Nuclear weapons command deference.
They are an option quietly waiting to be used.
Fear of annihilation has so far prevented leaders
from choosing nuclear war.
But this remains a viable option, always.
Did anyone honestly think Stalin would allow free elections
in countries occupied by his army? His promises to
Roosevelt and Churchill at Yalta were mostly worthless.
In truth, the Big Three were tired of arguing among
themselves. When it came to controlling Eastern
Europe, Stalin had the winning hand.
The countries in dispute were already his.
So they signed a gentleman's agreement
saying Stalin owed them an election and such.
Useless verbiage.
Stalin's military controlled all the great capitols -
Warsaw, Vienna, Budapest, Prague.
Twenty-six million Russians dead from this war.
Russia earned her prize. Countries friendly to Moscow.
They were an important buffer, providing military
defense for the Soviet Union. The West was not
to be trusted. No Kremlin leader would ever sanction
ceding any of these countries to Anglo-American control.
Moscow would not yield on this matter of Russian security.
Roosevelt dead. Hard to imagine.
Elected to the presidency four times.
Many people had known no other man
as president. He was a legend. War hero.
The nation's leader in years of Great Depression.
Roosevelt led the revolutionary New Deal.
There would never be another like him,
ever again.
Folksy. Harry Truman. Missouri senator.
Head of the Foreign Relations Committee.
He may be from hardscrabble but he was no one's boob.
Grieving New Dealers thought otherwise. Hopeless.
Someone needed to be with him. Show him
how to be president.
Congress knew Truman and they thought he was
up to the job. Barely three months as Vice President,
then suddenly here he was. The White House.
A haberdasher from Kansas City presiding in the Oval Office.
Truman wasn't even Roosevelt's pick for vice president.
He became a compromise running mate when Labor
vetoed the President's choice.
Turns out the people liked Harry. Straight talker.
Authentic. Direct. He was one of them.
Their President.
Refreshing.
War has ended. But the turmoil only grew.
There were no jobs. People needed shelter.
Mass amounts of food must continuously
be brought in from the other nations,
themselves not much better off.
Power out in many places. Transportation
in short supply. Security - what a joke.
Britain was exhausted by the war.
This situation was not sustainable.
Only the U.S. could provide the fortune in aid
Europe needed. The real question became:
would America allow it?
Did Washington have the will?
* * * * *
OVER EASY
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