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{
    "localId": "44165527",
    "label": "Typed Note and Memoir Draft of Former President Harry S. Truman",
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    "id": "44165527",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Typed Note and Memoir Draft of Former President Harry S. Truman",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/44165527",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Longhand Notes Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953",
        "Vaughan, Harry H., 1893-1981",
        "Churchill, Winston, Sir, 1874-1965",
        "Ross, Charles G. (Charles Griffith), 1885-1950",
        "Byrnes, James F. (James Francis), 1882-1972",
        "Vardaman, James K. (James Kimble), 1894-1972",
        "Bohlen, Charles E. (Charles Eustis), 1904-1973",
        "Truman, J. Vivian (John Vivian), 1886-1965",
        "Truman, Harry Arnold, 1923-",
        "Hopkins, Harry L. (Harry Lloyd), 1890-1946",
        "Leahy, William D. (William Daniel), 1875-1959",
        "Potsdam Conference, 1945",
        "Dinners and dining",
        "International relations",
        "United States-Soviet relations"
    ],
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            "logicalDate": "1954-06-02",
            "month": 6,
            "year": 1954
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    "seq": 6,
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    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "-1320-\nS.\nTRUMAN\n5.3.\nSERVICE\"\nRECORDS\n91.\nGOVERNMENT\nAfter that first meeting with Churchill and Stalin, I\nreturned to my temporary home at Babelsberg with high hopes. I thought\nwe had accomplished something. I was particularly optimistic about\nthe good impression that I had gained of Premier Stalin. On the basis\nhad hoped\nof our acquaintance thus far, I liked him.\nI thought he was a man\nMe Incertathy hoped\nwho would keep his agreements and make the Russian people go along\nwith him. Harry Hopkins, while on his mission to Moscow for me earlier\nin the year, had had exactly the same impression, and had expressed\nhis conviction that Stalin would keep his agreements when he knew\nsubject. what the facts were. We ha d much to barn on this\nThis promised to be one of the most interesting jobs I had\never held in the capacity of chairman. I had had a great deal of\nthe Senatz and its\nexperience at presiding over various committees and the Senate, but\nthis situation was unique.\nI saw that I was going to be sitting at\nas\nPotsdam/presiding officer trying to keep the thing in a groove and\nthat the other two were going to be trying to take it out of the groove.\nTheir personal political terests\n-1321-\nI was going to questailliculty have more fun than in a chess game trying to keep Shurchill\nand Stalin in line. Churchill always had an argument, and you couldn't\nbeat him with adjectives and adverbs.\nwordenly manner\nI had been pleased with the with which the interpreters\nconducted their very essential functions during the first meeting.\nThe interpreters had been at all the conferences before, and there\nwas no difficulty at all in understanding what was being said. Bohlen\nwould translate for me when I talked, Pavlov would translate while\nStalin was speaking, and Major Bierse would translate ChurchillIs\nwords for the Russians. We would always hesitate so the interpreters\ncould translate the sentence. If there was any disagreement between\nthe interpreters, as to the proper Russian word for the English\nequivalent, then they would settle it right there and Stalin would sit\nback and grin. I think he understood every word of English, anyway.\nThere was always complete understanding on what was said.\nFollowing the adjournment of the first meeting, we had been\ninvitedout into a large banquet room at Cecilienhof Palace where the\nRussians entertained at a lavish buffet dinner spread on a tremendous\n-1322-\n20\n30\ntable about thirty feet wide and fifty feet long. The table was set\nwith everything you could think of--gooseliver, caviar, all sorts of\nU.S. ARCHIVES A SERVICES AND s. TRUMAN LIBRARY\nGOVERNMENT\nmeats, The cheeses, major domo chicken, turkey, in duck, charge wines and was spirits. from Thoseour's\nleading (President hotel. will He fill could in here) speak English\nand was sery careful to show the greatest\nrespect for all the heads of State and\nthe foreign ministers He served things\nhim who have as heat and fat al could be.\nbeautifully and had sereral Morsea helping\nStalin was serving Russian Vodka to his guests. He was\nsitting next to me and I noticed that he drank from a tiny glass that\nheld about a thimble full, which he emptied frequently and replenished\nfrom a bottle which he kept handy. I asked him how he could drink so\nhappened at Statias State dince.\nmuch Vodka. He looked at me and grinned, then leaned over to his\ninterpreter and said, \"Tell the President it is French wine, because\nsince I had my heart attack I can't drink like I used to.'\nWe had a humorous encounter with the Russian guard on our\nway back to Babelsberg. In order to return to our quarters, it was\nnecessary for us to drive through various parts of the Russian zone. At\none of the crossings our car was stopped by the Russian lieutenant.\n-1323-\nAdmiral Leahy and Secretary Byrnes were in the car with me. Of course\nit was only a matter of minutes until the identification was made by\nRussian officers arriving on the scene, and they proceeded to scare the\nlife out of the lieutenant for making such a blunder. Leahy turned to\nme and said, \"I'll bet that lieutenant is shot in the morning.\"\nI worked late that evening on a big batch of mail that had ar-\nrived from Washington. At eleven p.m., my nephew Harry Truman arrived\nfor a few days' visit. He was the son of my brother, Vivian, and I\nhad mentioned to General Lee a few days earlier in Antwerp that my\nnephew was in the European theater and that I would like to see him.\nThey found him on board the Queen Elizabeth in Gloucester Glasgou Harbor ready\nto sail for home, but General Lee got him off the ship in time and had\nhim flown to Babelsberg. I introduced him to all the heads of state and\nthe members of my party, and after three days, sergeant Truman was put\nHARTY ARCHIVES \"NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAN AND THE\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\non our communication plane which carried mail between Washington and\nPotsdam and was flown to the United States. He arrived at his desti- Noefolk\nnation ahead of the rest of his outfit and pined then as they\nOn the following day, after a conference with my advisors,\nI walked with Secretary Ross, General Vaughan, and Captain Vardaman to\n-1324-\nthe Prime Minister's residence for a return visit. Later, we went\nover to Marshal Stalin's quarters to return his earlier call. By\nfour o'clock in the afternoon, I was at Cecilienhof Palace with my\nparty for the second meeting of the Berlin conference."
}