The Tehran Conference marked the first time the big three allied leaders met face to face,

and it was the most consequential meeting of world leaders since the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin gathered together in a remarkably informal and convivial meeting where they decided the fate of the world.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music the history of the 20th century. Episode 414, the Tehran Conference.

On July 28, 1943, Franklin Roosevelt gave a fireside chat.

He spoke about the war, celebrated the pending liberation of Sicily, and reiterated the demand that Italy must surrender unconditionally.

He praised the war efforts of the United Kingdom, Canada, the Free French, and the Soviet Union,

and he spoke of his vision for the post-war world.

In that spirit of growing confidence in victory, he broached the subject of post-war demobilization of the U.S.

economy and the U.S. military services. They must not be demobilized into an environment of inflation and unemployment, to a place on a breadline, or on a corner selling apples.

To protect against that, Roosevelt proposed an ambitious program to provide education,

training, and financial support for returning veterans.

He submitted a proposal to Congress in the fall of 1943, and in June 1944, Congress

unanimously passed to

the serviceman's readjustment act,

though no one knows it by that

name. Everyone calls it

the GI Bill.

GI being an American

colloquialism for a member of the

American Armed Forces, especially the U.S. Army.

...