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313081684
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Memorandum Regarding Events of July 24, 1945
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313081684
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Memorandum Regarding Events of July 24, 1945
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Eben A. Ayers Papers
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TRUMAN
HARRY
"NATIONAL
ARCHIVES AND
LIBRART
Truman-Bomb
RECORDS
U.S. SERVICE MENT
July 24, 1945.
Potsdam: At the plenary session on July 24,
Truman walked over to Stalin and (in the words of Leahy) "told him
quietly that we had developed a powerful weapon more potent than
BIG
anything yet seen in war. The President said later that Stalin's
reply indicated no special interest and that the Generalissimo
did not seem to have any conception of what Truman was talking
about. It was simply another weapon and he hoped we would use it
effectively."
James Byrnes, in his book says that at the close of the
Big Three meeting on July 24thn Truman walked around the big circular
table to talk to Stalin and after a brief conversation he re joined
Byrnes and rode back to the house where they stayed. He says HST
gaid he had told Stalin that after long experimentation we had
developed a new bomb far more destructive than any other known bomb
and that we intended to use it very soon unless Japan surrendered.
Stalin's only reply, he said, was that he was glað to hear of the
bomb and he hoped we would use it. Byrnes says he was surprised at
Stalin's lack of interest and concluded he had not grasped its
importance.
The President told me, in a talk August 6, 1951, that
he told Stalin during the Potsdam conference that the U.S. had
perfected a powerful new weapon. He said he did NOT tell Stalin
that it was an atomic bomb or weapon. He said Stalin did not seem
particularly impressed but he smiled and said that was fine.