Stalin and the USA

As the meeting between Trump and Kim comes under scrutiny it is time for a little historical perspective. A Soviet weekly newspaper today published the most detailed accounting of Stalin's victims yet presented to a mass audience here, indicating that about 20 million died in labor camps, forced collectivization, famine and executions. After their initial meeting, according to the presidential diary, Truman, Stalin and their accompanying advisers “had lunch, talked socially [and] put on a real show, drinking toasts to everyone” while posing for photographs. Truman closed his entry for the day on a confident note. “I can deal with Stalin,” he wrote. “He is honest but smart as hell.”  Even Stalin made mistakes at the 1945 Yalta Conference (for example, in subscribing to a Declaration on Liberated Europe) , and Roosevelt was to come under severe criticism for what was viewed as excessive leniency or naïveté in his dealings with the Soviet leader.