A general election and a new world order
This is the seating plan for a formal dinner for the Potsdam conference attendees, hosted by Winston Churchill, 23 July 1945, signed by the attendees, including Churchill himself, Harry S Truman, and (on the cover) Joseph Stalin.
Churchill is shown as Prime Minister, because although the UK general election had already been held on 5 July, the results were not counted and declared until 26 July, since many voters were still on overseas service. Three days later, Attlee (seated three to the right of Churchill) was the new British Prime Minster.
This item comes from the personal papers of Field Marshal Viscount Alanbrooke, who as Chief of the Imperial General Staff for most of World War Two was Churchill’s chief military adviser. In his diary he wrote of the evening: ‘It was a good dinner with an RAF band, rather spoilt by continuous speeches. …. After dinner we had the menus signed up and I went round to ask Stalin for his signature, he turned round, looked at me, smiled very kindly and shook me warmly by the hand before signing. After the band playing all the national anthems we went off to bed.’
