{"id":1364,"date":"2019-04-03T13:09:53","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T13:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=1364"},"modified":"2020-02-20T16:27:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T16:27:16","slug":"using-personal-sources-president-truman-and-the-cold-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=1364","title":{"rendered":"Using Personal Sources: President Truman and the Cold War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Erika Hoffmann, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on US President Harry Truman\u2019s diary entries for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Erika demonstrates how these diary entries can be seen as the starting point for the Cold War paranoia that set in within the West in the post-Second World War era. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry Truman\u2019s presidency was marked by the start of the Cold War. This blog will focus on two diary entries of Harry Truman, three months into his United States presidency. The diary entries were written on the 17th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup> July 1945, following his attendance at the Potsdam conference alongside Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. Studying these diary entries not only gives us insight into Truman as an individual and as a leader but also gives us direct access into foreign relations and affairs at the time. We must question why Truman decided to write down his immediate thoughts regarding the Potsdam conference and discuss the limitations of these diary entries as a primary source. Despite some limitations, this blog will conclude that Truman\u2019s diary entries offer an unprecedented perspective on the origins of the Cold War and relations between the leaders at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Diary entry of Harry S. Truman, 17 July 1945. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As a personal source the\ndiary entries of Truman are characterised by a sense of immediacy due to the\nfact they were composed whilst the post-Second World War conference was taking\nplace. The Potsdam conference ran from the 17th<\/sup> July 1945 to the 2nd<\/sup>\nAugust 1945 and was held as a continuation of discussion from the previous\nconference in Yalta. In Biography and\nHistory<\/em> Barbara Cain addresses the term \u2018life writing\u2019, which refers to as a\nvariety of different styles of writing including diaries and letters. [1] She notes\nthat \u2018life writing [is] an umbrella term which could encompass all of these\ndifferent forms of writing, connecting them to each other through their\nconcerns with and revelations of individual lives.\u2019 [2] This viewpoint can be\nconsidered true for the diary entries of Truman, as the reader is exposed to\nhis individual impressions and experiences following his meeting with the\nBritish and Soviet leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, this can be\nconsidered a limitation as we are reading events from Truman\u2019s point of view\nwhich could be subject to prejudice and bias due to pre-existing opinion as a\nresult of differing ideologies and methods of leadership. Truman\u2019s diary would\nprove a more valuable source if used in conjunction with other forms of\ndocumentation from the Potsdam conference, for example official notes taken at\nthe meeting or diary entries\/letters written by Stalin or Churchill. Mark S. Byrnes\nstates that \u2018one should not overestimate the importance of Truman\u2019s personal\nviews,\u2019 adding, \u2018Long-standing American suspicions of the Soviet regime created\nthe context in which American leaders saw Soviet postwar actions.\u2019 [3] In line\nwith this viewpoint, it is also important to consider why Truman articulated\nhis personal views and wrote diary entries conveying his immediate thoughts on\nthese occasions.  It would seem that\nTruman wrote diary entries in order to register his thought processes due to\nthe overwhelming nature of the Potsdam conference, in meeting two important\nleaders so soon into his presidency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The content of the diary\nentries reveals the nature of relations between the leaders at the time as\nTruman expresses a sense of optimism in handling Stalin as he writes, \u2018I can\ndeal with Stalin. He is honest but smart as hell.\u2019 [4] According to Geoffrey Roberts\n\u2018Stalin\u2019s conversation with Truman was friendly enough although it did not\nmatch the bonhomie he had achieved with Roosevelt at Tehran and Yalta. But\nTruman was new to the job, was still feeing his way with Stalin and, unlike his\npredecessor, had not engaged in a long wartime correspondence with the Soviet\nleader prior to meeting him.\u2019 [5] It is significant, then, that Truman uses the\nphrase, \u2018we put on a real show\u2019, because this suggests relations between\nhimself and the Soviet leader were not as good as initially depicted. [6] This\nview is reiterated when Roberts states that Stalin claimed, \u2018He wanted to\ncooperate with the US in peace as we had cooperated in war, but it would be\nharder.\u2019 [7] <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of foreign\naffairs, Nicole L. Anslover describes Truman\u2019s anxieties regarding Potsdam, observing\nthat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the pressures of the job were finally getting to [Truman]; he had faced the early days with considerable aplomb, but the days and sometimes sleepless nights were certain to make him weary. Perhaps he was already trying to decide what impact the atomic bomb would make on the world, if indeed it was ready as soon as promised. Maybe it was his innate distrust of the Soviets that made him uneasy about meeting Stalin face to face. [8]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From this historian\u2019s\nperspective we can infer that Truman wrote a diary as a form of coping\nmechanism from the pressure he was experiencing as the US President. Moreover, Anslover\nsuggests that relations between the Soviet leader and Truman were not based on\na foundation of trust, as Truman also suggests in his dairy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Truman\u2019s diary\nentries allow us to gain access into discussion and thought processes regarding\nkey features in the origins of the Cold War. Truman references Japan, which in\na wider context is linked to the atomic bomb \u2018Manhattan\u2019 that had been\nsuccessfully tested in New Mexico on the 16th<\/sup> July 1945. [9] According\nto Marry A. Heiss and Michael J. Hogan, \u2018In mid-July, the successful first test\nof America\u2019s secretly developed atomic bomb undercut the Yalta rationale for\nwanting Moscow to join the war against Japan.\u2019 [10] In conjunction with this,\nCraig Campbell and Sergey Radchenko state that on the 18th<\/sup> July\nTruman secured a promise from the Soviet leader to participate in the invasion\nof Japan. They note that \u2018Truman\u2019s pleasure in achieving this commitment revealed\nhis immature view of relations with the Soviet Union: he wrote to his wife\nboastfully that he had gotten what he had come to Potsdam for on the first day,\noutfoxing a \u201csmart as hell\u201d Joseph Stalin.\u2019 [11] Campbell and Radchenko address\nthe fact that around the time of the Potsdam conference advances were made on\nthe development of the atomic bomb and the situation regarding Japan, in which\nthe Soviet Union were on-board with the US. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon analysis of Truman\u2019s diary entries during the Potsdam conference we are provided with a deeper insight of Truman\u2019s position as leader of the US at the time. However, our understanding of Truman and his position in the origins of the Cold War would benefit from a comparative analysis of diary entries before and after the Potsdam conference, as well as official sources documenting proceedings involving Truman and the other leaders. It could also be beneficial to research any documentation taken by Stalin, Churchill and Clement Atlee during the Potsdam Conference and use that in comparison with Truman\u2019s. Overall, despite their limitations, as personal sources the diary entries of Harry Truman provide valuable insight into foreign affairs at the start of the Cold War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]\nBarbara Caine, Biography and History (<\/em>Basingstoke:\nPalgrave Macmillan, 2010), 66.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]\nCaine, Biography and History<\/em>, 66.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]\nMark S. Byrnes, The Truman Years,\n1945-1953 <\/em>(London: Routledge, 2000), 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]\nHarry Truman in a diary entry, 17 July 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]\nGeoffrey Roberts, Stalin\u2019s Wars: From\nWorld War to Cold War, 1939-1953. (<\/em>New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007),\n274.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]\nHarry Truman in a diary entry, 17 July 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]\nHarry Truman in a diary entry, 18 July 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]\nNicole L. Anslover, Harry S. Truman: The\nComing of the Cold War<\/em>. (London: Routledge, 2013), 34.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]\nHarry Truman in a diary entry, 17 July 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]\nMarry A. Heiss and Michael J. Hogan, Origins\nof the National Security State and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman. (<\/em>Kirksville:\nTruman State University Press, 2014), 171.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]\nCraig Campbell and Sergey S. Radchenko, The\nAtomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War (<\/em>London: Yale University Press,\n2008), 77.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erika Hoffmann, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on US President Harry Truman\u2019s diary entries for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Erika demonstrates how these diary entries can be seen as the starting point for the Cold War paranoia that set in within the West in the post-Second World War era. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth. Harry Truman\u2019s presidency was marked by the start of the Cold War. This blog will focus on two diary entries of Harry Truman, three months into his United States presidency. The diary entries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[435,431,432,14,430,434,98,433],"class_list":["post-1364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning_in_focus","tag-clement-atlee","tag-cold-war-personal-sources","tag-diaries","tag-history","tag-president-truman","tag-stalin","tag-twentieth-century","tag-winston-churchill"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/history.port.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/harry_truman_1050x700-e1554296710562.jpg?fit=619%2C299&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p91PlX-m0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1364"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1374,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364\/revisions\/1374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}