LETTER: When United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed away on April 12, 1945, he was succeeded by Harry Truman. The country was in good hands, for Truman was strong and steadfast, befitting a wartime president.
As Vice President to Roosevelt, many important decisions were made exclusive to non-members of the inner circle, including Truman himself. One of which was the important Manhattan Project in which top-rate physicists like Dr Robert Oppenheimer, Dr Richard Feynman and Dr Enrico Fermi were involved to build atomic bombs for deployment in World War II.
The devices were successfully built by July 1945. It was first tested in a desert in the US away from places of human habitation. The mushroom-shaped clouds from the powerful explosion marked the signature arrival of the atomic age.
World history and geopolitics were about to change. It was initially earmarked to be used against Germany. Luckily, by May 7, 1945, Germany had already surrendered. Europe tasted peace after almost eight years of war.
As a consequence, the map of Europe went through some changes, Germany was partitioned off into East and West Germany. Even its capital Berlin, which was in East Germany, was partitioned by the famous Berlin Wall.
The eventual fall of the wall in 1989 ushered in the unification of Germany. Today, it is the economic powerhouse of Europe and the World. Truman, the newly installed US President paid a visit to Britain in Aug 1945.
He had an audience with King George VI. Truman disclosed to the King the astronomical cost of building the bombs during their lunch. The bombs still in the US's arsenal had not been deployed yet.
The lunch went on in an atmosphere of warmth, respect and congeniality. Derek Leebaert in his book "The World After The War" told of the story that the King, in good mood after the lunch, had asked Truman for an autograph "for my wife and daughters".
Truman must have felt so happy and honoured acceding to the royal request. The special relations between Britain and America was already built and strengthened since the victory days of 1945. Since then, it has never been soured or shattered.
DR KOH AIK KHOON
Alumni, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
