Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
Roosevelt was dead-set against the league of nations and envisioned what he termed "the four policemen" as the basis of post-war global security and stability. He saw the US working with the UK, Russia and Nationalist China in that regard. Needless to say he mis-read Stalin, and the US also put far too much faith in both the stability of the Nationalist Chinese government and the perceptions of the US in that nation as well.

Even then the US tended to see ourselves as "the other white meat" (to steal a slogan from the pork people). That sure, the Europeans were a bad lot with all of their colonialism, but that we were the good guys. American leadership was shocked in 1949 with Mao prevailed and quickly let us know that he saw us as just one more illegitimate colonial presence/influence to be rid of. (A situation that threw a major monkey wrench into the gears of our fledgling strategy to contain Soviet expansion; leading to an evolution to a much more ideological containment of "communism" as a whole).

But as influential and bigger than life that FDR was, he did happen to die about a month prior to VE day, so it is probably less than fair to saddle him with full credit for how Europe was divvied up and sorted out over the next year or so. I am sure that Truman at the end of his tenure in office would have gone back and changed some of his early decisions given the chance.
The bottom line is that FDR got it wrong, badly wrong. His illness is not an excuse nor is his arrogance in thinking that he had Stalin all sown up.

Truman became President just under a month before VE day. At that late stage what was Truman to do?

No the buck must stop with FDR. He caused more harm and damage to Americans and US interests in the world than 100 Bin Ladens or 1,000 Julian Assanges.

And yes we have discussed this before somewhere here... the Soviets got the best net gain from WW II.