the people are
worse off than they were
at the beginning."

Churchill told his number two,
anthony eden, in late '44...

Churchill's voice:
There must be no question

Of our being hustled
or seduced into declarations

Affecting
british sovereignty

In any of the dominions
or colonies.

"hands off the british empire"
is our maxim,

And it must not
be weakened or smirched

To please
sob-stuff merchants at home

Or foreigners of any hue."

Newsreel voice:
British soldiers have

Returned to greece.
And historic athens,

Capital of ancient freedom,
eagerly awaits liberation.

Stone:
Churchill sent
british troops into athens

To repress the left-wing
and communist partisans

Who had led
the underground resistance
to the nazis

And were now
battling for power

Against reactionary forces
who wanted to restore the king.

But the greek people
did not want to exchange

The nazis
for the old monarch.

Street fighting raged
through the greek capital.

Churchill ordered his men

To treat athens
as a conquered city.

The british general scobie
called in dive bombers.

Stalin, however,
refused to back the partisans,

Delivering on his bargain
to churchill.

Roosevelt is reported
to have said...

Roosevelt's voice:
How the british can dare
such a thing!

The lengths they will go
to hang on to the past."

Stone:
With the dawn
of victory in europe,

Roosevelt, stalin
and churchill met
for the second and last time

At yalta on the black sea
in early February.

The soviet union
was preoccupied
with its security.

Britain was preserving
its empire.

The u.S. Wanted
soviet assistance

In ending the pacific war,

And support
for a world economy

Open to u.S. Trade
and investment,

And for establishing
a united nations

To preserve the new peace.

Roosevelt's doctors had
begged him not to go to yalta.

The president was
weakening daily,

But his vast spirit
kept him going.

Roosevelt's voice:
It's been a global war,

And we've already started

Making it a global peace.

Stone:
There was little time to waste.

And though they didn't see
eye to eye on germany,

The big three agreed
to a complete disarmament,

Demilitarization
and dismemberment
of germany.

They would divide
the conquered nation

Into four military zones,

With one controlled
by France.

The u.S. Still had
one major card to play--

Postwar economic assistance

To help the soviets rebuild
their shattered nation.

A reparations commission
was established

Based on an estimated figure
of $20 billion,

With half going
to the soviet union.

This was the carrot.

Poland was the focus

Of seven of yalta's
eight sessions.

Ultimately
the three leaders compromised

On a polish provisional
government of national unity,

Which was admittedly vague,

Intended to include democratic
leaders from outside poland.

Naval chief of staff
william leahy,

A veteran
of the spanish-american

And first world wars,
warned roosevelt...

Leahy's voice:
This is so elastic

That the russians
can stretch it all the way

From yalta to washington

Without technically
breaking it.

- Stone: Roosevelt agreed.
- Roosevelt's voice:
I know, bill.

I know it.
But it's the best I can do
for poland at this time.

Stone:
In truth, the United States and
britain had lost their leverage

By failing to open up
the second front until
very late in the war.

So at the end of the day,
f.D.R. Didn't give
anything at yalta

That stalin didn't
already have.

On the other hand
stalin was in no rush

To institute
revolutionary change,
if at all.

As in greece,
he recognized that
the communists,

Although they'd
often played a leading role

In anti-nazi
resistance movements,

Represented
a minority element

In most of these
liberated nations.

Never having shared
trotsky's zeal

For international communism,

He had once remarked
that communism fit poland

Like a saddle fit a cow.

It was these conflicts,
primarily over poland,

That would eventually
tear the alliance apart.

But most importantly
to roosevelt,

Stalin definitely
committed the u.S.S.R.

To join the war
against japan

Three months after the close
of the european war.

There were still close
to two million japanese
soldiers in china.

And without soviet aid,
the war could drag on
indefinitely.

In return, roosevelt
and churchill promised

Territorial
and economic inducements

That would essentially restore

What the russians
had lost to japan

In their 1904-'05 war.

Additionally, the big three
reached some agreements

On the united nations,

Which was set to convene
in April of '45,

And a system
of trusteeships to deal

With the liberated
colonial territories.

Although there were
many vagaries left

When it came
to the british
and french empires

In indochina,
africa and asia.

News of yalta ignited
a kind of optimism

That hadn't been seen
for decades.

Former president
herbert hoover

Called the conference
a "great hope to the world."

C.B.S. War correspondent
william shirer,

Who later authored
the renowned bestseller

"the rise and fall
of the third reich,"

Declared it
a "landmark in human history."

Roosevelt returned in triumph.

Addressing congress
for the first time

Without standing
on his braces,

He called for acceptance
of the results.

...As the beginnings of
a permanent structure of peace

Upon which we can begin
to build, under god,

That better world
in which our children
and grandchildren,

Yours and mine,

The children and grandchildren
of the whole world,

Must live and can live.

( applause )

Stone:
For franklin delano roosevelt,

It was an amazing conclusion
to an amazing life.

The yalta agreement would
forever be controversial

And roosevelt would
be unfairly attacked

For capitulating to stalin.

And in the weeks to follow,

Disagreements
with the soviets surfaced

Over poland and other issues.

But roosevelt never lost hope,

And in his last cable
to churchill wrote...

Roosevelt's voice:
I would minimize the soviet
problem as much as possible,

Because these problems
in one form or another

Seem to arise every day

And most of them
straighten out.

Stone:
Roosevelt truly thought

He would live
to enforce the peace.

But less than two months later

After 12 years in office,

His great, great heart
finally gave out

When he died
of a massive stroke.

The longest-serving president
in american history,

Franklin roosevelt had
seen the country through
its hardest times--

The great depression
and great war.

Without him, the postwar peace
that was achieved at yalta

Between the british
and american empires
and soviet communism

Could not be maintained.

In-between these giants,

America's new president was
a shadow of his predecessor,

And he openly admitted it.

Newsreel voice:
As the nation is plunged
into mourning,

Harry s. Truman
becomes president,

The seventh american...

Stone:
On his first day in office

A group of reporters asked
how the job was going

And truman replied...

Harry truman's voice:
Boys, if you ever pray,
pray for me now.

I don't know whether
you fellows ever had
a load of hay fall on you,

But when they told me
yesterday what happened,

I felt like the moon,
the stars

And all the planets
had fallen on me.

I've got the most
terribly responsible job
a man ever had.

Stone:
When a reporter yelled out,

"good luck, mr. President,"
truman responded...

Truman's voice:
"I wish you didn't have
to call me that."

Stone:
This was not false humility
on truman's part.

He'd only been
vice president for 82 days

And only spoken
to roosevelt twice.

But neither roosevelt
or anyone else

Had ever bothered to inform
the lightly-regarded
vice president

That the United States
was building

The most powerful weapon
in history.

On April 15th
truman and wallace,

Who had remained in the cabinet
as secretary of commerce,

Met the funeral train
at washington's union station.

There was another man
with them--

Jimmy byrnes,

Truman's old mentor
from his senate days

Who had befriended
the missourian at a time

When most senators avoided him

As a pendergast political hack.

Impressed with the fact

That byrnes had accompanied
roosevelt to yalta,

Although he found out
later that he'd left
the conference early

And was not in
on the important discussions,

Truman came to rely on byrnes
above all others for advice.

Byrnes gave truman
his first real briefing

About the atomic bomb,
which he described

As an explosive great enough
to destroy the whole world

That "might well
put us in a position

To dictate our own terms
at the end of the war."

He did not specify
exactly to whom

The u.S. Would be
dictating those terms.

( applause )

With great humility,

I call upon all americans

To help me keep
our nation united

In defense of those ideals

Which have been
so eloquently proclaimed

- By franklin roosevelt.
- ( applause )

Stone:
This turns out
to be a crucial moment

In the history of the world

And much of it
has been forgotten,

But it is
well worth revisiting.

The first to see truman
after roosevelt's death
on April 13th

Was secretary of state
edward stettinius.

The former u.S. Steel
chairman of the board

Had had very little influence
with roosevelt.

But for truman,
stettinius painted

A picture
of soviet deception
and perfidy,

Saying that britain's churchill
felt even more strongly.

And churchill wasted
little time confirming
that view both in cables

And in a hurried visit
to washington

From his foreign secretary
anthony eden.

The british ambassador
to the u.S., lord halifax,

Sized truman up,
saying the new president was

"an honest
and diligent mediocrity.

A bungling,
if well-meaning amateur"

Surrounded by "missouri county
courthouse caliber" friends.

That afternoon truman met
with jimmy byrnes.

Admitting his abject ignorance,

He implored byrnes
to tell him about everything

"from tehran to yalta"
and "everything else
under the sun."

Byrnes gladly accommodated.

In a series of meetings,

Byrnes reinforced
stettinius's message

That the soviets were breaking
their yalta agreements

And implored truman
to be, above all,

Uncompromising with them.

Truman made clear
his intention to make
byrnes secretary of state

As soon
as stettinius had gotten

The united nations
off the ground.

In this atmosphere,
ambassador to the soviet union

Averell harriman,

Having rushed back
from moscow,

Warned that
the u.S. Was facing

A "barbarian invasion
of europe"

And urged truman
to stand firm

And tell foreign minister
molotov in washington

That "we would not stand
for any pushing around

On the polish question."

As soon as the russians
had control over a country,

Harriman said,
the secret police moved in
and wiped out free speech.

But he clarified that
the soviets would not risk
a break with the u.S.

Because they desperately sought
the postwar reconstruction aid

That roosevelt had
promised them.

Truman masked
his limited understanding

Of the issues
with bluster and bravado,

Telling harriman that
he didn't expect

To get 100% of what
he wanted from the russians,

But he did expect
to get 85%.

It is important to note

That many of the most
vociferous critics
of the soviet union

Shared a similar
class background

And a deep hatred
for anything that smacked
of socialism.

Harriman was the son
of a railroad tycoon

Who had founded
brown brothers harriman.

James forrestal had made
a fortune on wall street.

Stettinius had been
chairman of the board

Of the nation's
largest corporation.

They were joined
by enormously wealthy
international bankers,

Wall street
and washington lawyers,

And corporate executives
who had mostly inherited

Or made their fortunes
during the interwar years.

These men would come
to shape postwar u.S. Policy

And included dean acheson,
robert lovett,

John mccloy,
john foster and allen dulles,

Nelson rockefeller,
paul nitze,

And general motors president
charles wilson,

Who as head of the war
production board

Had said that
the United States needed

A "permanent war economy."

Although they had
served roosevelt,

They had in fact
little influence on him.

Opposed to this
antagonistic point of view

Towards the soviets
were the veterans--

Secretary of war
henry stimson,

Army chief of staff
general george marshall,

And former vice president
henry wallace.

Admiral william leahy
again noted the elasticity

Of the yalta agreement
and the difficulty

Of alleging bad faith
on that basis.

In fact he said, after yalta,
he would have been surprised

Had the soviets behaved
differently than they had.

Marshall,
who "time" magazine

Had named "man of the year"
for 1943,

Contended that a break
with the soviets

Would be disastrous,
given u.S. Dependence on them

To help defeat
the japanese.

The conservative secretary
of war, henry stimson,

Who had fought the ute indians
in the 19th century

And still liked
to be called "the colonel,"

Was long practiced
in the ways of the world.

When confronted by the issues
of acquisition by force,

He explained that
the u.S.S.R. Had been
a trustworthy ally,

Often delivering even more
than had been promised,

Especially
in military matters.

He reminded the president
of poland's importance
to russia and said...

Stimson's voice:
The russians are probably
being more realistic

About their own security
than we are.

Stone:
He had previously noted
that russia...

Stimson's voice:
Prior to 1914 had owned
the whole of poland,

Including warsaw,
as far as germany

And that she was not asking
for restitution of that.

Stone:
He added that,
outside the u.S. And britain,

Very few countries shared
the western understanding
of free elections.

Nonetheless,
in his first meeting

With soviet
foreign minister molotov
on April the 23rd,

11 days
after roosevelt's death,

Truman wasted little time
accusing the soviets

Of having broken
their yalta agreement,
particularly in poland.

When molotov tried to explain

The yalta-polish agreement
through stalin's eyes,

Truman dismissed
his clarifications.

When molotov raised
other issues, truman snapped...

Truman's voice:
That will be all,
mr. Molotov.

I would appreciate it
if you would transmit

My views
to marshal stalin.

Molotov's voice:
I've never been talked to
like that in my life.

Truman's voice:
Carry out your agreements

And you won't get
talked to like that.

Stone:
Molotov stormed out
of the room.

After the meeting,
truman boasted...

Truman's voice:
I gave it to him straight.
I let him have it.

It was a straight
one-two to the jaw.

Stone:
His bullying
of the soviet foreign minister

Probably conjured up images

Of 5'4" john "peanuts" truman,

The 5'8" president's father,

Who, back in missouri,
would pick fights with men

A foot taller
to show how tough he was.

He wanted
that same toughness
in his sons

And found it in harry's
younger brother vivian.

Harry, however, was diagnosed
with flat eyeballs

And forced to wear
coke-bottle-thick glasses.

He could not play sports

And he was bullied
by the other boys,

Who called him
"four-eyes" and "sissy"

And chased him home
after school.

When he arrived home trembling,

His mother would comfort him
by telling him not to worry

Because he was meant
to be a girl anyway.

Gender issues
plagued him for years.

He would often refer
to his feminine features
and attributes.

Economic hardship
added to his woes.

No sissy anymore,
he now proved he could
stand up to leaders

Of the second
most powerful nation
in the world.

His father,
whose approval he struggled
unsuccessfully to win

When he was alive,
would have been proud
of him now.

Stalin, feeling betrayed,

Wasted no time cabling truman
the following day,

Insisting that
roosevelt had agreed

That the pro-soviet
polish government

Would form the kernel
of the new government.

He added he didn't know
if the governments

Of belgium or greece were
really democratic,

But he wouldn't make a stink

Because they were vital
to british interests.

These were strong words.

And where the opening
of the united nations

In san francisco two days
later on April the 25th

Should have been an occasion
to celebrate a new era
in international peace,

It was instead ruined
by tension between the allies.

The russian request
to have the pro-soviet
government seated

To represent poland
was rejected.

After that

Relations continued
to deteriorate rapidly.

Realizing that
his get-tough tactics

Had not produced
the desired results,

Truman met twice
with joseph davies,

The former ambassador
to the soviet union.

A conservative
corporate attorney,

He'd surprised
liberal critics

By sympathizing
with the soviet experiment.

Davies counseled truman that
the soviets had always been

"sticklers for reciprocity
between allies."

So they accepted
british-imposed governments

In africa, Italy and greece

Even though
they did not represent

The anti-fascist forces
in those countries,

Because they understood
these were

"vital interests"
to america and britain.

And they expected
similar consideration

For their vital security
interests in poland.

Davies noted
how fundamentally

The relationship had changed
in the last six weeks

With the british acting
as instigators,

And warned that
if the russians decide

The u.S. And britain are
"ganging up on them,"

They'll respond
by out-toughing the west

As they did in concluding
the 1939 pact with hitler

When it became clear
that the west would not
help them stop the nazis.

But he assured truman that

"when approached
with generosity
and friendliness,

The soviets respond
with even greater generosity."

Davies agreed
to set up a meeting
between truman and stalin.

In that same crucial month,

A few days
after roosevelt's death,

The soviets had
amassed three armies
of 2 1/2 million men

To take berlin
and end forever hitler's
1,000-year reich.

But incredibly
the germans were still able,

With all their losses,
to muster an enormous defense

Of one million men
with fortified bunkers,
air, artillery.

Their most fanatical recruits

In this terrible
gotterdammerung:

Child soldiers.

It was the third reich's
last stand.

The battle was bloody.

80,000 russian troops
were killed,

At least 300,000 casualties,

Fighting street to street.

Berlin fell in four days.

Hitler and his
long-term mistress
eva braun

Married and the next day
committed suicide.

Seeking revenge
for the german rape
of the u.S.S.R.,

And further fueled by what
they had witnessed liberating

The concentration camps
of majdanek,

Sobibor, treblinka
and auschwitz

En route to berlin,

The soviet soldiers
behaved brutally

Towards
the vanquished germans.

( gunfire )

Stalin did nothing
to stop it.

But when reports began
to fill the world's airwaves

Of vast hordes
of soviet soldiers raping
their way through germany,

Orders came
from above to stop,

And the rapes stopped.

The stories continued--

Up to two million women,
some claimed, were raped.

In just a few weeks
over 100,000 did seek

Medical care for rape.

As part of the intended
roosevelt-stalin plan

For the pastoralization
of germany,

Soviet officials
in the first few months

Shipped 100,000 rail cars
of construction materials

And personal goods
back to russia--

Some to help rebuild

The shattered economy
and some--

Like furs, paintings,
gold and jewels--

For purely
monetary purposes.

But as a result,
the worldwide perception

Of the soviet union endured
that it was a barbaric

And brutal semi-asian nation

Invading what had
once been civilized europe.

The dictionary definition
of "empathy" is...

But truman did not seem
capable of comprehending

The pain and suffering
of the soviet people
or their motives.

Roosevelt,
a man who had suffered
from polio in his life,

Had understood
that the war had been won
by soviet sacrifice

And that peace now depended
on mutual respect.

Even churchill had admitted
the soviet army tore

The guts out
of the german military machine.

Stalin was a tyrant,
absolutely--

A ruthless, paranoid dictator
who disdained

The u.S. Concept
of democracy,

But he was also
in the tradition
of the cruelest tsars.

He had clearly gotten along
with roosevelt,

And had, according to several
high-level witnesses,

Kept his word to roosevelt.

He desperately wanted
friendly relations

With the u.S. To continue.

But as the cold war descended,

The laurels of the u.S.S.R.'s
victory over nazi germany

Were stolen--
or rather, forgotten.

It would take
another 20 years

For another u.S. President
and veteran--

John fitzgerald kennedy,
who had lived his entire life

In some degree of pain
and with the prospect
of death--

To pay homage
to the soviet contribution
in world war ii.

No nation
in the history of battle

Ever suffered more
than the soviet union

In the second world war.

At least 20 million
lost their lives.

Countless millions
of homes and families

Were burned or sacked.

A third
of the nation's territory,

Including two-thirds
of its industrial base,

Was turned
into a wasteland--

A loss equivalent
to the destruction

Of this country
east of chicago."

Stone:
Germany officially
surrendered may 7th.

Newsreel voice:
The war in europe has ended.

Unconditionally and finally
our german enemy

Has surrendered
to russia, to britain

And her commonwealth,
to america,

To the millions who fought
with their hearts and souls,

To the people
of all free nations.

( cheering )

Stone:
As v-e day was celebrated
around the world,

It also meant that the soviets,
as agreed at yalta,

Would enter the pacific war
around August 8th--

Almost three months
before the November 1
start date

For the planned allied invasion
of mainland japan.

When truman and byrnes,

Now appointed
secretary of state,

Met with stalin
and churchill in the most
important conference

Of world war ii at potsdam
in a suburb of berlin,

They were waiting for news
of the secret atomic tests

In the desert of alamogordo.

Truman had pushed
the start of the summit

Back two weeks to mid-July

And hoped the bomb
would be tested

Before negotiations
with stalin began.

In the desert,
robert oppenheimer said,

"we were under
incredible pressure

To get it done before
the potsdam meeting."

It turned out,
from truman's perspective,
to be worth the wait.

On July 16th, while truman was
touring bombed-out berlin

And preparing
for the next day's
meeting with stalin,

Scientists exploded
the first atomic bomb.

It exceeded
all expectations.

Some scientists even feared

They had indeed set
the atmosphere on fire.

Groves cabled
the preliminary results
to stimson,

Who rushed to brief
truman and byrnes.

They were elated.
They knew that they had
a date with destiny.

( dramatic music playing )