Um, true? But it's rather rare in human affairs for the side that is obviously & quickly winning a brutal war to make much in the way of concessions.
> ...embarrass Roosevelt and Churchill.
Recall that President Roosevelt had died back on 12 April, and former Prime Minster Churchill had suffered a crushing defeat in the UK General Election of 6 July. That defeat was very widely foreseen, so "Churchill will soon be gone" was baked into everyone's plans.
> - so why not just make that public? [...] why not just disclose this?
You sound unfamiliar with WWII-era security practices, and likewise with how easy it is to shoot yourself in the foot by talking about secret peace negotiations. Those are a very complex game, played for very high stakes. To the extent that you tell the public the truth, you are revealing a lot about your priorities and strategy to the enemy, who is busy killing your people every day. To the extent that you tell the public lies...so long as the public eventually concludes that (1) it was sadly necessary, as part of the negotiating process, and (2) you did negotiate a good deal for them...those lies will pretty much be forgiven.
Um, true? But it's rather rare in human affairs for the side that is obviously & quickly winning a brutal war to make much in the way of concessions.
> ...embarrass Roosevelt and Churchill.
Recall that President Roosevelt had died back on 12 April, and former Prime Minster Churchill had suffered a crushing defeat in the UK General Election of 6 July. That defeat was very widely foreseen, so "Churchill will soon be gone" was baked into everyone's plans.
> - so why not just make that public? [...] why not just disclose this?
You sound unfamiliar with WWII-era security practices, and likewise with how easy it is to shoot yourself in the foot by talking about secret peace negotiations. Those are a very complex game, played for very high stakes. To the extent that you tell the public the truth, you are revealing a lot about your priorities and strategy to the enemy, who is busy killing your people every day. To the extent that you tell the public lies...so long as the public eventually concludes that (1) it was sadly necessary, as part of the negotiating process, and (2) you did negotiate a good deal for them...those lies will pretty much be forgiven.