World War II Conferences
Potsdam Conference
The leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union—the Big Three powers who had defeated Nazi Germany—met at the Potsdam Conference near Berlin from July 17 to August 2, 1945, in what was a crucial moment in defining the new, post-World War II balance of power. ...read more
Yalta Conference ends
On February 11, 1945, a week of intensive bargaining by the leaders of the three major Allied powers ends in Yalta, a Soviet resort town on the Black Sea. It was the second conference of the “Big Three” Allied leaders—U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister ...read more
FDR and Churchill meet on ship, map out Atlantic Charter
On August 12, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet on board a ship at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, to confer on issues ranging from support for Russia to threatening Japan to postwar peace. When Roosevelt and Churchill met for the first ...read more
Truman drops hint to Stalin about a "terrible" new weapon
On July 25, 1945, President Harry S. Truman hints to Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin that the United States has successfully developed a new weapon. In his diary, Truman privately referred to the new weapon, the atomic bomb, as the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. ...read more
FDR attends Tehran Conference
On November 28, 1943, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt joins British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at a conference in Iran to discuss strategies for winning World War II and potential terms for a peace settlement. Tehran, Iran, was chosen as ...read more
FDR becomes first president to travel by airplane on U.S. official business
On January 14, 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first president to travel on official business by airplane. Crossing the Atlantic by air, Roosevelt flew in a Boeing 314 Flying Boat dubbed the Dixie Clipper to a World War II strategy meeting with Winston Churchill at ...read more
Yalta Conference foreshadows the Cold War
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet to discuss the Allied war effort against Germany and Japan and to try and settle some nagging diplomatic issues. While a number of important agreements were reached at the ...read more
Potsdam Conference concludes
The last wartime conference of the “Big Three”—the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain—concludes after two weeks of intense and sometimes acrimonious debate. The conference failed to settle most of the important issues at hand and thus helped set the stage for the ...read more
Potsdam Conference begins
The final “Big Three” meeting between the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain takes place towards the end of World War II. The decisions reached at the conference ostensibly settled many of the pressing issues between the three wartime allies, but the meeting was ...read more
Churchill and Roosevelt discuss war and peace
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a future peace. READ MORE: FDR, Churchill and Stalin: Inside Their Uneasy WWII Alliance Now that the ...read more