A grateful nation gives thanks for victory. Hundreds of thousands crowd into americas churches to give thanks to god. President truman announced he official surrender, this is a solemn, but glorious our. I wish that franklin d. Roosevelt had live to see this day. General eisenhower informed me that the forces of germany have surrendered, to the united nations. The flags of freedom fly all over europe. For this victory we join in offering our thanks to the providence which is guided and sustained us through the dark days of adversity and into light. Much remains to be done the victory won in the west must now be won in the east the whole world must be cleansed of the evil from which half the world has been freed. United the peaceloving nations have demonstrated in the west that their arms are stronger by far than the might of dictators or the tyranny of military clicks that once called us salt and wheat the power of our people to defend themselves against all enemies will be proved in the pacific war as it was proved in europe. Historic pictures of the last days of the war in europe show american and Russian Troops as they join the river elbow splitting german armies into weeks Red Army General eye meaning that smell that certain german defeat. Inside germany itself the allies sees the famous nuremburg of the capture this famous southern german city, the American Flag instead of the swastikas. In a symbolic gesture american troops destroyed the nazi party emblem. American history tv and washington journal are marking the end of world war ii and the european theater. We welcome Rick Atkinson, his last book focusing on the air 1940 4 19 for five. To get our conversation started on ve day, a quick timeline of where things were, and how they came from dday, on june 6th, 1944, in late august deliberation of paris in august 25th, 1944. The battle of the bulge in december of that year into january of 1945 and then to the east days. Take us back to may 7th and eighth of 1945 . How did the war and in europe . Well, the war ended with the germans basically deciding hitler having killed himself, more than a week earlier, that there was no profit in tracking it out with the russians in berlin. The russians murdering civilians, killing soldiers, german soldiers, by the hundreds of thousands. So, the germans decided that trying to make peace with the western allies, americans in particular, was their best bet. They were going to get a better deal from western allies, then they were going to get from the soviet. So eisenhower had his third headquarters in the french champagne town, in northeastern france. The germans sent a delegation, there was a lot of collaborative out what the conditions would be for a conversation, they were told in no Uncertain Terms unconditional surrender, where the only terms by which the war would end. And so, the operations cheap of their german armed forces, showed up at eisenhowers headquarters, which was a former technical college, a red brick building. Reporters and photographers were there, it was two in the morning, on may 7th, 1945. In the articles of surrender had been boiled down to barely 200 words. The whole ceremony with cameras rolling lasted only about ten minutes. The operations jeep signed, eisenhower told him that he would be personally held responsible for ensuring that the terms of the capitulation were honored. And that was that. Now, it was going to go in effect the next day, may 8th. To give time to alert the german cruise in the atlantic, and the german detachments and norway. The soviets felt that it was important to have a surrender ceremony on german soil. They didnt want the germans to be able to say, as they had a norm warmer one, that they had never been actually defeated. That they had never capitulated, in germany, proper. So they insisted that they need to have yet another surrender ceremony, in a suburb of berlin, which happens on may 9th. So the soviets, now the russians, consider that to be ve day. But for the rest of the world, the surrender went into effect on may 8th, and that was the end of world war in europe. Now, there is still a war in the pacific. And that certainly had a moderating effect, on the other jubilation of the places that took otherwise. No one knew how long that war was gonna go. On that timeline from ve day, in 1944, they define a week to rein europe, based on your research of u. S. Forces and british forces, but that happened sooner than it thought or did it take longer than they thought . You know, it took longer in the sense that after the battle of the bulge and did, at the end of january of 1945, there was a widespread understanding that the germans could not recover from these catastrophe. That they had lost a war. What no one in the west could understand is why they wouldnt give up, why they continued to fight . Why one little town, one medium sized city, and even big cities, continue to resist . There were 10,400 american soldiers killed in action, in april of 1945, in germany. Thats almost as many as were killed in june of 1944, the month of invasion. So it was awful virtually, to the last gunshot. And as a consequence, there was a great consternation, really, about whether they would surrender, whether the last german soldier would have to be killed, whether more german civilians would have to die, and of course weather more allied soldiers were gonna have to die. So, i think there had been hope that the war would and sooner. May a turnout to be the day. Our guest is Rick Atkinson, it is the 75th anniversary of ve day. Would love to hear from you and questions from comments. 202 7488000 for the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001, mountain and pacific. And for those of you who are world war ii veterans or families, if your parents served in world war ii, we ask you to call on 202 7488002. In your book, Rick Atkinson, i think its really alarming to read the death tolls. In fact, i think in one story right about the training, just training for dday alone. And there was one accident in the training that killed 700 soldiers in that training accident. And looking at the statistics of how many people died, and overall military deaths in world war ii, 417,000 u. S. Deaths. But on the soviet side, 8. 8 million to 10. 7 million soviet soldiers. Thats not just a billion deaths. No, and the soviet union had 190 million people. And its estimated that the totals of the deaths for 26 million. That is a staggering percent, of 13 or 14 of the total population. Hours were bad enough, we had 291,000 killed in action. A little more than 400,000 as you mentioned, all of this including accidents and disease, and so on. Thats about one third of 1 of the American Population of 130 million, during world war ii. So, as staggering as those numbers are for us, they are monumental for the soviets in particular. The germans lose about 7 million people. About 60 Million Deaths worldwide, in world war ii. Thats a deaf every seat three seconds for six years. That gives you an idea of the magnitude. Its the greatest catastrophe, self self inflicted catastrophe in human history. And the war and doing three weeks or so after the death of fdr in georgia, on april 12th, of 1945. Harry truman, the president on ve day, what was the effect stateside when that news came . It was a great shock. Even though anyone who is looking at newsreel footage could see that president roosevelt was not a healthy man. He had been dying for some months. He had a very trip to malta, for a conference with churchill, and then they flew to yalta on the black sea, for a conference with joseph stalin, the soviet leader. And then he went to, even today for look at those pictures, it can tell it here is a man who is dying. His Blood Pressure was in the stratosphere, and he had all kinds of health problems. So he suffers a cerebral hemorrhage, at his cottage, in warm springs, georgia, april 12th, 1945. Right after lunch, the war spread through the country really quickly, and by late afternoon, virtually all americans are aware of it. Its a shock, to everyone. He had been president for more than 12 years. He is our war president. He was a president through the darkest days of the depression. There were young men in uniform who really had very little memory of the time when roosevelt was not their leader, and now their commanderinchief. So no one knew who harry truman was, for the most part. He was an obscure senator from missouri, he had been a captain in the artillery in world war i. Hes a bit of a cipher in the eyes of most americans, with the notion that hes going to step in and fill these very large shoes that roosevelt has left behind. Something that a lot of people had difficulty comprehending. We have lots of calls waiting for, you break atkinson, lets go first to larry, in gallup, new mexico. Larry, good morning. Yes, good morning. My father was in the South Pacific war, in addition, on your research, i wanted to know how much was a role of the american indian, particularly the committees, how much on your research have you done on them, if any, and what was their role during the war . Thank you very much. Thanks for the call, larry, and thanks to your dad. Well, american aid eons were important. First of, all they had a tradition of being warriors. So that was critical when you are trying to put together an army. As you mentioned, there were code talkers navajo, and others who had there in language, and it was assumed correctly, that if a navajo was talking to one other navajo on the radio, that even if the japanese, and were talking about the Pacific Theater in this case, could eavesdrop and hear that conversation, which they could, they werent gonna be able to the coated, because very few japanese spoke navajo. So the cotalkers were important for operational security. I think there was also a fence with american indians, and native americans as part of the force, that it really was a comprehensive american force, in the same way, that we wanted all ethnicities to be represented by 1945. And its a painful process is getting their, to acknowledging that there is a rightful role in combat units for black americans. That black americans can be excellent fighter pilots, as they showed, in the Tuskegee Airmen in alabama, who got into a combat show. So i think for native americans, it was a feeling that first of, all they had some practical skills downward useful. And second, that it is an affirmation that this is a pan american war. From annapolis, maryland, welcome. Yes, hello. My dad fought in world war ii, in the pacific, he had four brothers, all lost in world war ii. A couple of uncles in europe, another uncle who fought in the pacific in the navy. A couple of questions. My dad was a Second Generation telling american, it appears a prejudice against telling americans was less harsh against japanese american. I was wondering why that was true. And the second question, dropping of the atomic bomb probably is the reason im talking to you today. Im wondering how that impact had on the outcome of the war, and the ability of more american soldiers to survive. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Well thanks for the call in the question. Yes, i think its fair to say that the prejudices against italian americans were considerably less, than they were against japanese americans. The italians, of course, were our adversaries, at least up until 1943 when they switch sides, and became our ally. But the italians had not launched the kind of attack that had a curled with pearl harbor, when the japanese truck of december 1941. I think there is also a racial component to, it frankly. I think it was easier to dislike asians, the japanese specifically. So of course, they were treated dreadfully. We were just talking about native americans in the force. While they were of course japanese americans who fought valiantly in italy, and france, during world war ii. They were exceptionally capable and ferocious fighters. And they had something to prove, because back home, there had been tens of thousands of japanese who had been interned in camps. Treated not only a secondclass citizens, but as non citizens. With respect to the atomic bombs, yes, i think that the fact that the two atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki in early august, of 1945, brought on into the war in the pacific. It probably saved hundreds of thousands of american lives. And when ve day occurs on may 8th, 1945, one of the reasons that the jubilation is not more than it was, is that the battle is occurring precisely then. It is a cave by cave bloodletting. And this foreshadows what the toll is going to be in attacking the japanese home islands, directly. There were estimates that american casualties could rise as much as 1 million, if that were required. And of course, the atomic bombs, and when ve day occurs, in may of 1945, no one knows about the atomic bombs except a small group of businesses, and others in new mexico. But no one knows whether it may or not work. So those bombs, as horrible as they were, in my estimation, brings the war to an absolute truncated and. Appropriately, it saves Many American lives. It saves even more japanese lives. Russians were ready to come in. The war was going to expand, in the pacific, because the russians had agreed to be part of it. So the atomic bombs saved a lot of heartache. We are talking about the end of world war ii, in the european theater. The 75th anniversary of ve day. And joining us, is a world war ii veteran, from davidson, oklahoma. Hello. Good morning, youre on the air. Thank you. Yes, i was over there on may the 6th, 1945. And we got on the ship on may the 15th, headed for the pacific. We stopped by the United States, we would fly in v 24s and we would train on b 29 for a couple of weeks and go into the pacific. During that period of time, they dropped the bomb and ended the war in the pacific. We bombed all of europe from a b24 base in italy. Heath, great to have you with us. Thank you for your story. Rick, how quickly was the military able to pivot the focus on the Pacific Theater . Well, the commanders in europe in one in washington had been thinking about how to take a good portion of that force, and move it to the pacific, and how you would do, that and who would go. It wasnt fair for those who had been fighting and north africa, beginning of 1942, and then in italy 1943 and 44. For them to have to then go fight in the pacific. So there were plans that had been put together. There were in fact units that were being shift shifted, as he just said, in may of 1945. They were getting ready to retrain for the assault on the japanese homeland. The b 29 he mentioned, was the newest of the long range bombers, they were doing extraordinary work in devastating japan. B29 were used to drop the two atomic bombs. So i was believe that you would have to take a good portion of that european force, leaving some behind of, course as an army of occupation. But the majority of it and was going to end up in the pacific, one way or another. In the wall street journal, there is a photo of generalizing flower flashing the v for victory pins, at the signing ceremony. Rick atkinson, one of your early interviews with cspan in 2000 and, two on your first book, army at dawn, you said that in a different photograph of ike, theres a photograph reflected of certain buoyancy of spirit that i think served him well. You are writing your final, book the guns that last, light his fellow commanders, some of the other allied commanders, were not confident that i was necessarily the commander type. There were friction, there is no doubt about it. And the british, in particular, hideouts about eisenhower. Not all of, them some of them revered him. He had difficulties, really, through the entire final year of the war. With field marshal montgomery, who is a senior british commander in europe. A very difficult character, it must be said. So there were those who had doubts about eisenhower, there were those who hideouts about when he had began the theater commander in the mediterranean, in late 1942. He had never heard a shot fired, he and his class had missed world war i. They had not been deployed. So there was a feeling that who is disgusting and why is he the line to be the Supreme Commander . My feeling is, i lived with Dwight Eisenhower metaphorically for 15 years, in my admiration for him grew every year, during that span. He was an extraordinarily capable war leader. He was extremely capable political general. His primary job was to hold together this fractious allied coalition. Eventually there were more than 50 countries in what was called by franklin the united nations, fighting with the United States. And eisenhower was brilliant, and Holding Together that coalition, against all of the century puddle forces that tried to pull apart every wartime coalition. So you know, eisenhowers honors at the end of the, war i think are fairly earned. He showed himself to be a capable ally commander, a warning commander, and that big smile of his, which one of the subordinate said was worth at least an army courts in moral terms. It was fairly earned, in may of 1945. Lets hear from tom, next st. Petersburg, florida. Tom, youre on the air. Hello. My name is, tom and the reason im calling is, i often wondered who engineered the end of the war . Was it admiral doorknobs, and secondly, did he honestly believe throughout his entire career that his losses in the atlantic were not caused by the anemic machine . And thirdly, what happened to him at the end of the war . Well thats a lot of questions. General dornis was our commander at the end of the war, there was much left to command by that point. The german submarine force had been almost completely destroyed, by may of 1945. In terms of who engineered the end of the war, well, there were conversations among those who are still surviving in berlin, and northwest of berlin. About how to go about contacting the allies, and how to go about bringing this catastrophe to a close. Hitler having killed himself on april 30th, had essentially tried to pull the temple down around him as he perished. But not everyone was willing to take that route. Not everyone was suicidal. So there had been, basically, an agreement that would send a delegation to highlight headquarters. First, they went to montgomery, then they end up, as i mentioned, in eisenhowers french headquarters. All of this catches if you can, they were making it up as they go along. They were very aware that every day that passes, there are more germans who fall under soviet control. And they stay are determined to avoid. They are trying to stall as long as i can to allow germans to flee westward, and they are fleeing westward by the hundreds of thousands. Eventually by the millions, in order to avoid being under soviet control. So, when the final decision is made, ok were going to give up and concede the ally to demand for unconditional surrender, at that point its a fake. From steve, who is calling from providence, rhode island. Hi, there. Hi. Good morning. I would just like to make a comment, this gentleman knows that i know that the war was decided on the eastern front. The western front was like a little skirmish, compared to the eastern front. And if the germans wouldve been there in the eastern front, they wouldnt have been on the western front, there wouldve been a settlement. But the most important issue, i want to state, is the russian crime when they entered berlin and over 2 million german women were raped by those communist animals. I am a german american, in my father is a german american who served in the italian campaign. Steve, we will get a response from Rick Atkinson. Thanks for the call, steve. There were war crimes of the first order committed by the soviets, not only in berlin, but through all of eastern europe, really, as day overran poland and pushed into the eastern precincts of what was the german empire. And the ways, the soviets were doing that besides their fate alike of discipline, was to feeling that the the brevity that the germans had visited, on the soviet union, beginning with the invasion in 1941, and expanding right on through the end of the German Defense was to pay in kind. Was to be paid a kind. More spirals out of control in ways that no one can perceive at the beginning and this is a good example of the trial cities the germans committed or repaid probably with interest by the russians. I agree with you, the russians certainly carried the weight of the war for all the allies. It is estimated that soviet soldiers killed nine german soldiers for every one that was killed by british and american troops combined. We i mentioned 26 million soviets death, it was vital to have them remain as part of it. It is the 75th anniversary of victory in europe day here in American History tv in washington. We are joined by Rick Atkinson the other of liberation trilogy. And the three books series on the war in the european theater, more of your calls and comments coming up momentarily we are joined next by senator roberts of kansas, chair of the eisenhower memorial commission. Senator from kansas. Senator, we saw you yesterday on the floor with your i like ike button. You were a youngster when ve day that happened. Tell us about that. Actually, the button says i still like ike. We handed them out at the congressional lunch yesterday. They were a hot item. I think most of my memories came when i was 16 and i got to go to the Republican Convention in 1952 where eisenhower won on the first ballot as opposed to robert taft. And then again during the inaugural and those are the only times i personally met the man. That was back in kansas. I remember that day as i was swinging on the front porch and my mom came in with tears in her eyes and she said we have defeated hitler. Ike defeated hitler. And i asked her, does that mean dad can come home. Not at that time. He was in the pacific. He was a marine in iwo jima. At any rate, the one thing i remember about ike, you knew he came into the room even though your back was to him. He had that presence. A wonderful smile. Everybody liked ike. And that just stuck. We are talking about eisenhowers role in the victory in europe. We are talking to you about the eisenhower memorial. General eisenhower led the allies to victory in europe and served two terms as president. Why has it taken so long for a memorial to be created in washington for president eisenhower. It is amazing how many groups that you have to go through, the National CapitalPlanning Commission and the fine arts council, etc. You have to raise the money and have federal funds. You have to have all members of the family on board. There were changes, i was the second chairman way back the medal of honor winner from the senator from hawaii and senator ted stevens, two veterans who pushed very hard on this. If you take a look at the memorials, not many are built on a rapid basis. It takes a stepbystep. The process is not simple. You have site selection, design approvals, construction, it is a monumental undertaking. Pardon that terrible pun. We are thrilled to see the hard work come to fruition. It is done and all we have to do now is wait until september when social distancing will not be much of a problem. If it still is, we will have the dedication accordingly. It was supposed to be today on the 75th anniversary of ve day. What were you going to say in that dedication . I think i had four minutes. The president had accepted the invitation to speak. We had a flyover. Basically the eisenhower family would have spoken. We had a number of world war ii utterance including bob dole veterans, who really helped raising money on the private side of it. I think this memorial honors not only an extraordinary man, but i think he served as a symbol for all generations of the promise of america and what our values made possible around the world. I think he really was the president that basically was president when we entered the world stage and especially when he was the supreme allied commander in europe. Senior senator from kansas, we look forward to the dedication when that happens every thank you so much for joining us this morning on the 75th anniversary of ve day. Im glad i could be there. And back to our guest, Rick Atkinson, taking your calls and comments on this 75th anniversary. James is in south dakota. Go ahead. I am Sergeant Keating retired air force, i was an iraqi war veteran post 9 11 a saudi arabia, ground zero. I served a year in korea, and i did a fundraiser with my dad, he was world war ii veteran,. ,. ,,. , and share a little history. Rick atkinson, your dad served in world war ii and he was a career military veteran. What was that experience in particular like, ve day, when that will come up every year with your dad . He enlisted in the army after he turned 18 in 1942. He went to ocs and became the Second Lieutenant and got to europe after the war ended. He was in the occupation force in bavaria with Extraordinary Police powers because germany was in ruins and anarchy was a big threat in bavaria and every everywhere else. He came home in 1946 and went to penn state. He went back into the army and liked it well enough to make it a career and he served for 30 years. He died 18 months ago at the age of 94. Ve day was not anything particular in his worldview. He marked veterans day, memorial day, 4th of july, those were important holidays for him is there for many of us ve day itself, it was debated about whether or not we would end up in the pacific. Fortunately at least for me and for him, that was not necessary. I was born in munich. My father having gone back into the army, went back to europe and was part of the army of occupation of salzburg and the Army Hospital happened to be in munich and austria was still petitioned and he was part of the occupation of austria until 1955 when the russians and americans both left austria. The residual effects of the war have persisted in many ways and even 10 years after, we still had Occupation Forces in austria and to this day we have American Forces in germany. They are not Occupation Forces because they are our allies now. The consequences of the war in terms of military topography was profound and affected me personally and certainly my father. Next up is robert calling from virginia. Good morning, gentlemen. I just have to comment, my grandfather served in both theaters. He was in the navy during the european conflict and when they decided they would call it quits, ve day, he transferred over to the United States marine corps so that he could go to the Pacific Theater. He actually saw action and thank god he came home to us. He served in two different branches of service and two theaters of war. Any specific questions . Is it true that during the Second World War they had a secret group of nazis to make a fourth reich. To make a white . A forthright. There were certainly good nazis who got away and escape either the hangman or prison. Some of them went to south america and there were a few who had ambitions of either reconstituting the german reich. Or at least keeping alive the spirit of the rake and adolf hitler. This is a fringe group not to be taken seriously. Greater concern is not those who missed justice or who had ambitions to put together the tattered remnants of the german empire and reconstitute it in some fashion. Those in germany and elsewhere in europe, its not just germans by any means, feel that the spirit of the third reich should be honored. You cannot be legally and nazi in germany. The germans have been extraordinarily capable at educating during all germans, particularly younger germans about what had happened and who was responsible. But it is difficult to snuff out this virus of fascist. You see cropping up in hungry, we see it in other places in history in europe. We see marks of it in portions of germany that is very concerning. And we see it wherever there is a populace who want to take the route of fascism and neil fascism. And try to feather that hatred. That is of a greater concern rather than any residual nazis from 1945. You wrote your last book about the discovery of a trove of treasures after remains of the war, manuscripts in caves and mines across germany in the waning days of the four. How did allied forces prevent looting of that and also prevents extra violence by troops . Revenge violence against germans who couldve been prisoners or in pursuit of german troops. The germans were great thieves, nazis had looted artworks and treasures of all sorts, both from individuals and galleries and museums, all across occupied europe. We tried to discover that stuff and get back to the original owners, and that is a process that goes on to this day. Revenge killings was a great concern, in fact we saw the concentration camp not far from munich, american soldiers liberated the camp and we saw tens of thousands of emaciated people and thousands who had died, corpse a strewn around the grounds and the outskirts of the camp. There were soldiers, american soldiers who lost control and discipline broke down and theres an estimated several dozen german camp. Guards, these recess cards, who were murdered either by the americans, in one case they put them up against a wall and murdered them with a machine gun, or were murdered by inmates who run into a frenzy until order was restored. So there was concern about this, for the most part, discipline up taking did. Number of revenge killings by american troops and western allied troops was very subtle, discipline was quite admirable. I think its hard to say about the soviet troops coming from the east. But that was part of the price and the pain of victory. Lets go back to calls and hear from lawrence, in st. Paul, minnesota. When you go to opportunity, thank you, ill be real quick. Two comments. One, i always admired eisenhower for having to pull in citizens from the town near the concentration camps, so that they could witness what the nazis did. But thats not my question. My question is studying world war ii if so impactful, for understanding where we are today, from a political, a military, and social perspective. You can count on that, particularly, as it relates to the politics that were involved in the making of both the atomic and hydrogen bombs, for post war. So thank you for the opportunity, and i look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks for the call. You know, the consequences of world war ii are extraordinary socially, politically, militarily. Socially in this country our views on gender and racial equality are very much shaped by the experiences in world war ii. There were black americans, hundreds of thousands of black americans, for example to, who served in the water. Mostly, initially, an allblack units. It was a segregated military. And many of them hide what they called a double v campaign. A victory against a fascist components oversee, and victory against racism at home. And the victory in the air power mints, the sense of service, the sense of cohesion that it is experienced brought to black america, was really a propulsion system for the civil rights movement, after the war. And the same for gender equality. We had 19 million american women working outside of their home, during world war ii. Many of them went back to being homemakers, after the war. But you dont keep that genie back in the bottle, for long. It showed women that they had an opportunity, a potential opportunity, to do whatever men could do, that they could do things that meant could do as well, if not better. Whether it was working in a science lab, teaching in college, whatever. So these very large social imprints that come out of the war, our witness to this day, and shake the culture in the society, the economy in extraordinarily profound ways that we still see 75 years later. I want to point our viewers and listeners, to writ atkinsons modernday reflection on ve day, in the wall street journal. A piece headlined ve day, forged a world still worth defending. The photograph there of army veteran, from buffalo, new york, who was wounded in belgium, standing near Grand Central station, on may 7th. 1945. Halle springs, North Carolina is next. Linda, good morning. Yes, thank you for taking my call. I have a great aunt and uncle from northern italy, who had told us stories about resistance, by many italians, and how elated they were on liberation day. Our current Family Friends remind us that this week, april 25th, was their liberation day. And they celebrated, and how sad they are that many of their elders survivors have actually passed away due to the covid. But they feel like they are in battle again. My question is, what were the italian terms of liberation, and where they are still germans in italy fighting at that time . Yes, there were germans in italy, until may of 1945. The italians, you may know, from family history, in 1943, had decided, after making an alliance with the germans, the backed of steel that mussolini and hitler had put together, in 1943 there were secret negotiations between the americans and british, and italians. And in 1943, they italians basically switched sides. Now not all of them switched sides, there was a rough state that prevailed in northern italy, supported by the germans. The fighting in italy, which had begun with our invasion in sicily, in july 1943, was going to continue right until the very end of the war. It lasted all know until this day, 75 years ago. The italians eventually surrendered, after the germans had agreed to surrender. It was the germans occupying, italy fighting in italy, propping up that rump state of the italian suit a government, who had to throw in the towel. And that occurs may 2nd, 1945. So the war was awful in italy until the very end, also. Next, in heads with, illinois, youre on. Good morning. I hope the fellow from new mexico is to listening. We had a navajo on our local radio station, who came talk, being interviewed and that fellow saying sank the marine corpse and navajo. I had the hairs on the back of my neck, i was standing up because of the tension. My dad was a marine in hiroshima, i was a marine and get non. The question i have is, it Franklin Roosevelt still lived in august, with a lion or have let him use the bombs . And simpered fiddlers for america. Thanks for that. , the rose gold was not directing more policy, before after rose franklins death in april. He was keenly interested in the manhattan project. Which was the construction of the atomic bomb. He sold it as a way to shorten the war, he saw it as a way to save lives, both for americans and other american allies. And to save japanese lives also. He was less concerned about that, my 1945. So Franklin Roosevelt lived beyond april 12th, 1945, and have any doubt that he wouldve made the same decision that harry truman did. Which was to go ahead and use this terrible weapon, in hopes of bringing the total war to a complete and final and. Which happens of course, with the japanese surrender in tokyo, and tokyo bay, on the uss missouri, on september 2nd, 1945. We touched on this briefly, at the beginning of the program. But bob in missouri asked this, who were the germans signing for the german country . I guess he is referring to the ve day, the allied signing, and not the russian signing . It was the operations chief for the german military. He had been designated and given the authority by the residual german government. He had an appointment after that signing, with the hangman. He was one of those who was executed for warm crimes. Subsequently, before the norm were trials. You probably get asked this question a lot, you are your liberation trilogy is about the war in the european continent, youre working gonna than other trilogy coming out on that. Have you ever considered a book about the Pacific Theater in the world war ii . You know i thought about it, a lot. Obviously you pivot to the pacific, and i try to do that, what have done for the mediterranean in western europe. I decided not to. This was 2013, when the final volley came out for the liberation trilogy. I decided not to, in part because i am really a european insist. I lived in europe, i was born in europe. And more important, just out of fascination and even fixation with that earlier water, the war of our independence that gave us the republic that we have to this day. So im working on volume two of the American Revolution trilogy. Its gonna take me a while, i dont anticipate being around to take up the pacific. To jesus, bierle in, illinois. Good morning. Yes, good morning. I have a question for mr. Atkinson, i wonder what he thinks about the mexican americans, or latino americans, who fought in the american wars . More than 500 mexican americans were in the war. Thanks for the question, has. You know, as with the other ethnic contributions to talked about earlier, native americans, blacks and others, the hispanic contribution, take the Texas National guard, the 30 thinks infantry. After they were set federalized, or the 45th division, which had been in oklahoma, new Mexico National guard. You go down the roster of the names of the soldiers of those unit and you see lots of of hernandezs and gonzaless. There are many hispanic names, mexican and otherwise. Their contribution is significant. Their role in making those units into fine fighting units, the 33rd 36th in the 45th, both fought in italy. So, hispanic americans have every reason to be proud of their role, and their contribution to that 16. 1 million men and women force, that made the United States military world war ii. Theres a photograph in the bbc today, about at this point princes elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth to lead the 75th Anniversary Event speaking on the nation on television. There is an army cheap driver, probably what was the role of the royal family, back then in the wire . Where their role was to keep the british in the fight, and to keep them focused on ambitions of the entire british nation. Which was basically to prevail and withstand the pressures from hitler and his fascist thugs. When ve day snookered, there were huge crowds in trafalgar square, in london, and there were crowds outside the palace. They saying patriotic songs, hope in glory, people weeping. They chanted, we want the king. And the king came out. He appeared on the balcony, of Buckingham Palace six times during the day. He brought with him the queen, and he brought with him the two princesses, including elizabeth, who was then still a young girl. But now, 75 years later, she has been a queen for a long time, and there is no one better equipped to speak on behalf of britain and would britain accomplished during the war, than Queen Elizabeth. Well, Rick Atkinson, we appreciate you joining us this morning, on the fifth 75th anniversary of ve day. We always appreciate your appearances on both tvs, good luck on the continuation of your series of the American Revolution. Bill, thank you so much for having me, this morning. And for remembering the day. This last august six was the 70th anniversary of hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb and obvious hakeem, three days later. In 1945 japan announced its unconditional surrender. Up next, we look back at president trumans position to use atomic bombs against japan. A sh