I think there is another reason to look back at potsdam, as we are reentering a world of Great Power Competition and reentering a world where geopolitics seems to have come back to the fore of International Relations thinking. So it is well worth us coming back to this subject. I am glad to have a chance to talk to you about it. I wish it was in person in kansas city. I wish that we were able to do this facetoface, but we will do the very best that we can. The key thing here that i want to return to throughout this presentation is shown by this photograph here of Winston Churchill, harry truman, and Joseph Stalin smiling and shaking hands. And the point that i really want to reiterate here is that these three men and most of the advisors around them did not believe that what they were doing at potsdam was laying the seeds of a cold war. We know from the scholarship of the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond, a lot of historians read potsdam backwards. That is to say they read it as a start of the
Conference and theyre always occasions for looking back and drawing attention and theres another reason to look back at potsdam as we are reentering a world of Great Power Competition and reentering a world where geopolitics seems to have come back to the fore of international thinking and International Relations thinking. So it is well worth us coming back to this subject. So im especially glad to have a chance to talk to you about it. I wish it was in person again in kansas city. I wish that we weraible to do this face to face, but we will do the very best that we can. The key thing here that i want to return to throughout this presentation is shown by this photograph here of Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and smiling and shaking hands and the point i want to reiterate here is that these three men and most of the advisers around them did not believe that what they were doing at potsdam was laying the seeds of a cold war. We know from the scholarship of the 1960s, 70s and beyond, a
A short time ago 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 the air at pearl harbor. They were been repaid many fold and the end is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present form these bombs are now in production, and even more powerful bombs are in development. It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of a basic power of the universe, the force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the far east. We are now prepared to destroy more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the japanese have in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake we shall completely destroy japans power to make war. It was to spaer the japanese peopl
20,000 tons of tnt. The japanese began the war from the air at pearl harbor. They were been repaid many fold and the end is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present form these bombs are now in production, and even more powerful bombs are in development. It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of a basic power of the universe, the force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the far east. We are now prepared to destroy more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the japanese have in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake we shall completely destroy japans power to make war. It was to spaer the japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of july 26th was issued at potstand. Their leaders rejected that ultimatum. If they do not accept
Companies as a Public Service and brought you today, your television provider. Up next, the Manhattan Project is a subject of a lecture by George Mason University history professor Martin Sherman is the author of a world destroyed, harris she met and its like a cease and a coauthor of a pulitzer winner, mr. Sherman details the development of the atomic bomb, beginning with the discovery efficient in 1938 through the use of atomic bombs in cities like kawasaki and hershey. The event was hosted in washington d. C. It is just under two hours. Our speaker tonight is martin sure. When hes the professor at the history at martin mason. Hes also the author of a world destroyed, the atomic bomb and the world, alliance which won the historic foreign relations, as well as the american book prize. It was a 1975 finalist for it is subtitled hiroshima and its legacies. Hes held appointments at the cardoza fund, visiting as this thing professor at American History at Yale University and as the burnet