m on his decision. The possibility of war grew greater daily, especially after three groups of strategic American atomic bombers were flown into Berlin bases. Clay stated, Only by war could the Russians get the West to leave Berlin, (Walton 56).The idea of supplying Berlin by air came to Clay and a number of other people at the same time. The British had already airlifted six and one half tons of supplies into Berlin, and were considering an airlift of the civilian population when the United States entered the picture. But the supplies Britain brought would not last long. Two and a half million people were on the brink of starvation. The food that was there would last no longer than a month, and the coal that was brought in would only last six weeks (McCollough 630). On June 26, 1948, Americans and the British began airlifting supplies as a team. When the United States was finally granted permission to help from the other Allies, West Berlin had been isolated from the rest of the world for almost two months. When the idea of the airlift was brought to Washington D.C. Truman was not thinking about supplying Berlin indefinitely. He originally thought that the airlift would buy Berlin time so that a solution could be found (Walton 57).Within three days the airlift was looking like it could be more than just a temporary resort. Berlin added 100 Royal Air Force planes to the fleet already in use, and the United States brought planes in from Alaska and the Caribbean. Clay and General Curtis LeMay mobilized all available aircrafts when Truman ordered every United States plane in Europe to be put into service.The Soviets went on to declare, Berlin lies in the center of the Soviet zone and it is a part of that zone, (Walton 59). They went on to say that if necessary, out of concern for the Berlin population, they would supply the entire city. Berliners were not moved by this expression of the Soviets concern. Even the three democrat...
