On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address across the Empire on August 15 (August 14 in the United States), announcing the surrender of Japan to the Allies.
President Harry S. Truman announced news of Japan’s surrender in a press conference at the White House: “This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would.” Truman Announces Japan’s Surrender (audio). Jubilant Americans declared August 14 “Victory over Japan Day,” or “V-J Day.”
On September 2, Allied supreme commander General Douglas MacArthur, along with the Japanese foreign minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, and the chief of staff of the Japanese army, Yoshijiro Umezu, signed the official Japanese surrender aboard the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri, effectively ending World War II.
Citizens and workers of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the atom bomb materials were manufactured, celebrate V-J Day.
Times Square, New York, New York August 14, 1945
On August 14, 1945, Life magazine photographer Albert Eisenstaedt captured the spirit of celebration of the United States’ victory over Japan in World War II in an iconic photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square.
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