From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War

by Wilson D. Miscamble

• ISBN13: 9780521862448
• ISBN10: 0521862442
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

On April 12, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt died and Harry Truman took his place in the White House. Historians have been arguing ever since about the implications of this transition for American foreign policy in general and relations with the Soviet Union in particular. Was there essential continuity in policy or did Truman's arrival in the Oval Office prompt a sharp reversal away from the approach of his illustrious predecessor? This study explores this controversial issue and in the process casts important light on the outbreak of the Cold War. From Roosevelt to Truman investigates Truman's foreign policy background and examines the legacy that FDR bequeathed to him. This work reveals that the real departure in American policy came only after the Truman administration had exhausted the legitimate possibilities of the Rooseveltian approach of collaboration with the Soviet Union.

Table of Contents

1. Preparation: the making of an (American) internationalist

2. Inheritance: Franklin Roosevelt's uncertain legacy

3. Initiation: tactical reversal, strategic continuity

4. Instruction: Truman's advisers and their conflicting advice

5. Negotiation: Truman and Byrnes at Potsdam

6. Intimidation: Hiroshima, the Japanese and the Soviets

7. Indecision: floundering between collaboration and confrontation

8. Transformation: Truman's foreign policy.