Yesterday, September 1st, marked the beginning of World War II in 1939. Today, September 2d, marks the end six years later.
When: On this day in 1945, Japan surrendered, “formally and unconditionally,” in a ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Missouri.
What: In the 20 minute ceremony, twelve signatures were required to end the bloody Pacific conflict, begun when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. As the ceremony ended, the AP report read,
the sun burst through low-hanging clouds as a shining symbol to a ravaged world now done with war.
The New York Times front page story:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0902.html#article
Who: The surrender was signed by the Japanese Foreign Minister on behalf of Emperor Hirohito. Gen. Douglas MacArthur then accepted on behalf of the Allied Nations.
One by one the Allied representatives signed the document. First was Admiral Chester W. Nimitz for the United States, then the representatives of China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
Why The surrender came after an epic few weeks in which the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9) and the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan (August 8). On August 15, Japan announced its surrender, which came officially on September 2, later known as V-J (Victory over Japan) Day in America and “a memorial day of the end of the war” in Japan.
For more about this date, among the best books are two by William Manchester: American Caesar, a biography of the controversial General MacArthur, and Goodbye, Darkness, a memoir of the Pacific War in which Manchester served a Marine.
For the history of the dropping of the atomic bomb, I highly recommend The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes.
