Document: Diary Entry of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, 22 July 1945
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Diary Entry of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, 22 July 1945
Available online at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library
Comments:
This report suggests Truman was buoyed by the news of the atomic bomb and may have changed his attitude in being more firm in dealing with the Russians. Can we read anymore into the report?
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At ten-forty Bundy and I again went to the British headquarters and talked to the Prime Minister [Churchill] and Lord Cherwell for over an hour. Churchill read Groves' report in full. He told me that he had noticed at the meeting of the Three [Truman, Churchill, and Stalin] yesterday that Truman was evidently much fortified by something that had happened and that he stood up to the Russians in a most emphatic and decisive manner, telling them as to certain demands that they absolutely could not have and that the United States was entirely against them. He said 'Now I know what happened to Truman yesterday. I couldn't understand it. When he got to the meeting after having read this report he was a changed man. He told the Russians just where they got on and off and generally bossed the whole meeting'. Churchill said he now understood how this pepping up had taken place and that he felt the same way. His own attitude confirmed this admission. He now not only was not worried about giving the Russians information of the matter but was rather inclined to use it as an argument in our favor in the negotiations. The sentiment of the four of us [Stimson, Churchill, Bundy, and Cherwell] was unanimous in thinking that it was advisable to tell the Russians at least that we were working on that subject and intended to use it if and when it was successfully finished."