A photo of Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin sitting next to each other outdoors on a bench in Potsdam, Germany.

Source: Potsdam Conference 1945, National Archive

Potsdam Conference 1945 – Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (Left); Harry S. Truman, President of the United States (Center); and Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (Right)

Click here Video segment. Assistance may be required. Potsdam (codename Terminal) and skim the Objectives and Outcome sections, then watch the video clip titled Stalin’s Distrust of the West in the Related Resources and Media Section to the right of the article.

Interactive exercise. Assistance may be required. Click and drag the goals of the United States and Soviet Union into the correct columns of the T chart below. Then consider the questions that follow.

In your notes, answer the following questions.

  1. What do the goals of the United States suggest about their focus compared to the Yalta and Potsdam Conference?
  2. What do the goals of the Soviet Union suggest about their focus compared to the Yalta and Potsdam Conference?
  3. Predict what type of relationship the United States and Soviet Union will have in the months that follow based on the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.
  4. Will they continue to be allies or will they become enemies? Why?