Throughout the world throngs of people hail the end of the war in europe. It is five years and more since hitler marched into poland. Years full of suffering and death and sacrifice. Now the war against germany is won. A grateful nation gives thanks for victory. Hundreds of thousands crowd into american churches to give thanks to god. President truman announced the official surrender. This is a solemn but glorious hour. I wish that franklin d. Roosevelt had lived to see this day. General eisenhower informs 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 has 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 of the world has been freed. United, the peaceloving nations have demonstrated in the west that their arms are stronger by far and the might of dictators are the tyranny of military clicks that once called us soft and weak. 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 last days of the war in europe show american and Russian Troops as they join to split german armies in two. The United States general reinhart meets for a certain german defeat. Inside germany itself, the alliance sees the famous stadium of nuremberg with the capture of this famous city the American Flag flouts out the swastika. In a symbolic gesture american troops destroy the nazi party emblem. American history tv and washington journal are marking the end of world war ii, the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii in the europe theater. Ve day, victory in europe day. We welcome historian Rick Atkinson whose final book in the guns of last light published in 2013 the final of the three books focusing on the years 1944 and 1945. And Rick Atkinson, to get our conversation started on ve day, just a quick time line of where things were and how they came from dday on june 6th, 1944, in late august the liberation of paris in august 25th, 1944, the battle of the bulge in december of that year into january of 1945, and then to ve day. Take us back, Rick Atkinson, to may 7th and 8th of 1945. How did the war end 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 dragging 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, the americans in particular, was their best bet. And they were going to get a better deal from the western allies than from the soviets. So eisenhower had his headquarters in the french champagne town in northeastern france. The germans sent a delegation, there was a lot of pal aber about the conditions for a conversation and they were told in no Uncertain Terms that Unconditional Surrender were the only terms by which the war would end. And so general yodel, who was the operations chief for the German Armed Forces showed up with hitlers at eisenhowers headquarters which was in a red brick building and reporters and photographers were there on may 7th, 1945 and the articles of surrender had been boiled down to barely 200 words. The whole ceremony with cameras rolling lasted only about 10 minutes. Yodel signed, eisenhower told him 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 into effect the next day, may 8th, in order to give time to alert german u boat crews and detachments in norway. The soviets felt it was important to have a surrender ceremony on german soil. They didnt want the germans to be able to say, as they have in world war i, they had never been defeated and never capitulated in germany proper and they wanted another ceremony in the suburb of berlin which happened on may 9th. So the soviets, now the russians, considered that to be the ve day but for the rest of the world the surrender went into effect on may 8th and that was the end of the war in europe. Now there is still a war in the pacific and that certainly had a moderating effect on the utter jubilation that would have taken place otherwise. No one knew how long that war was going to go. On that time line, from dday, june 6th, 1944, did the final victory in europe, based on your research of u. S. Forces and british forces, did that happen sooner than they thought or take longer than they thought . It took longer in the sense that after the battle of the bulge ended at the end of january of 1945, there was a widespread understanding that the germans could not recover from this catastrophe, that they had lost the 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 or even big cities continued to resist. There were 10,400 american soldiers killed in action in april 1945 in germany. That is 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 group consternation about whether they were going to surrendering whether every last german soldier was going to have to be killed and whether more would have to die and of course whether more allied soldiers would have to die. There was hope the war would end sooner. May 8th turned out to be the day. Our guest is Rick Atkinson, it is the 75th anniversary of ve day. We would love to hear from you, your questions ant comments. Here are how the lines are broken up. 2027488001, mountain and pacific and for those of you that are world war ii or veterans call in 2027488002. It is alarming to read the death tolls, in one story you write about the training, just the training for dday alone. 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 in overall, military deaths in world war ii, 8. 8 million soviet soldiers and that is not civilian deaths. And they had 190 Million People and estimated the total soviet deaths were 26 million. That is a staggering percent, 13 of the total population. Our losses were bad enough. We had 291,000 killed in action. A little more than 400,000 as you mentioned all deaths including accidents and disease and so on. That is about onethird of 1 of the American Population of 130 million during world war ii. As staggering as they 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 and thats a death every three seconds for six years and that is an idea of the magnitude, the greatest catastrophe self inflicted in human history. And the war ended after the death of fdr in warm springs, georgia, on april 12th of 1945, hairy truman, the president on ve day, what was the effect stateside when that news came . It was a great shock. Anyone looking at news reel footage could see that president roosevelt was not a healthy man. He been dying for some months. He had a very arduous trip to first 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 anyone who even today looks at pictures who could tell this man was dying. His Blood Pressure was in the stratosphere and so he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in warm springs, georgia, april 12th, 1945. Right after lunch. The word spreads through the country very quickly by Late Afternoon virtually all americans are aware of it, it is a shock to everyone. Hes been president for more than 12 years and our war president. Hes the president through the darkest days of the depression. There were young men in uniform with very little memory of a time when roosevelt was not their leader and now their commanderinchief. So no one knew who harry truman was. An obscure senator from missouri and had been a captain in world war i. Hes a bit of a cipher in the eyes of most americans in the notion that hes going to step in and fill these very large shoes that roosevelt has left behind is something that a lot of people had difficulty comprehending. We have a lot of calls waiting for you, Rick Atkinson. Lets go first to larry in gallop, new mexico. Good morning. Yes, good morning. My father was in the south pacific. In addition, on your research i wanted to know how much about the comanches and the hopi, how much on your research have you done on them if any, what was their role during the war. Thanks for your call. Thanks to your dad. American indians were important and they were a tradition of being warriors and that is critical when you are trying to put together an army. As you mention there were code talkers, navajo and others who had their own language and it was assumed correctly that if a navajo was talking to another navajo on the radio, that even if the japanese that we are talking about the Pacific Theater in this case, could eavesdrop and hear that conversation which they could, they werent going to be able to decode it because very few japanese spoke navajo so the code talkers were important for operational security. I think there was also a sense that 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 getting there. To acknowledging there is a rightful role in combat units for black americans. That black americans could be excellent Fighter Pilots as they showed as the Tuskegee Airmen in alabama who got into combat in europe showed. So i think for the native americans it was a feeling that first of all theyve got some practical skills that are useful, and second that it is an affirmation that that is pan american war. Salvatore in annapolis, maryland. My dad fought in world war ii and had Four Brothers and a couple in europe and other uncle who fought in the pacific in the navy. A couple of questions, my dad was a Second Generation italian american. It appears that the prejudice against italian americans was much less than against japanese americans and im wondering if that was true and im wondering why. And the second question, dropping of the atomic bomb probably is the reason im talking to you today. And wondering how that impact had on the outcome of the war and the ability of more american soldiers to survive. Okay, thank you. Well thanks for the call and the questions. Yes, i think it is fair to say that the prejudice against italian americans were considerably less than against japanese americans. The italians of course were our adversary, at least until 1943 when they switched sides and became our ally. But the italians had not launched the kind of attack that had occurred at pearl harbor the japanese struck in december of 1941. I think there is also a racial component to it, frankly. I think that there was a it was easier to dislike asians and the japanese specifically. So of course they were treated dreadfully. And were just talking about native americans in the war and there were japanese americans who fought valiantly in italy and france during world war ii and they were ferocious fighters and they had something to prove because at home there were tens of thousands interned in camps and treated as second class citizens but as noncitizens. With respect to the atomic bombs, yes, i think that the fact that the two atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki brought an end to the war in the pacific probably saved hundreds of thousands of american lives. When ve day occurs on may 8th, 1945, one of the reasons that the jubilation was not more frenetic than it was is that the battle for okinawa is occurring precisely then. It is a cave by cave blood letting and this foreshadowed 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 to 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 physicists and others in new mexico. But no one knows whether even they are not certain whether it is going to work. So those bombs, horrible as they were and in my estimation brings the war to an absolute truncated end, appropriately it saves Many American lives, it saves even more japanese lives. The 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. Were talking about the end of world war ii, the 75th anniversary of ve day and join on our veterans line, pete from oklahoma. Hello. Good morning. Youre on the air. Why, thank you. Yes, i was over there on may the 6th, 1945 and we got on the ship on may 15th heading for the pacific. And we stopped by the United States, was training and flying b24s, was going to train on b29s for a couple of weeks and go to the pacific. And during that period of time is when they dropped the bomb that ended the war in the pacific. But we bombed all of europe from b24 base in mandera, italy. Great to have you with us and thanks for your story. And Rick Atkinson, how quickly was the military able to pivot to focus on the Pacific Theater . Well, the commanders in europe and of course theyre civilian masters back 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. Was it fair for those who had been fighting from north africa beginning in 1942 and then in italy in 43 and 44 and then in western europe for them to fight in the pacific. So there were plans that had been put together, there were, in fact, units being shifted as he just said in may of 1945, they were getting ready to retrain for the assault on the japanese homeland. The b29 he mentioned was the newest of the four engine long range bombers that had been doing extraordinary work devastating japan. B29s were used to drop the two atomic bombs. So there was a belief that you were going to have take a good portion of the European Force leaving some behind as an army of occupation, but the majority of it was going to end up in the pacific in one form or another. And in your weekend piece in the wall street journal there is a photo of eisenhower flashing the v for victory pens at the signing ceremony. One of your early interviews in 2002 on the first book army at dawn, you said that in a different photograph of ike that there is a photograph reflected a certain buoyancy of spirit that i think served him well. You write in your final book, the guns at last light, that there his fellow commander, some of the other allied commanders were not confident that ike was necessarily the commander type. Well, there were frictions, there is no doubt about it and the british in particular had doubts 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 Bernard montgomery, a very difficult character it must be said. So there were those who had doubts about eisenhower, there were those who had doubts about him when he became the theater commander in the mediterranean in late 1942. He never heard a shot fired in anger. He and his west point class both missed world war i, they had not been deployed. And so there was a feeling that who was this guy and why is he the one to be the supreme commander. My feeling is i lived with Dwight Eisenhower metaphorically for 15 years and my admiration for him grew every year during that span. He was an extraordinarily capable war leader. He was an extremely capable political general in that his primary job was to hold together this fractious allied coalition. Eventually there are more than 50 countries in what Franklin Roosevelt called the United Nations fighting with the United States. And eisenhower was brilliant about Holding Together that centrifugal force trying to pull apart every wartime coalition. So eisenhowers laurels at the end of the war i think are fairly earned. He showed himself to be a capable allied commander and that big smile of his which one of his subordinates said was worth at least an army corp in morale terms was fairly earned when we get to may 8th, 1945. Lets hear from tom next, st. Petersburg, florida. Youre on the air. My name is tom willis and im calling is i often wondered who engineered the end of the war, was it admiral dornus 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, that is a lot of questions. Admiral doanus was the commander of the german navy at the end of the war. There wasnt much of a german navy 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 war, well, there were conversations among those who were still surviving in berlin, he was actually to the north to the 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 a basically an agreement that they would send a delegation to allied headquarters, first to montgomery and then they end up as i mentioned as eisenhowers forward headquarters. It is all a bit catch as catch can. They are making it up as they go along. They are very aware that every day that passes there are more germans who fall under soviet control. And this theyre determined to avoid. Theyre trying to stall as long as they 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 that okay were going to give up and cede to the allied demands for Unconditional Surrender at that point it is a fait accompli. Steve calling from providence, rhode island. Hi there. I would like to make a comment. This gentleman knows and 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 prevailed on the Eastern Front there wouldnt have been any western front. There would have 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. Im a german american and my father is a german american who served in the italian campaign. Steve steve well get a response from Rick Atkinson. Thanks for the call, steve. Yeah, there were crimes of the first order committed by the soviets not only in berlin but through all of Eastern Europe as they overran poland and then pushed into the eastern precincts of what was then the german empire. And the reason the soviets were doing that, besides fatal lack of discipline, was a feeling that the depravity that the germs have visited on the soviet Union Beginning with the invasion in 1941 and extending right on through the end of the german advance was to be repaid in kind. So more spirals out of control in ways that no one could foresee at the beginning and this is a good example of the atrocities that the germans committed, are repaid probably with interest by the russians. I agree with you, the russians certainly carried the weight of the war for all of the allies, it is estimated that soviet soldiers killed nine german soldiers for every one who was killed by british and american troops combined. And i mentioned 26 million soviets dead, they did most of the dying, they did most of the killing. And it was absolutely vital to have them remain as part of the alliance. It is the 75th anniversary of the ve day, victory in europe day. Here on American History tv and washington journal were joined by Rick Atkinson, the author of the liberation trilogy, the guns at last light, the three book series on the war in the european theater. More of your calls and comments momentarily. We are joined next though by senator pat roberts of kansas who is chair of the eisenhower memorial commission. The senator from kansas, senator we saw you yesterday on the floor with your i like ike button on the senate floor. You were a youngster when ve day happened, tell us about that. I was nine there. The button says i still like ike. They handed them out at the congressional lunch as of yesterday. They were a hot item. But i think most of my memories came when i was about 16 and got to go to the Republican Convention 1952 where eisenhower won on the first ballot as opposed to taft and the inaugural. That is the only time i personally met the man. Obviously at 9 i was back in kansas. I remember that day, though, because 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 that dad can come home . Not at that particular time, he was in the pacific. He was a marine and on okinawa and iwo jima and all of that effort. Well were talking anyway, 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 that charisma and a very ruddy face, a wonderful smile and everybody met that liked ike and that stuck. Were talking about general eisenhowers role in the victory in europe. Frgs talking about the eisenhower memorial. General 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 at the National Capital commission and the fine arts council, et cetera, et cetera. Secondly, you have to raise the money for it and then you have to have federal funds. You have to have all members of the family on board. There were changes, i was the second chairman way back but danny anoy, the medal of honor winner from the senator from hawaii and then senator ted stevens, two world war ii vets pushed very hard on this. If you take a look at most memorials, not many are built on a very rapid basis. It takes step by step. But the process basically is just not simple. You have site selection, to the design approvals, the construction, it is a monumental undertaking, pardon that terrible pun. We are thrilled now finally to see the hard work come to fruition. It is done. And all we have to do now is wait hopefully until september when social distancing will not be that much of a problem, we hope. If it still is well have the dedication accordingly. It was supposed to be today on the 75th anniversary of ve day. What quick comments were you going to make . What were you going to say in that dedication . Well, 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 have a number of world war ii veterans including bob dole who helped raising money on the private side of it. And i just think this memorial honors not only a very extraordinary man and favorite son of kansas but served as a symbol for all generations of the promise of america and what our values made possible here and around the world. I think he really was the president that basically was president when we entered on the world war stage and then more especially when he was the supreme allied commander in europe. Well, senator pat roberts from kansas, we look forward to the dedication when that does happen. Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the 75th anniversary. You bet. I hope you can be there. And back to our guest. Rick atkinson, the author of the liberation trilogy taking your calls on comments on this 75th anniversary. James is in sturgis, south dakota. This is Master Sergeant keating, retired air force. I was an iraqi war veteran. And post 9 11, saudi arabia, ground zero. Served a year in korea. And i did a fundraiser with my dad, he was a world war ii veteran. Graduated in may 1945. And he delivered coffins and there were a lot of them. And he went to florida, portland, oregon, may of 45 and he graduated and, anyway, calling to thank all of the veterans and share a little history. Thanks, james. And Rick Atkinson, your dad served in world war ii and you yourself an army brat, your dad a career military veteran. Tell us what that experience, what was the experience in particular like, ve day when that would come up every year with your dad . My dad had was from new jersey. He enlisted in the army right after he turned 18 and in late 1942. He went to ocs, officer candidate school and became a Second Lieutenant and got to europe right after the war ended. He was in the constabulary which was Extraordinary Police powers because in germany was in ruins obviously and anarchy was a big threat, not only in bavaria but everywhere else. And he came home in 1946 and went to penn state and then went back into the army. He liked it well enough to make it a career and served for 30 years. He died about 18 months ago at the age of 94. Ve day was not anything particular in his world view. He marked veterans day, memorial day, fourth of july, these were important holidays for him as they are for many of us. Ve day in and of itself, he was worried as one of our earlier callers was about whether we could end up in the pacific, i think. Fortunately for me and for him that wasnt necessary. I was born in munich because my father as a lieutenant having gone back in the army went back to europe and was part of the army of occupation in salisbury, where the American Army hospital happened to be in munich and at that point austria was still partitioned and he was in the occupation force until 1955 when the russians and americans left austria. So the effects of the war persisted in many ways and ten years after the war we have Occupation Forces in austria and to this day we have Occupation Forces that are allies now but the consequences of the war in terms of the military topography were profound and affected me personally and certainly my father. Next up is robert calling from portsmouth, virginia. Good morning, gentlemen. I just got a comment. My grandfather served in both theaters, he was in the navy during the european conflict and when they decided they were going to call it quits, ve day, he transferred over to the United States marine corp so he could go to the what do you call it, the Pacific Theater, and he actually seen action and thank god he come home to us. And he served in two different branches of the service and two theaters of war. Okay, robert, any specific question or other comment . Well i had a question for him. Is it true that during the Second World War they had a secret group of nazis to make a fourth reich after the war . Im sorry, i didnt hear that. A fourth reich. Well there were certainly good nazis who got away. Who escaped either the hangman or prison for some sort of accounting. Some of them famously went to south america. And there were a few who had ambitions of somehow either reconstituting the german richt or keeping alive the spirit of the richt of adolf hitler. These are a fringe group, not to be taken seriously. A great concern is not those who escaped justice and those who may have had ambitions to pull together the tattered remnants of the german empire back into and reconstituting it in some fashion. But those in germany and elsewhere in europe, it is not just germans by any means who feel that the spirit of the third richt somehow should be honored and should you cannot be legally a nazi in germany. The germans have been extraordinarily capable in the past 75 years, first, of educating all germans, particularly younger germans about what had happened and who was responsible for it, but it is difficult to snuff out this virus of fascism. And we see it cropping up in hungary, we see it in other places in Eastern Europe, we see little sparks of it in portions of germany and it is very concerning. And we see it wherever there are populists who want to take the route of fascism or neo fascism or proto fascism and try to feather their nest politically so that is of a greater concern than any residual nazis from 1945. You write in your last book about the discovery of vast troves of german bouillon of gold, of art treasures, of manuscripts in caves and mines across germany in the waning days of the war. How did they prevent looting of that and also extra violence by troops, revenge violence against germans who may have been prisoners or in pursuit of the german troops. Yeah, the germans were great thieves. Nazis had looted artworks and treasures of all sorts both from individuals and from galleries and museums all across occupied europe. And they discovered that stuff and to get it back to the original owner is a process that goes on this to day, frankly. Revenge killing was a great concern. And in fact we saw that at the concentration camp not far from munich when an american soldier liberated the camp and saw tens of thousands in emaciated conditions and thousands who had died and on the grounds on the outskirts of the camp. There were soldiers, american soldiers who lost control. The discipline broke down and there are an estimated several dozen german camp guards, these are ss guards who were murdered either by the americans and in one case they put them up against a wall and mowed them down with a machine gun or were murdered by inmates who got into a frenzy until order was restored. So there was concern about this for the most part discipline obtained, the number of revenge killings by american troops and western allied troops is very small. Discipline was really quite admirable. Less so, i think, it is fair to say, among 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, st. Paul, minnesota. What a great opportunity, thanks, ill be real quick. Two comments, i admired eisenhower for pulling in citizens for the towns near the concentration camps to witness what the nazi regime did but that is not my question. My question is studying world war ii is so impactful for understanding where we are today from a political military and social perspective, you could comment on that particularly as it relates to the politics in making both the atomic and Hydrogen Bombs post world war, thanks for the opportunity. Look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks for the call, lawrence. Yeah, 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 hundreds of thousands of black americans who served in the war. Mostly initially in all black units. There was a segregated military. And many of them had what they call the double v campaign. Victory against fascist opponents overseas and victory against racism at home. And the dignity, the empowerment, the sense of service, the sense of cohesion that that experience brought to black america was really a propulsion system for Civil Rights Movement after the war and the same for gender equality. We had 19 million american women working outside of the 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. Women had a potential opportunity to do whatever men could do. That they could do things that men could do as well, if not better. Whether it was riveting together a ship or working in a science lab, teaching in college, whatever. So these very large social imprints that had come out of the war are with us to this day. It shaped the culture and the society, the economy in extraordinarily profound ways that we still see 75 years later. And well point our viewers and listeners to Rick Atkinsons modern day reflection on ve day. It is in the wall street journ y journal. Frgs photograph there of army veteran arthur moore of buffalo, new york, who was wounded in belgium, standing near Grand Central station on may 7th, 1945. Holly springs, north carolina, is next. And linda, good morning. Yes, thank you for taking my call. I have great aunt and uncles from northern italy who had told us stories about resistance by many of the italians and how elated they were on liberation day. Our current family and friends remind us that this week, april 25th, was their liberation day and they celebrated and how sad they are that many of their elder survivors have actually passed away due to the covid19. They feel like theyre in battle again. My question is, what were the italian terms of liberation and were there 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 pact of iron, pact 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, the italians basically switched sides. Now, not all of them switched sides. There was a rump state that prevailed in northern italy, supported by the germans, the fighting in italy, which had begun with our invasion of sicily in july of 1943 was going to continue right to the very end of the war. It lasted almost until this day, 75 years ago. The italians eventually surrendered after the germans had agreed to surrender. Now, it was the germans occupying italy, fighting in italy, propping up that rump state of the italian pseudo government who had to throw in the towel. And that occurs, you know, may 2nd, 1945. So the war is awful in italy until the very end, also. Next in hedgewick, illinois, youre on. Caller good morning. I hope the fellow from new mexico is still listening. We had a navajo code talker on a local Radio Station being interviewed and that fella saying the marine corps, him, and navajo. And before the hair on the back of my neck stood up, i was standing up at attention. My dad was a marine in iwo jima, i was a marine in vietnam. The question i have is, if Franklin Roosevelt still lived in august, would eleanor let him use the bombs . And Semper Fidelis for america. Thanks for that. Eleanor roosevelt was not directing war policy either before or after Franklin Roosevelts death in april. Roosevelt was keenly interested in the manhattan project, which was the construction of the atomic bomb. He saw it as a way to shorten the war. He saw it as a way to save lives, both american and other american allies, and to save japanese lives, also. He was less concerned about that, needless to say, by 1945. So had Franklin Roosevelt lived so had Franklin Roosevelt lived beyond april 12th, 1945, i dont have any doubt he would have 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 end which happens, of course, with the japanese surrender in tokyo, on tokyo bay on the uss missouri. We touched on this briefly at the beginning of the program, but bob from missouri asked this, who were the germans signing for the german country. Hes referring to the ve day, the allied signing, not the russian signing. It was general yodel. He had been designated to given the authority by the residual government. He was one of those who was executed for war crimes after the nuremberg trials. Youre working on another trilogy about the revolution with your first book coming out on that last year. Have you ever considered a book about the Pacific Theater in world war ii . No, i thought about it, bill. It was the obvious thing to pivot to the pacific. And i decided not to. This was 2013 is when the third and final volume of liberation trilogy came out. I decided not to in part because im really a europeanist. I lived in europe. Born in europe. And more important, i just had a fascination, even a fixation, with that earlier war, the war of our independence, the war that gave us the republic that we have to this day. So ive im working on volume two of the American Revolution trilogy. Its going to take me a while. I dont anticipate being around to take up the pacific. To jesus in illinois. Good morning. Yes, i have a question. I wonder what is what he thinks about the mexicanamericans in the american wars. 500 mexicans were in the war thanks for the question, jesus. As with the other ethnic contributions that we talked about earlier, native americans, blacks and others, the hispanic contribution take the Texas National guard, the 36th Infantry Division as they became after they were federalized or the 45th division which had been the oklahoma and new Mexico National guard. You go down the roster of names of the soldiers in those units and you see lots of hernandezs and gonzalezs. There were many hispanic names. Their contribution is significant and their role in making those units into fine, fighting units, the 36th and the 45th, both fought in italy in some of the worst fighting in italy. So, you know, hispanic americans have every reason to be proud of their role in their and their contribution to that 16. 1 million men and women force that made the United States military in world war ii. Theres a photograph of the bbc today about the at this point, princess elizabeth, queen elizabeth, to lead the 75th Anniversary Event speaking to the nation on television. There is an army jeep driver. What was the role of the royal family back then in the war . Well, their role was to keep the british in the fight and to keep them focused on the ambitions of the entire british nation which was basically to prevail and to withstand the pressures from hitler and this fascist thugs. When ve day occurred, there were huge crowds in london and there were crowds that gathered outside Buckingham Palace and they first of all, they sang patriotic songs, they sang hope and glory, people weeping. And they chanted we want the king. He brought with him the queen and the two princesses, including elizabeth who was then, you know, still a young girl. But now 75 years later, has been queen for a long time. Theres no one better equipped to speak on behalf of what britain than queen elizabeth. Rick, we appreciate you joining us this morning on this 75th anniversary of ve day. We always appreciate your appearances on book tv as well and good luck on the continuation on your series on the American Revolution. Bill, thanks so much for having me this morning and for remembering the day. Watch American History tv in prime time on veterans day starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. The book the unknown. And then two reel america films. At 9 00 p. M. Eastern, the 1997 film, africanamericans in war two, a legacy of patriotism and valor. And at 11 20 p. M. , the 1945 film, the army nurse. Which American History tv tonight starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3, go inside a Different College classroom and hear about topics ranging from the American Revolution, civil rights and u. S. President s to 9 11. Thanks for your patience and for logging into class. With most campuses closed due to the impact of the coronavirus, watch professors transfer teaching to a virtual setting to engage with their students. Gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, but reagan met him halfway, reagan encouraged him, reagan supported him. Freedom of the press, madison originally called it freedom of the use of the press and it is indeed freedom to print things and publish things. Its not a freedom for what we now refer to as the press. Lectures in history on American History tv on cspan3. Every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Lectures in history is also available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. With joe biden as president elect, stay with season for live coverage of the process and transition of power. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. This last august 6th was the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of hiroshima. The United States dropped a second atomic bomb on nagasaki three days later. Up next, we look back at president trumans decision to use atomic bombs against japan. An american airplane dropped one bomb on hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb has more power than 20,000 tons of tnt. The japanese began the war from