In 1948, on this day supplies to American, British and French forces as well as the German civilian population were cut-off when Soviet forces blocked the roads to the western-occupied sections of Berlin.

Berlin Airlift Begins World War III, RebootThe military governor of the American Zone, U.S. Army General Lucius D. Clay (nicknamed "the Kaiser") provided the President with a characteristically bullish action plan: call the Soviet's bluff by sending the U.S. 3rd Armored Division with the next supply convoy. Certain that such an attempt to force the blockade would lead to war, Truman seriously considered others options for saving West Berlin.

The feasibility of an air lift was examined and it emerged that the RAF had been supplying their Forces with ammunition for some time. Moreover, Clay's counterpart, General Sir Brian Robertson, along with British Air Commodore Reginald Waite, had prepared a scenario for upscaling this operation to the complete supply of the whole city. A further positive was that although Soviet guarantees on road access were weak, the guarantees on air routes were hard and fast. But the headline numbers were still terrifying, the Western Allies had the current capability to deliver 120 tonnes a day, and the city needed 5,000 until winter when this would need to increase to include winter fuel such as coal.

There was of course a final option, the nuclear club. Problem was that Truman would have to use the handful of nuclear weapons that the United States had secretly maintained in contravention of the Baruch Plan. And in fact Truman suspected that Stalin knew all about this secret stockpile, and was using the crisis to force the issue out into the open.
This post is a combined reversal of two articles by Jeff Provine Baruch Plan Determines Americans will give up The Bomb and Berlin Airlift Begins World War III.