On His Way

The preposterous blackout on news of the President's movements was lifted to a merely annoying brownout. Early this week the White House announced that President Truman and Secretary of State Byrnes had left Newport News by ship for the Big Three meeting in Potsdam. The news that the President was on his way over the now-pacific Atlantic was cautiously given out two days after he had sailed. (It was announced in Washington that if any flying were to be done, the President and Secretary of State Jimmy Byrnes would fly in separate planes--so as not to hand the Presidency over to retiring Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau in the event of a fatal accident.)

Most obvious reason for the meeting was simply to give two of the original members a chance to meet the third and newest. If they hit it off, the meeting would be a partial success no matter what was discussed. But there was much to talk about (see INTERNATIONAL).

The overwhelming topic, touching and yet overriding all others, would be the relation between the Big Three themselves--the countries as well as the men. Franklin Roosevelt had gained some fame at previous Big Three meetings as the mediator between the other two; at Yalta he had been made chairman of the conference in recognition of this talent. Harry Truman, in no position to fill such a role, seemed determined that all three of the Big Three should talk and bargain on an equal footing. He specifically avoided a preliminary Big Two meeting with Churchill; he did not want to go to Berlin as half of an Anglo-American bloc.

The onetime Missouri farm boy had some potent bargaining weapons in his luggage. Congress had already passed the reciprocal-trade bill, and was set to approve Bretton Woods and the San Francisco Charter. Russia has already been offered membership on the Combined Coal Committee, and would be invited at Berlin to join the Combined Production and Resources Board and the Combined Food Board. Moreover, in his pocket, Harry Truman held Marshal Stalin's request for $6 billion in postwar loans.

The Big Three meeting would last perhaps two weeks. After that, Harry Truman would go to London, where a guest room at Buckingham Palace was being put in readiness. And there were hints of further travels to come.

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