Political necessity had quite naturally formed the tight alliance that existed among the Allied leaders Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill.  But Roosevelt’s deep idealism was another important factor in the dynamic.   Roosevelt, like all well-educated (Groton Prep School and Harvard College) and socially quite comfortable (part of the Rooseveltian aristocracy of New York) Humanists, saw life as directed by basic rules of civilization that all good people follow by simple instinct.  This sense of inevitable order was what, in fact, lay beneath the New Deal program that Roosevelt was certain would bring America out of the Great Depression (in fact it did not.  It took putting the World War Two American war industry on its feet that did the trick). The publicly very polite Stalin, indeed, played quite beautifully into this idealized picture held by Roosevelt ... who thought that he had charmed Stalin into a very close personal relationship.  In fact, the cynicism that Churchill chose not to hide (it was clear that Churchill did not trust Stalin) annoyed Roosevelt greatly. Indeed, Churchill’s constant reference to the British "Empire" also annoyed Roosevelt greatly.  Americans, including their President, were by their own political perspective supposed to be highly opposed to the idea of "empire." Thus it was that Roosevelt believed that he shared a certain natural understanding with Stalin as to how a post-war world should come into being.  Indeed, he often met privately with only Stalin to talk about the more serious issues facing the American and Soviet superpowers ... Britain – like France – now being viewed as secondary-level powers. THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION Another piece arising out of Roosevelt's world of Idealism was the new United Nations Organization that Roosevelt had planned as key to the building of a post-war world.  In most ways his proposed organization resembled the now-defunct League of Nations ... with a General Assembly offered as a political forum for all of the organization's member countries – and a special Security Council to take on the trickier political issues facing the world.  And the latter component, like the League Council, would be led by a small group of key powers, "Permanent Members" who would always have a seat on the Security Council (but joined on the Council by ten rotating members).  And by Roosevelt’s own design, those Permanent Members would be America and Soviet Russia ... but also Great Britain, France and China. These "Big Five" in fact would hold supremely important veto powers over proposed Security Council actions.  This veto power was awarded to them to make sure that a rising political issue would not break the relationship between these key powers and the new United Nations Organization ... the way such matters had led to the resignation of the great powers from the League in the 1930s. But Roosevelt personally believed that, in any case, it would be the natural diplomatic alliance between America and Soviet Russia that would actually direct the post-war world.  In this he would prove correct ... in that it would be America and Soviet Russia that would direct that world – but not as the allies he thought they would be. BRETTON WOODS (JULY 1944) In July of 1944, delegates from the 44 "United Nations" Allies gathered at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, for a three-week conference to put together plans to rebuild a war-torn world.  The focus was economics, especially ways of freeing international trade and the exchange of currencies. And thus the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) were born.  And the foundation of this international world would be the American dollar.  All exchange rates would be set in relation to the dollar ... rates that could not be changed except by agreement with the IMF. And that would be a big problem for Stalin ... who stepped back from this development because he saw how this played into the hands of American capitalism.  Stalin would have none of that.  Thus the first glitch in Roosevelt’s Soviet-American post-war dream world took place. There would soon be more such glitches ... many more.   July 1-22, 1944 - The Bretton Woods Conference on post-war economic cooperation ... birthing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) The Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods where the conferences were held The Conference at Bretton Woods British representative Lord John Maynard Keynes visiting with the Soviet representative YALTA (FEBRUARY 1945) By the beginning of 1945 it was quite clear that the Nazi Reich was not going to last much longer. With the collapse of the Reich, much of Europe would find itself without government.  Considering the great extent of the destruction of Europe caused by the war it was expected that immense social and political dislocation would result, threatening the peace that the Allies were striving for.  Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill understood that an administrative plan of sorts would have to be laid out to provide some kind of transition to a stable post-war Europe.  But while it looked like the war in Europe was about to come to an end, this was hardly the case in Asia.  The way the Japanese were fighting to the last man (and often women) it appeared that the war in Asia might drag on for many more months, even years.  Thus it was hoped by Roosevelt that Stalin might bring Russia into the Asian war (up to that point Russia had not been at war with Japan).  But as Stalin saw no particular advantage for Russia in joining in, both Roosevelt and Stalin knew that they would have to offer Russia some incentives for doing so. In February of 1945, Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill met at the Black Sea resort of Yalta to go over the problems of how to oversee the rebuilding of a post-war Europe.  But also on the agenda was this matter of the war in Asia. With respect to Europe, they basically agreed that areas under the control of one or other of their armies (primarily American, British and Soviet) would remain under that control or governance during a time of "temporary" occupation.  Thus most of Eastern Europe would come under Soviet governance.  Italy would come under American governance.  And Germany would be divided among Russia, America and Britain (with France soon added by giving it portions of the British and American zones) on the basis of their actual military occupation at war's end.  As for the most strategic part of Germany, its capital city of Berlin, although the city fell entirely within the Russian zone of occupation, they agreed to divide the city itself into three (then four) zones of occupation.  All of this however was supposed to be of a temporary nature ... that is, until Europe’s societies could get themselves up and running again. As for the matter of enticing Stalin to bring Russia into the war against Japan, an agreement was struck that as a result of Russian involvement in the Asian war, Russia would be given post-war administrative rights in the northern half of Japanese-occupied Korea (America administering the southern half) ... and also in the entire region of Manchuria.  Indeed, Stalin promised that within two or three months of Germany’s defeat, Russia would come into the anti-Japanese action in Asia.  The hope now was that the war there would be over much sooner than the brutal two-year period (or more) that they were fearing it would take to bring Japan to full defeat.  President Roosevelt with military advisors at a Malta Conference prior to his meeting with Churchill and Stalin at Yalta (February 1, 1945): Admiral Ernest J. King, Admiral William Leahy, General George C. Marshall, Major General L.S. Kuter The Allied conference at Yalta (in the Crimea in Southern Russia/Ukraine) - February 1945. The goal:  to set the terms for the pacification of Europe and to get Russia to actively support the war against Japan in the East "Conference of the Big Three at Yalta makes final plans for the defeat of Germany. Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Premier Josef Stalin." February 1945. National Archives 111-SC-260486 Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin at Yalta - February 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta - February 1945 (behind them:  Sir Anthony Eden, Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., Sir Alexander Cadogan, Vyacheslav Molotov and Averell Harriman). Note:  Roosevelt is not in good health; the trip to Yalta greatly drained his strength. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library THE GERMANS IN FULL RETREAT ACROSS GERMANY "General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, at his headquarters in the European theater of operations. He wears the five-star cluster of the newly-created rank of General of the Army." T4c. Messerlin, February 1, 1945. National Archives 80-G-331330 American generals: seated left to right are William H. Simpson, George S. Patton, Jr., Carl Spaatz, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Courtney H. Hodges, and Leonard T. Gerow; standing are Ralph F. Stearley, Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Walter Bedell Smith, Otto P. Weyland, and Richard E. Nugent. ca. 1945. National Archives 208-YE-182. At this Point the Allies Are Streaming into Germany "Then came the big day when we marched into Germany – right through the Siegfried Line." 1945 National Archives 208-YE-193 "First U.S. Army men and equipment pour across the Remagen Bridge; two knocked out jeeps in foreground." Sgt. William Spangle, Germany, March 11, 1945. National Archives 111-SC-201973. "I drew an assault boat to cross in – just my luck. We all tried to crawl under each other because the lead was flying around like hail." Crossing the Rhine under enemy fire at St. Goar. March 1945. National Archives 208-YE-132 American infantry moving through Bensheim, Germany as a woman contemplates the destruction – March 1945 National Archives Berliners in a burning Berlin – 1945 "All this inanimate wreckage around us was little enough compensation for the human wreckage we hauled back and forth, back and forth. Lunebach, Germany" – ca. March 1945 National Archives "Two anti-tank Infantrymen of the 101st Infantry Regiment, dash past a blazing German gasoline trailer in square of Kronach, Germany."   T4c. W. J. Rothenberger, April 14, 1945. National Archives 111-SC-206235. "Infantrymen of the 255th Infantry Regiment move down a street in Waldenburg to hunt the Hun after a recent raid by 63rd Division." 2d Lt. Jacob Harris, April 16, 1945. National Archives 111-SC-205778 "Soldiers of the 55th Armored Infantry Battalion and tank of the 22nd Tank Battalion, move through smoke filled street. Wernberg, Germany." Pvt. Joseph Scrippens, April 22, 1945. National Archives 111-SC-205298. But the Germans continue to give full account of themselves in the North (Holland) and the South (Italy) Canadian Infantry of the Regiment de Maisonneuve, moving through Holten to Rijssen, Netherlands. Lt. D. Guravitch, April 9, 1945. National Archives 306-NT-1334B-11. "Moving up through Prato, Italy, men of the 370th Infantry Regiment have yet to climb the mountain which lies ahead." Bull, April 9, 1945. National Archives 111-SC-205289. The corpses of Mussolini, his mistress Clara Petacci and other Fascists strung up in Milan by the Italians themselves - May 1945 U.S. Army Air Forces Go on to the next section:  The War Ends   Miles H. Hodges