p At the end of December 1945, President Truman sent this message to Stalin; "I repeat my assurance to you that it is my earnest wish, and I am sure it is the wish of the people of the United States that the people of the Soviet Union and the people of the United States should work together to restore and maintain peace. I am sure that the common interest of our two countries in keeping the peace far outweighs any possible differences between us.”  [227•1 

p A few days later, early in January 1946, the same Truman wrote to State Secretary James Byrnes: "I do not think we should play compromise any longer. We should refuse to recognize Rumania and Bulgaria until they comply with our requirements; we should let our position on Iran be known in no uncertain terms and we should continue to insist on the internationalization of the Kiel Canal, the Rhine-Danube waterway and the Black Sea Straits and we should maintain complete control of Japan and the Pacific. We should rehabilitate China and create a strong government there. We should do the same for Korea.... I’m tired babying the Soviets.”  [227•2 

p What did tnis mean? Two completely different postwar policies or misinformation? Or maybe the second letter expresses the true aspirations of the American imperialists?

The answer to these questions will shed light on the 228 direct connection between the results of the Second World War and our time.