He would be held accountable, and it was hard to fathom now, motoring in a car from the Cecilienhof Palace, how Congress would react to the Potsdam proceedings. According to Davies’s recollections, Truman said during this short car ride that he was thinking of resigning the presidency “if, now, the president is not supported by the Senate and Congress.” A keen student of history, Truman was well aware what this would mean to his legacy; no American president had ever resigned.
