Daily Archives: July 16, 2015

President Truman inspects the ruins of Berlin 70 years ago this hour (July 16 1945)


Video: 'Potsdam Conference: Big Three: Truman, Stalin & Churchill Meet in Berlin 1945 US US OWI Newsreel' (Truman inspects Berlin ruins at 1:45-2:05)

(Monday, July 16, 1945, 4:57 p.m. CEST; during World War II) — U.S. President Harry S. Truman, in Germany for the Potsdam Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (whose late arrival delayed the conference to July 17, 1945), visited Berlin this afternoon to inspect the city’s ruins following the end of World War II in Europe (click here for a clip of this event from “American Experience: Truman” at 1:54:56).

President Truman inspects 2nd Armored ‘Hells on Wheels’ Division in Germany 70 years ago this hour (July 16 1945)


Video: 'Potsdam Conference: Big Three: Truman, Stalin & Churchill Meet in Berlin 1945 US US OWI Newsreel' (Truman inspects Second Armored Division at 3:01)

(Monday, July 16, 1945, 3:40 p.m. CEST; during World War II) — U.S. President Harry S. Truman, in Germany for the Potsdam Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (whose late arrival delayed the conference to July 17, 1945), left U.S. headquarters at Babelsberg this afternoon to inspect the ruins of Berlin, stopping to inspect the famous 2nd Armored “Hells on Wheels” Division drawn up along the wide AVUS super-highway between Potsdam and Berlin.

U.S. explodes first experimental atomic bomb in New Mexico 70 years ago this hour (July 16 1945)


Video: 'Explosion and smoke cloud of the first Atomic Bomb detonation rising at Alamogord...HD Stock Footage'

(Sunday, July 16, 1945, 5:29:45 a.m. MWT; during World War II) — The Atomic Age began this morning when the United States successfully detonated a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity bomb site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 19 kilotons of TNT (click here for a clip of this event from “American Experience: Truman” at 1:56:01). Continue reading U.S. explodes first experimental atomic bomb in New Mexico 70 years ago this hour (July 16 1945)

British PM Churchill calls on President Truman in Babelsberg 70 years ago this hour (July 16 1945)


Video: 'Potsdam Conference: Big Three: Truman, Stalin & Churchill Meet in Berlin 1945 US US OWI Newsreel' (Churchill and Truman at 2:05-2:11)

(Monday, July 16, 1945, 11:00 a.m. CEST; during World War II) — Prime Minister Winston Churchill called on U.S. President Harry S. Truman this morning at U.S. headquarters at Babelsberg, Germany, ahead of the Potsdam Conference with Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (whose late arrival delayed the conference to July 17, 1945). (click here for a clip of this event from “American Experience: Truman” at 1:54:11).