National Archives:Conference of the Big Three at Yalta makes final plans for the defeat of Germany.
Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Premier Josef Stalin." February 1945

Winston Churchill, (1874-1965) Held significant leadership positions in the British Army during WWI. He served as Secretary of State for War and Air from 1919-1921, and held various conservative positions in the government prior to WWII. He advised against the policy of appeasement to avoid war with Germany and upon the defeat of Prime Minister Chamberlain following the invasion of Poland and France, he assumed command and led Great Britain through World War II.

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, (1882- 1945) Thirty-second president of the United States and only president to be elected for more that two terms. His 1st term began when he defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932. He successfully led the US out of the depression by actively working to stimultae the economy. The country did not fully recover until the advent of WWII with it's massive wartime production. He maintained the US's neutral status until the attack on Pearl Harbor, but did begin supplying the Allies by 1940. He led the country through the war and with other allied leaders helped to plan for dealing with circumstances after the war, but died four weeks before Germany's surrender. He was succeeded by Vice-President Harry S. Truman.

Tradition Carries On
NEW YORK, April 12 (AP)—President Roosevelt's death today carried on an American tradition that presidents elected at 20-year intervals die in office.
        The list includes: 1840-William Henry Harrison. 1860-Abraham Lincoln. 1880-James A. Garfield. 1900-William McKinley. 1920-Warren G. Harding. 1940-Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Nation's Leader Collapses Unexpectedly Of Cerebral Hemorrhage at Little 'White House' in Georgia
WARM SPRINGS, Ga., April 12 (AP)— President Franklin D. Roosevelt died unexpectedly today at 4:35 p.m. (EWT)of a cerebral hemorrhage.
        In Washington at 7:09 p.m., Vice President Harry S. Truman took the oath as the nation's 32^nd Chief Executive.
        Mr. Roosevelt's last words were: "I have a terrific headache."
        He spoke to then Commander Harold Bruenn, naval physician.
The funeral will be in the White House East Room in Washington on Saturday. Burial will be at the Roosevelt ancestral home at Hyde Park, N.Y., Sunday.
        The body will not lie in state.
        Presidential Secretary, William D. Hassett said Mr. Roosevelt's body would leave here about 9:00 a.m. (EWT) tomorrow for the approximately 22-hour run to Washington.
        Mr. Roosevelt, 63, was sitting in front of a fireplace in the little 'White House' here atop Pine mountain when the attack stuck him.
        Bruenn described it as a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
The President's Negro valet, Arthur Prettyman, and a Filipino mess boy carried him to his bedroom. He was unconscious in the end. It came without pain.
        Mr. Roosevelt, in the third month of his fourth term as President, came here three weeks ago to rest. Mrs. Roosevelt planned to fly here this evening. She left the White House at 7:15 after informing their four uniformed sons by wire of their father's death.
        The death removed from from the world councils one of the Big Three—Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill—who worked together to win the war and laid joint plans for keeping the peace. Truman likewise has stressed the need for international cooperation.

© The Toledo Times, 1945
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Joseph Stalin,(1879-1953) Marxist dictator of Soviet Russia. He signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1938, in an attempt to keep Russia out of the war.However, when the Germans invaded his country in 1941 he brought the USSR into the Grand Alliance.With the leaders of Great Britain and the United States he participated in the conferences of Tehran, Yalta, and  Potsdam where he negotiated for control of Eastern and Central Europe. This was the beginning of the Cold war. Although Russia was a member of the alliance, Stalin did not declare war on Japan until August 8, 1945, eight days before Japan's surrender. By doing this, he claimed Manchuria and other Japanese holdings in Asia for Russian control.