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I know the risk that compromise brings, and that there will be people who will suffer more under him than if they were free nations, or under our control, but we cannot cure every ill in this world.
Byrnes: Mr. President, with all due respect, and you know that in my role I fully understand the implications of compromise, but in this situation I think that Communism is just as big an evil as fascism. Even if Stalin allows these countries to remain independent, his idea of a buffer zone is a Communist buffer zone. He'll put his own people in place. The populations in those countries will continue to suffer. We don't have to let that happen.
Vaughan: Should we propose a limited buffer zone, then? I mean, does he not already have buffer nations in the U.S.S.R., like Ukraine and Belarus? He can't want additional buffer beyond that? And what about Finland? Stalin already took some of their land by force, knowing we weren't going to engage him up there.
Truman: What Stalin calls a buffer looks like a dramatic expansion of Communism to me, put upon people who do not want it. We should limit this...
If our actions towards Japan do not convince him to limit his ambitions, that does not mean that we should escalate things.
Vaughan: We should talk to Churchill then, we'll need solidarity to stand up to Stalin, and I know he's on the same page us.
Byrnes: Stalin is going to be incensed if we don't tell him about Japan.
Truman: I agree. But Hirohito has reached out to him, and to be honest I don't know what the response was. I certainly do not trust Stalin. If we tell him anything, our mission is in danger. That could prolong the war in the Pacific. Remember, that would play to his advantage here in Europe, if we are distracted over there.
Vaughan: That seems reasonable. I think we have a good sense of what we need to do. We should focus on the issues here in Europe, and do our best to curtail Stalin's ambitions. With any luck, somebody in Moscow will overthrow him. But we can't count on that.
The three men get up from their chairs, and exit stage right.
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Although Churchill wanted the Americans to focus mainly on Germany, the United States was forced to attend to its problems with Japan, initiated by the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States pursued a decisive military campaign in Asia, establishing military bases throughout Southeast Asia (Indochina) and helping squelch Japanese imperialist encroachment throughout the region. Their efforts proved successful and as Japanese military power waned, kamikaze pilots became increasingly
The U.S. emerged as a leading superpower and the sole nuclear power in the world, determined to play a leading role in international politics. The post-Second World War era saw the start of a prolonged Cold War in which the U.S. competed for political domination around the world with Soviet Communism until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. The Second World War also helped the country to
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