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The Bomb! Important Dispatch About Roosevelt, Stalin & Churchill Right After Hiroshima and the Day Before the Soviet Invasion of Japan
The Bomb! Important Dispatch About Roosevelt, Stalin & Churchill Right After Hiroshima and the Day Before the Soviet Invasion of Japan
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Description:

World War II

The Bomb! Important Dispatch About Roosevelt, Stalin & Churchill Right After Hiroshima and the Day Before the Soviet Invasion of Japan

 

Two page typed Naval dispatch, 8" x 7", with two punch holes along top edge. Header of U.S. Naval Communication Service, Amphibious Forces, Pacific. Dated "7 Aug 45", only ONE day after the bomb dropped on Hiroshima but before the bombing of Nagasaki. Ex. J. John Fox (1905-1999) Intelligence Officer for the Amphibious Forces, via Auction (see below for his Biography). Presented matted with a fantastic black and white print depicting Churchill, Truman and Stalin to a completed size of 35" x 13".

 

A fantastic example of an important Naval Dispatch which covered a negative opinion of Potsdam by the Amphibious forces in the Pacific. Oddly enough, this communique occurred only the day after the bombing of Hiroshima yet Hiroshima was not mentioned, leading one to wonder if this had not yet been communicated. Given that it took Japan hours to even realize what happened (as there was no communication from Hiroshima), and that Japan did not communicate with the allies, it is quite likely that this Naval dispatch was released without the knowledge of THE BOMB. Instead this communique expressed contempt and frustration with the Potsdam Conference as shown in full below:

 

"Radio Toyko

The truth about Postdam - - The communique of this conference reminds us to a Japanese Fairy Tale about a Treasure Box X The Big 3 had their head together for a half a month to produce nothing, claimed no secret treaties were reached X looks from here as if the technical advisors or experts could have met and reached much better decisions X instead of sending the highest officials of the American and British governments X there has not been any of the largest issues of importance settled X there are too difference of opinions X the soviet union definitely came out the better at this meeting X the American President and British Prime Minister only came to Potsdam to except the Soviet Union's demands X This communique did not state any word that had been reached as to whether the Soviet Union would definitely come into the Pacific war against Japan X from all indications, there is a two power going on in the pacific X there is so much confusion we can not tell whether these are, American Chungking, or American and British. This is our opinion of the Postdam Conference "

 

The major issue at Potsdam was the question of how to handle Germany. At Yalta, the Soviets had pressed for heavy postwar reparations from Germany, half of which would go to the Soviet Union. While Roosevelt had acceded to such demands, Truman and his Secretary of State, James Byrnes, were determined to mitigate the treatment of Germany by allowing the occupying nations to exact reparations only from their own zone of occupation. Truman and Byrnes encouraged this position because they wanted to avoid a repetition of the situation created by the Treaty of Versailles, which had exacted high reparations payments from Germany following World War One. Many experts agreed that the harsh reparations imposed by the Versailles Treaty had handicapped the German economy and fueled the rise of the Nazis.

 

Despite numerous disagreements, the Allied leaders did manage to conclude some agreements at Potsdam. For example, the negotiators confirmed the status of a demilitarized and disarmed Germany under four zones of Allied occupation. According to the Protocol of the Conference, there was to be a complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany”; all aspects of German industry that could be utilized for military purposes were to be dismantled; all German military and paramilitary forces were to be eliminated; and the production of all military hardware in Germany was forbidden. Furthermore, German society was to be remade along democratic lines by repeal of all discriminatory laws from the Nazi era and by the arrest and trial of those Germans deemed to be "war criminals." The German educational and judicial systems were to be purged of any authoritarian influences, and democratic political parties would be encouraged to participate in the administration of Germany at the local and state level. The reconstitution of a national German Government was, however, postponed indefinitely, and the Allied Control Commission (which was comprised of four occupying powers, the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) would run the country during the interregnum.

 

At the Potsdam meeting, the most pressing issue was the postwar fate of Germany. The Soviets wanted a unified Germany, but they also insisted that Germany be completely disarmed. Truman, along with a growing number of U.S. officials, had deep suspicions about Soviet intentions in Europe. The massive Soviet army already occupied much of Eastern Europe. A strong Germany might be the only obstacle in the way of Soviet domination of all of Europe. In the end, the Big Three agreed to divide Germany into three zones of occupation (one for each nation), and to defer discussions of German reunification until a later date. The other notable issue at Potsdam was one that was virtually unspoken. Just as he arrived for the conference, Truman was informed that the United States had successfully tested the first atomic bomb. Hoping to use the weapon as leverage with the Soviets in the postwar world, Truman casually mentioned to Stalin that America was now in possession of a weapon of monstrously destructive force. The president was disappointed when the Soviet leader merely responded that he hoped the United States would use it to bring the war with Japan to a speedy end.

 

The Potsdam Conference ended on a somber note. By the time it was over, Truman had become even more convinced that he had to adopt a tough policy toward the Soviets. Stalin had come to believe more strongly that the United States and Great Britain were conspiring against the Soviet Union. As for Churchill, he was not present for the closing ceremonies. His party lost in the elections in England, and he was replaced midway through the conference by the new prime minister, Clement Attlee. Potsdam was the last postwar conference of the Big Three.

 

A fascinating dispatch, communicated the day after Hiroshima and the day before the Soviet Union invasion of Japan!

 

Biography:

 

J. John Fox (1905-1999) was born in Paterson, NJ, but grew up in and worked most of his adult life in Boston, MA. He attended Boston University, then enrolled in Boston University Law School. It was there he acquired the nickname “Just John” Fox, his reply to a professor’s question about his name. 

 

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Fox enlisted in the Navy, despite being around 36 years old. Initially he served in the North Atlantic before being assigned to the amphibious forces in the Pacific Theater under Admiral Richmond “Kelly” Turner. Fox became an intelligence officer and was involved in the planning of the assaults on Kwajelein, the Marianas, Palau, Leyte, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In late 1945 he was also deeply involved in planning the invasion of Japan itself. Had the invasion occurred, he was to have been in charge of prisoner interrogation and captured documents. He was awarded the bronze star for his service in the Pacific Theater. Before being discharged in 1946, he helped in preparation of amphibious operations training materials at the Naval War College in Newport, RI.

 

After his discharge, he returned to his legal practice in Boston. Governor Dever appointed him as an associate judge in 1952. He then became a probate judge in Norfolk Probate Court in 1960. He retired from the bench in 1973. 

 

In the 1960s Fox helped establish a public medical school in Massachusetts, a school that became the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 1974, he co-sponsored, with David Bartley, the Bartley-Fox Law, the first of its kind, in Massachusetts. Bartley-Fox established stiff penalties for illegal possession of a firearm and committing a crime with an unlicensed firearm. Although the law generated controversy, as does all firearms-related legislation, this one did not restrict ownership of firearms, it only required them to be registered. 

 

Judge Fox lived for another quarter century after retirement, passing away on October 4, 1999 at the age of 96. This piece was brought back from the Pacific by Fox following World War II, and descended in his family.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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