page_title: Potsdam Conference
section_title: Leahy's role
hierarchical_section_title: Potsdam Conference / Leahy's role
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Potsdamer Konferenz, Molotow, Byrnes, Eden Zentralbild Potsdamer (Berliner) Konferenz der führenden Staatsmänner der drei alliierten Mächte der UdSSR, Grossbritannien und der USA vom 17. Juli bis 2. August 1945 in Schloß Cecilienhof und Babelsberg. Ihr Ergebnis ist das Potsdamer Abkommen, das die völkerrechtlichen Grundfragen für den Aufbau eines friedlichen, demokratischen deutschen Staates und die Politik der Siegermächte gegenüber Deutschland festlegt. UBz: die Außenminister der drei Großmächte, W.M. Molotow, J.F. Byrnes und Anthony Eden in einer Tagungspause. Abgebildete Personen: Byrnes, James F.: Außenminister, USA Eden, Anthony Sir: Außenminister, Großbritannien Molotow, Wjatscheslaw Michailowitsch: Außenminister, Sowjetunion (GND 11873461X) Information added by Wikimedia users.Español: Los ministros de Exteriores de las grandes potencias en la Conferencia de Potsdam, que no logró resolver las diferencias entre ellas.De izquierda a derecha: Vyacheslav Molotov (URSS), wikipedia:es:James F. Byrnes (EEUU y Anthony Eden (Gran Bretaña).
context_page_description: The Potsdam Conference was held in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17th to August 2nd, 1945. The participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, represented respectively by Premier Joseph Stalin, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee, and President Harry S. Truman.
  They gathered to decide how to administer Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier on the 8th of May. The goals of the conference also included the establishment of the postwar order, peace treaty issues, and countering the effects of the war.
  Additionally, the Foreign Secretaries of the three Governments, James F. Byrnes, V. M. Molotov, and Anthony Eden, the Chief of Staff, with other advisers also participated in the Conference. From July 17th to July 25th, nine meetings were held. After that, the Conference was interrupted for two days, as the results of the British General Election were announced. On July 28, Clement Attlee defeated Winston Churchill in the British general election and replaced him as Britain’s representative through the Potsdam Conference, accompanied by the new Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ernest Bevin.
context_section_description: One of those at the conference is William D. Leahy. The Fleet Admiral in the US Navy had stood as advisor to Roosevelt during the Yalta Conference and to Truman during the Potsdam Conference. Leahy had a lengthy military background since he had served as the most senior American military officer on active duty during the Second World War. He later stated in his book, I Was There: The Personal Story of the Chief of Staff to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman Based on His Notes and Diaries Made at the Time, that the Potsdam Conference was one of the most frustrating out of all the conferences because of hostile relations between the Soviet Union,  and Britain and the United States. Throughout his work, he refers to the conference as its code name, Terminal. Later in his book, he discusses a tour of Berlin that he took with Truman and describes the experience as "I never saw such destruction. I don't know whether they learned anything from it or not".
  In addition to the Potsdam Agreement, on 26 July, Churchill; Truman; and Chiang Kai-shek, Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China (the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan) issued the Potsdam Declaration, which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan during World War II in Asia.
caption: The Foreign Ministers: Vyacheslav Molotov, James F. Byrnes, and Anthony Eden, July 1945
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