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Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta
Date
1945
Artist
Samariy Gurariy, 1916 - 1998
Sitter
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, 30 Nov 1874 - 24 Jan 1965
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 30 Jan 1882 - 12 Apr 1945
Joseph Stalin, 21 Dec 1879 - Mar 1953
Exhibition Label
Cold War antagonism between the Soviet Union and the United States began in the final moments of World War II. For a week in February 1945, the “Big Three” allies—the leaders of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States—met in the Crimean city of Yalta to discuss final wartime goals and the shape of the postwar world. The Allies appeared to be in harmony, but cracks were already forming in what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the “Grand Alliance.” Agreement was reached on two of his chief concerns—the formation of the United Nations and the support of Soviet troops for the continuing war in the Pacific against Japan. But left unresolved was the nature of a postwar Germany and the extent of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. These issues, colored by the three countries’ radically different ideas of national security, were the roots of the Cold War hostilities that would last for the next several decades.
El antagonismo entre la Unión Soviética y Estados Unidos durante la Guerra Fría comenzó a fines de la II Guerra Mundial. Durante una semana en febrero de 1945, los líderes de los tres principales países aliados –Gran Bretaña, la URSS y EE.UU.– se reunieron en la ciudad de Yalta, Crimea, para discutir sus objetivos finales y la configuración del mundo en la posguerra. Parecían estar en armonía, pero ya se veían grietas en lo que el presidente Franklin D. Roosevelt llamaba la “Gran Alianza”. Llegaron a un acuerdo sobre sus dos intereses principales: la creación de las Naciones Unidas y el apoyo de las tropas soviéticas en la guerra del Pacífico contra Japón. Pero quedó sin resolver la naturaleza de la Alemania de posguerra y el alcance de la influencia soviética en Europa Oriental. Estos asuntos, desde las posiciones totalmente distintas de los tres países en cuanto a seguridad nacional, fueron la raíz de las hostilidades de la Guerra Fría, que duraría varias décadas.
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National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Object number
NPG.2004.37
Type
Photograph
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Samariy Gurariy
Medium
Gelatin silver print on paper
Dimensions
Image (Verified): 25.5 × 36.8 cm (10 1/16 × 14 1/2")
Sheet (Verified): 25.5 × 36.8 cm (10 1/16 × 14 1/2")
Mat (Verified): 55.9 × 71.1 cm (22 × 28")