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) →

Video: 'President Harry Truman of United States arrives in Antwerp and moves to Brussels'...HD Stock Footage'

(Sunday, July 15, 1945, 10:04 a.m. CEST; during World War II) — U.S. President Harry S. Truman arrived in Antwerp, Belgium, this morning aboard the USS Augusta, bound for Antwerp, Belgium, for the Potsdam Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on July 17, 1945, in Potsdam, occupied Germany (click here for a clip of this event from “American Experience: Truman” at 1:52:51). Continue reading President Truman arrives in Antwerp, Belgium for Potsdam Conference 70 years ago this hour (July 15 1945) →

Video: 'Pres. Truman En Route to Conference, 1945/07/19' (July 7-15, 1945, at 0:00-1:33)

(Saturday, July 7, 1945, 7:00 a.m. EWT; during World War II) — U.S. President Harry S. Truman departed Newport News, Virginia, this morning aboard the USS Augusta, bound for Antwerp, Belgium, for the Potsdam Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin beginning July 17, 1945, in Potsdam, occupied Germany (click here for a clip of this event from “American Experience: Truman” at 1:52:51). Continue reading President Truman sets sail for Potsdam Conference 70 years ago this hour (July 7 1945) →

(Friday, July 6, 1945; during World War II) — Nicaragua today became the first nation to formally ratify the United Nations Charter, the foundational treaty of the intergovernmental organization known as the United Nations.

Video: 'The World At War 1973(World War II Documentary)Episode 24-The Bomb(February–September 1945)' (July 3, 1945, at 16:55)

(Tuesday, July 3, 1945; during World War II) — Taking the oath of office within twenty-four hours after his nomination as Secretary of State, James F. Byrnes asserted today that there would be no change in basic foreign and peace policies charted by the late U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and no change in State Department personnel until after his return from the Big Three conference in Berlin later this month.

Video: 'The World At War 1973(World War II Documentary)Episode 25-Reckoning (April 1945)' (July 1, 1945, at 11:17)

(Sunday, July 1, 1945; during World War II) — American forces turned Leipzig, Germany, occupied by the U.S. since April 19, 1945, over to the Red Army today as it pulled back from the line of contact with Soviet forces to the predesignated occupation zone boundaries.

Video: 'UN Charter signed in San Francisco Conference and US President Harry S. Truman ad...HD Stock Footage'

(Wednesday, June 26, 1945, 5:28 p.m. PDT; on the Western Front and Eastern Front during World War II) — The United Nations Conference ended this afternoon with a demand by President Truman to translate the lofty words of the new world Charter into worthy deeds ringing in the ears of the delegates from fifty nations who signed it today. Continue reading President Truman closes UN Conference with plea to translate charter into deeds 70 years ago this hour (June 26 1945) →