| The capitulation of the state of Japan to the conditions provided by the Allies | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Representatives of the Empire of Japan stand aboardUSS Missouri prior to signing of the Instrument of Surrender. | |
| Type | Capitulation |
| Signed | 2 September 1945; 80 years ago (1945-09-02) |
| Location | Tokyo Bay, Japan |
| Condition | Signed |
| Parties | |
| Ratifiers |  Government of JapanAllied Governments |
| Full text | |
 Japanese Instrument of Surrender atWikisource | |
TheJapanese Instrument of Surrender was the printed agreement that formalized thesurrender of Japan, marking the end of hostilities inWorld War II. It was signed by representatives fromJapan and from theAllied nations: theUnited States,China, theUnited Kingdom, theSoviet Union,Australia,Canada,France, theNetherlands, andNew Zealand. The signing took place on the deck ofUSS Missouri inTokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.
The date is sometimes known asVictory over Japan Day. However, that designation more frequently refers to the date of EmperorHirohito'sGyokuon-hōsō (Imperial Rescript of Surrender), the radio broadcast announcement of the acceptance of the terms of thePotsdam Declaration at noonJapan Standard Time on 15 August.
GeneralDouglas MacArthur's staff, headed by ColonelLeGrande A. Diller, were tasked to prepare the draft of the Instrument of Surrender. This was a challenge given resources were limited in war-tornManila. Nevertheless, an enterprising staff member found rare parchment in a basement of a monastery, and this was given to MacArthur's printer.[1]
The UK invited governments of the BritishDominions to send representatives to the ceremony as subordinates to its own. MacArthur supported the government of Australia's demand to attend and sign separately from the UK, although Australia objected to his recommendation that Canada, the Netherlands, and France also sign the document.[2]
It was difficult for Japan'sHigashikuni Cabinet to find delegates for their unpleasant task.[3] Prime ministerHigashikuni, being of theImperial family, could not go, and PrinceFumimaro Konoe refused to go; finallyMamoru Shigemitsu andYoshijirō Umezu accepted the personal appeal of the Emperor to be the two signatories.[4] There were nine other Japanese delegates, three each from theArmy,Navy, and Foreign Ministry.[5] All eleven names were submitted in advance to the Allies, but for security reasons, only the two signatories were revealed to the press, the morning of the signing.[6] The eleven delegates leftTokyo by car early on 2 September, boarded theUSS Lansdowne atYokohama, and sailed out to theMissouri, anchored inTokyo Bay.[6]
The ceremony aboard the deck ofMissouri lasted 23 minutes and was broadcast throughout the world. The instrument was first signed by the Japanese foreign ministerMamoru Shigemitsu "By Command and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government" (9:04 a.m.).[7] GeneralYoshijirō Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, then signed the document "By Command and in behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters" (9:06 a.m.).[7][8]The Japanese representatives present for the signing were the following:
At 9:08 a.m., AmericanGeneral of the ArmyDouglas MacArthur, the Commander in the Southwest Pacific andSupreme Commander for the Allied Powers, accepted the surrender on behalf of the Allied Powers and signed in his capacity as Supreme Commander.[10]
After MacArthur, the following representatives signed the instrument of surrender on behalf of each of the Allied Powers:
The deck of theMissouri was furnished with twoU.S. flags. A commonly heard story is that one of the flags had flown over theWhite House on the dayPearl Harbor wasattacked. However, Captain Stuart Murray of USSMissouri explained:
At eight o'clock we had hoisted a clean set of colors at the mainmast and a cleanjack of the United States at the bow as we were at anchor, and I would like to add that these were just regular ship's flags, GI issue, that we'd pulled out of the spares, nothing special about them, and they had never been used anywhere so far as we know, at least they were clean and we had probably gotten them inGuam in May. So there was nothing special about them. Some of the articles in the history say this was the same flag that was flown on the White House or the National Capitol on 7 December 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and at Casablanca, and so forth, also MacArthur took it up to Tokyo and flew it over his headquarters there. The only thing I can say is they were hard up for baloney, because it was nothing like that. It was just a plain ordinary GI-issue flag and a Union Jack. We turned them both into the Naval Academy Museum when we got back to the East Coast in October.The only special flag that was there was a flag which Commodore Perry had flown on his ship out in that same location 82 [recte 92] years before. It was flown out in its glass case from the Naval Academy Museum. An officer messenger brought it out. We put this hanging over the door of my cabin, facing forward, on the surrender deck so that everyone on the surrender deck could see it.[20]
That special flag on the veranda deck of theMissouri had been flown from CommodoreMatthew Perry's flagship in 1853–54 whenhe led the U.S. Navy's Far East Squadron intoTokyo Bay to force the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade.
Photographs of the signing ceremony show that this flag is displayed backward—reverse side showing (stars in the upper right corner). This was because U.S. flags on the right of an object, plane, ship, or person have the stars on the upper right corner, to look like the flag is heading into battle—as if attached to a pole and someone is carrying it. Stars in the upper left of a flag displayed on the right side of the object could make the flag look like it were going away from battle. The cloth of the historic flag was so fragile that the conservator at theU.S. Naval Academy Museum directed that a protective backing be sewn on it, leaving its "wrong side" visible; and this was how Perry's 31-star flag was presented on this unique occasion.[21]
A replica of this historic flag can be seen today on the Surrender Deck of the BattleshipMissouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor.[21] The original flag is still on display at the Naval Academy Museum, as are the table and tablecloth upon which the instrument of surrender was signed and the original bronze plaque marking the location of the signing (which was replaced by two replicas in 1990).
The Japanese copy of the treaty varied from the Allied in one way. The Canadian representative, ColonelLawrence Moore Cosgrave, signed below his line instead of above it on the Japanese copy, so everyone after him had to sign one line below the intended one. This was attributed to Cosgrave being blind in one eye from aWorld War I injury. When the discrepancy was pointed out to GeneralRichard K. Sutherland, he crossed out the pre-printed name titles of the Allied nations and rewrote by hand the titles in their correct relative positions. The Japanese initially found this alteration unacceptable—until Sutherland initialed (as an abbreviated signature) each alteration. The Japanese representatives did not complain further.[22]
On 6 September, Colonel Bernard Theilen arrived inWashington, D.C. with the Allied copy of the Instrument and other documents, including a copy ofHirohito's 15 August rescript and thefull powers credentials for Shigemitsu and Umezu, all three of which were stamped with theState Seal of Japan.[23] He presented them to PresidentHarry S. Truman in a formalWhite House ceremony the following day.[23] Following a ceremony led by GeneralJonathan Wainwright, the documents were then exhibited at theNational Archives,[23][24] along with regional instruments of surrender signed after theMissouri ceremony,in the Philippines (September 3),in Korea (September 9), andin South-east Asia (September 12).[25] On October 1, 1945, the documents were formally received (accessioned) into the holdings of the National Archives.[23] They are now housed in theNational Archives Building in Washington, D.C.[26]
The Japanese copy of the Instrument is at the Diplomatic Archives of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in Tokyo, and was last publicly displayed in 2015, as part of an exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the signing. A replica version of the Japanese copy can be viewed at the archive's gallery, and at theEdo-Tokyo Museum inTokyo.[27]
MacArthur was instructed to make 11 full-sizedwatermarked facsimiles of the instrument for distribution among the Allied nations.[28][29] These were bound in blue leather.[28] MacArthur later ordered more copies, some bound in red leather for presentation to his personal guests at the ceremony;[28] authorities differ on the number of the later copies, some of which were in smaller sizes with different watermark.[29]
TheRepublic of China's facsimile is now in theNational Museum of History inTaiwan, and (along with seven other historic documents) was designated as aNational Treasure [Wikidata] by theMinistry of Culture in 2016.[30][31][32]
Two of the personal facsimiles, given to ColonelLeGrande A. Diller and Filipino Major GeneralBasilio Valdes, were bought in the late 20th century byKenneth W. Rendell forThe International Museum of World War II inNatick, Massachusetts,[28] whose collection was subsequently bought byRonald Lauder.[33]
As witnesses, American generalJonathan Wainwright, who had surrendered thePhilippines, and Britishlieutenant-generalArthur Percival, who hadsurrendered Singapore, received two of the six pens used by MacArthur to sign the instrument. Wainwright's pen was donated to theWest Point Museum at the United States Military Academy. Percival's pen was donated to theCheshire Military Museum. The pen of MacArthur's aideCourtney Whitney was used by MacArthur and returned to him afterwards. The Whitney family still owns this pen. All of the pens used by MacArthur were black, except the last, which was bright red and went to his wife. A replica of the red pen, along with copies of the instrument of surrender, is in a case onMissouri by the plaque marking the signing spot. MacArthur left two black pens that he signed with on the table for others to also sign with if they desired. The British signatory, Admiral Bruce Fraser, also signed the instrument with these two black MacArthur pens but tried to copy MacArthur's gesture of giving pens to Wainwright and Percival by giving these pens to his two witnesses. After the ceremony, MacArthur's aides immediately retrieved these two pens from Fraser's witnesses and returned them to MacArthur. American GeneralJimmy Doolittle reportedly whispered to everyone around him, “I see the British are stilllend-leasing our equipment.” TheMacArthur Memorial currently has these two blackWaterman pens. The redParker pen that was owned by MacArthur's wife was stolen from her later.[34][35][36]
Nimitz signed the instrument with two pens. One of these pens, which belonged to his Chinese neighbor and close friend, is now in theNanjing Museum in Nanjing, China. The other one is now in theUnited States Naval Academy Museum.[37]
.jpg)
_flyover%2c_Tokyo_Bay%2c_2_September_1945_(520775).jpg)
35°21′17″N139°45′36″E / 35.35472°N 139.76000°E /35.35472; 139.76000[citation needed]
