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THE MAKING OF A NATION - June 6, 2002: World War Two / Diplomacy
By David Jarmul
VOICE 1:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.
(Theme)
History is full of examples of leaders joining together to meet common goals. But rarely have two leaders worked
together with such friendship and cooperation as American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill. The two men had much in common. They both were born to wealthy families and
were active in politics for many years. Both men loved the sea and the navy, history and nature.
Roosevelt and Churchill first met when they were lower-level officials in World
War One. But neither man remembered much about that meeting. However, as they
worked together during the Second World War, they came to like and trust each
other.
VOICE 2:
Roosevelt and Churchill exchanged more than one-thousand-seven-hundred letters
and messages during five-and-a-half years. They met many times, at large national gatherings and in private
talks. But the closeness of their friendship might be seen best in a story told by one of Roosevelt's close advisors,
Harry Hopkins.
Hopkins remembered how Churchill was visiting Roosevelt at the White House one day. Roosevelt went into
Churchill's room in the morning to say hello. But the president was shocked to see Churchill coming from the
washing room with no clothes at all.
Roosevelt immediately apologized to the British leader for seeing him naked. But Churchill reportedly said: "The
prime minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the president of the United States." And then both men
laughed.
VOICE 1:
The United States and great Britain were only two of several nations that joined together in the war to resist
Hitler and his allies. In January, nineteen-forty-two, twenty-six of these nations signed an agreement promising to
fight for peace, religious freedom, human rights, and justice.
The three major Allies, however, were the most important for the war effort: the United States, Britain, and the
Soviet Union. Washington and London did not always agree. For example, they disagreed about when to attack
Hitler in western Europe. And Churchill resisted Roosevelt's suggestions that Britain give up some of its
colonies. But in general, the friendship between Roosevelt and Churchill, and between the United States and
Britain, led the two nations to cooperate closely.
VOICE 2:
This was not true with the Soviet Union. Moscow did not share the same history or political system as
Washington or London. And it had its own interests to protect along its borders and in other areas.
Relations between the Soviet Union and the western Allies were mixed. On the one hand, Hitler's invasion deep
into the Soviet Union had forced Stalin and other Soviet leaders to make victory their top goal.
On the other hand, shadows of future problems already could be seen. The Soviet Union was
making clear its desire to keep political control over Poland. And it was supporting communist
fighters in Yugoslavia and Greece.
VOICE 1:
These differences were not discussed much as the foreign ministers of the three nations
gathered in Moscow in nineteen-forty-three. Instead, the ministers reached several general
agreements, including a plan to establish a new organization called the United Nations.
Finally, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met together for the first time. They met in Tehran in
late nineteen-forty-three mainly to discuss the military situation. However, the three leaders
also considered such political questions as the future of Germany, eastern Europe, east Asia, Roosevelt,
and future international organizations. Churchill and
Stalin, through
the eyes of
Later, the allies made further plans for the new united nations Mexican artist
Antonio Arias
organization. They arranged for new international economic Bernal
organizations -- the world bank and the international monetary
fund. And the Allies agreed to divide Germany into different parts after the war for a
temporary period. The Soviet Union would occupy the eastern part while Britain,
France, and the United States would occupy the western part.
VOICE 2:
Washington, London, and Moscow were united during the early years of the war because of military need. They
knew they must fight together to defeat the common enemy.
But this unity faded as allied troops marched toward the German border. Roosevelt continued to call on the world
to wait to plan the peace until the last bullet was fired. But Churchill, Stalin, and other leaders already were trying
to shape the world that would follow the war. Now, differences between the allies became more serious.
VOICE 1:
The most important question was Poland. Hitler's attack on Poland back in nineteen-thirty-nine had started the
war. Roosevelt and Churchill believed strongly that the Polish people should have the right to choose their own
leaders after victory was won. Churchill supported a group of Polish resistance leaders who had an office in
London.
But Stalin had other ideas. He demanded that Poland's border be changed to give more land to the Soviet Union.
And he refused to help the Polish leaders in London. Instead, he supported a group of Polish communists and
helped them establish a new government in Poland.
VOICE 2:
Churchill visited Stalin late in nineteen-forty-four. The two leaders joined with Roosevelt a few months later in
Yalta. All agreed that free elections should be held quickly in Poland. And they traded ideas about the future of
eastern Europe, China, and other areas of the world.
Roosevelt was in good spirits when he reported to the Congress after his
return. "I Come home from the conference with a firm belief that we have
made a good start on the road to a world of peace," he said. "the Peace cannot
be a completely perfect system, at first. But it can be a peace based on the idea
of freedom. "
Churchill had the same high hopes. "Marshall Stalin and the Soviet leaders
wish to live in honorable friendship," he told the British parliament after the
conference. "I also know that their word is honest. "
VOICE 1:
Roosevelt and Churchill were wrong. In the months after the Yalta conference, relations between Moscow and
the western democracies grew steadily worse.
The Soviet Union moved to seize control of eastern Europe. Stalin began making strong speeches charging that
(Pictures - Library of Congress)
Washington and London were holding secret peace negotiations with Germany. And the Soviet Union refused to
discuss ways to bring democracy to Poland.
"I have always held the brave Russian people in high honor," Churchill wrote later. "But their shadow darkened
the picture after the war. Britain and America had gone to war not just to defend the smaller countries, but also to
fight for individual rights and freedoms.
"But," Said Churchill, "the Soviet Union had other goals. Her hold tightened on eastern Europe after the Soviet
Army gained control. After the long suffering and efforts of World War Two," Churchill said, "it seemed that
half of Europe had just exchanged one dictator for another."
VOICE 2:
Churchill and Roosevelt agreed in secret letters that they must try to oppose the Soviet effort. But before they
could act, Roosevelt died. And the world would live through a new war -- the Cold War -- in the years to follow.
Roosevelt's death also ended the deep personal friendship between himself and Winston Churchill. The British
leader wrote later about the day he heard the news of the death of his close friend in the White House.
"I felt as if I had been struck with a physical blow," Churchill wrote. "My relations with this shining man had
played so large a part in the long, terrible years we had worked together. Now they had come to an end. And I
was overpowered by a sense of deep and permanent loss "
VOICE 1:
The free world joined Churchill in mourning the loss of so strong a leader as Franklin Roosevelt. But it could not
weep for long. War was giving way to peace. A new world was forming. And as we will see in our future
programs, it was a world that few people expected.
(Theme)
VOICE 2:
You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English by the Voice of
America. Your narrators were Harry Monroe and Jim Tedder. Our program was written by David Jarmul. The
Voice of America invites you to listen again next week to THE MAKING OF A NATION.
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