| Original caption: “General Dwight D. Eisenhower talks with Lieutenant General Lucius B. [sic] Clay at Gatow Airport in Berlin, Germany during the Potsdam Conference. General Omar Bradley is in the background.” General Omar N. Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was returning to his 12th Army Group Headquarters, which had recently been disestablished on July 12, 1945. General Lucius D. Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) and General Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower’s (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) were seeing him off. Clay was Eisenhower’s deputy at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) during early 1945. SHAEF disbanded on July 17, 1945. Clay had a reputation for hard work and bringing order to chaos, so Eisenhower recommended him to serve as Deputy Governor of Germany during the Allied Military Government. Since Berlin was liberated by Soviet Red Army Forces, the Russians held the territory where the Potsdam Conference would take place. When General Clay arrived at Potsdam a week before the conference to discuss security arrangements, the Russians allowed him to see only the parts of Potsdam where the American and British delegations would stay. They prevented him from getting anywhere near the area that housed the Russian delegates. They also warned him and his men against taking any shortcuts or using any roads not specifically authorized for American and British use. The heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) moored in Antwerp at 1004 Hours on July 15, 1945. United States President Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) left the ship at 1110 Hours with his entourage. 40 vehicles conveyed his party to Brussels Airport. Truman reviewed 400 men of the 137th Infantry Regiment, his unit from World War I. He then boarded Douglas VC-54 42-107451 “Sacred Cow,” at 1300 Hours, which was accompanied by 2 C-54s and 3 Douglas C-47 Skytrains, 1 of which carried the press pool. 12 Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters accompanied the flight to Gatow. A large party greeted the President upon arrival at 1558 Hours. He was greeted by a detatchment from the 2nd Armored Division. He left Gatow for his quarters in Babelsberg at 1630 Hours. The President’s quarters at Number 2 Kaiser Strasse, called the “Little White House” for the duration of the Potsdam Conference. General Eisenhower and General Clay called on President Truman at 1000 Hours on July 19 to discuss the Conference for an hour. On July 20 at 1200 Hours, Eisenhower and Bradley called on the President. At 1230 Hours Colonel Howard A. Rusk (April 9, 1901 – November 4, 1989) joined them for lunch to discuss rehabilitation medicine. At 1330 Hours, The President, accompanied by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950), Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy (March 31, 1895 – March 11, 1989) and Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, General George S. Patton (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945), and Clay, left the Little White House by automobile for Berlin. Generals Eisenhower and Bradley rode with the President in an open car. At 1400 Hours, The President and party arrived at the United States Group Control Council Headquarters (USGCC), later known as the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS), Teltower District, where the President participated in the official raising of our flag over Berlin. This was the same flag that flew over the Capitol on December 7, 1941, and would be raised over Tokyo in September 1945. Bradley recorded the day in his memoirs: “Neither Ike nor I was invited to participate in the Potsdam Conference. However, Truman, through his military aide National Guardsman Major General Harry H. Vaughan (November 26, 1893 – May 20, 1981), invited Ike and me to attend a ceremony in Berlin on July 20.” “We had lunch with the President at his quarters in Babelsberg. This was my third meeting with Truman, but the first at which I had an opportunity to take the measure of the man. I liked what I saw. He was direct, unpretentious, clear-thinking and forceful. His knowledge of American history, particularly United States military history, was astonishing. I found him to be extremely well informed about the battles we had fought in Africa, Sicily, Italy and on the Continent.” “During our lunch, the talk focused on our strategy for the defeat of Japan and the use of the atomic bomb, which had been successfully tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico, four days earlier. Truman had already decided to use the two available ‘operational’ A-bombs on Japan. I silently agreed with the decision. I had heard of General Douglas MacArthur’s (January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964) estimate of one million Allied casualties for the invasion of the Japanese home islands of Kyushu and Honshu and did not doubt the estimate. Ike was not asked his opinion, but he volunteered it that day and later, rather forcefully, to Stimson. Curiously, Ike, almost alone among senior military men, opposed using the bomb. He believed Japan was already defeated, that dropping the bomb was ‘completely unnecessary’ and that we should avoid ‘shocking world opinion,’ by dropping such weapons on people who were at that very moment attempting to seek surrender with minimum loss of face.” “After lunch, we proceeded toward the ceremony for which we had come to Berlin: raising an American flag that had flown over the United States Capitol on December 7, 1941, at the United States Control Council headquarters in the Teltower district of Berlin. Our auto procession was joined by cars transporting General Lucius D. Clay, Ike’s civil affairs expert, George Patton, Henry Stimson and his assistant secretary John McCloy. As we drove along in Truman’s car, the President was very much at ease and in a generous mood. He astounded Ike and me when he turned to Ike and said, ‘General, there is nothing that you may want that I won’t try to help you get. That definitely and specifically includes the presidency in 1948.’” “I kept a poker face, wondering how Ike would reply to that. Ike laughed heartily and said, ‘Mr. President, I don’t know who will be your opponent for the presidency, but it will not be I.’” “After the ceremony, I rushed back to my Headquarters prepared to leave for the States on the following day, July 21. When I reached my plane the next morning, a messenger arrived with a letter from Ike wishing me well.” The President left the scene immediately after the ceremony and returned directly to the Little White House. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0713.jpg |
| Image Size | 595.88 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2932 x 2390 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | July 15, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Potsdam |
| State or Province | Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLT-AVC-PHT-63(1455)73 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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