Question

Did Truman and Churchill intentionally deceive Stalin?

Answer 1

Yes

Truman told Stalin that his diplomatic style was frank and to the point, an admission that Truman realized had visibly pleased Stalin. The US president said he hoped the Soviet Union would join the US in the war against Japan. For his part, Stalin wants to impose Soviet control over certain territories annexed by Germany and Japan at the beginning of the war.

Truman hinted that although Stalin's agenda was "dynamite" or aggressive, the US had ammunition to counteract the Soviet leader. Truman did not inform the Soviet Union head of state about the Manhattan Project that had just successfully tested the first atomic bomb, but he knew that the new weapon strengthened its deterrent power. Truman referred to this secret in his diary as "an unexploded dynamite."