Which leaders formed the 'Big Three' at the Yalta Conference?

• A. Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin
• B. Harry S. Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin
• C. Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin
• D. Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nikita Khrushchev

Answer: (A)

The group known as the Big Three at the Yalta Conference were the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union who met in 1945 to shape postwar Europe. Franklin D. Roosevelt represented the United States, Winston Churchill led Britain, and Joseph Stalin headed the Soviet Union. They gathered in February 1945 to decide how Germany would be defeated, how postwar Europe would be reorganized, and to lay groundwork for the United Nations. That trio is the correct one because it names exactly the leaders who attended Yalta. Truman wasn’t present at Yalta—he became president later in 1945 and attended the Potsdam Conference—and Nikita Khrushchev wasn’t the Soviet leader at that time and did not participate in Yalta.