According to Henry Morgenthau 's son , White was the principal architect behind the Morgenthau Plan , designed to permanently weaken Germany 's military capabilities . The Morgenthau postwar plan , as authored by White , was to take all industry out of Germany , eliminate its armed forces , and convert the country into an agricultural community , in the process eliminating most of Germany 's economy and its ability to start another war . A version of the plan , limited to turning Germany into " a country primarily agricultural and pastoral in its character " , was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Second Quebec Conference in September 1944 . However , someone in White 's department with access to details of the plan leaked it to the press , and White himself provided an advance copy to Soviet intelligence . Public protests forced Roosevelt to publicly and partially pull back . The Nazis and Joseph Goebbels used the Morgenthau Plan as a propaganda coup to encourage their troops and citizens to fight on . General Omar Bradley , among others , noticed " a near-miraculous revitalization of the German army . " In the end Morgenthau still did manage to influence the resulting occupation policy
Second Quebec Conference
Second Quebec Conference
Harry Dexter White