Truman Diary
"I can deal with Stalin," was president Harry S. Truman's initial response to the Soviet leader. Truman had only been president for three months when the three major Allied leaders agreed to meet outside Berlin for the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, two months after the German surrender. Truman had never previously met either Winston Churchill or Joseph Stalin, but was anxious to establish a good rapport. On July 17, 1945, just before the opening of the conference, Stalin made a personal visit to Truman's office.
Over the course of two hours, the two men discussed Italy and China and Stalin agreed to offer his aid in the Pacific front offensive on August 15. After Stalin leaves, Truman records his account of the meeting in his diary. In it, he also makes a cryptic reference to having "some dynamite," which may refer to the atomic bomb, first successfully tested the previous night.
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