ABSTRACT
The Christmas 1945 issue of Life magazine heralded the first postwar holiday season as a jubilant occasion, mirroring the sentiments of many Americans. The United States appeared poised to indulge in a lengthy bacchanalian embrace of the fruits of victory. The world changed dramatically during World War II (WWII), but the years that followed proved equally transformative. The Cold War was a clash between two world systems with competing designs for the future. Recent biographies and explorations of Roosevelt’s foreign policy reaffirmed this perspective, with most underscoring his dedication to planning the peace. Allied planning for the postwar settlement gained momentum following the first meeting of the Big Three in Tehran in November 1943, but differences inevitably arose. The Azerbaijan crisis was accompanied by several Soviet attempts to increase power and prestige across the globe in 1946.
