Editing Potsdam Declaration (section)

==== United States ====
The United States desired to keep maximum strategic latitude for itself upon the defeat of Japan. The American government had demanded in the past the unconditional surrender of Japan as the precondition to peace, and the text of the Declaration reiterated this demand. In the remainder of Asia, the American government had the goals of total rollback of the Empire of Japan's overseas possessions, as well as the additional goal of preventing the communists – with the support and patronage of the Soviet Union – from expanding influence in East Asia and Southeast Asia.{{sfn|Hasegawa|2005|pp=183–186}}