Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu ready to sign the surrender papers on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri
Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu ready to sign the surrender papers on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- To sign the surrender that would officially end World War II, a small delegation of Japanese diplomats and military personnel appeared promptly at 8:55 a.m. on Sunday, September 2, 1945. Their faces expressionless, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu stood side by side.
- Shigemitsu leaned heavily on his cane in order to support the artificial leg, the result of a bomb that had been thrown at him years before in Shanghai. Shigemitsu awkwardly sat down and took off his hat and a glove before signing his name and signing for Emperor Hirohito.
- General Umezu followed, but unlike the rest, he signed standing up. With their signatures, both men bound Japan to accept the Potsdam Declaration: to surrender all forces unconditionally, free all military prisoners, and make all Japanese officials, including the Emperor, subservient to General MacArthur.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Photograph
- Date made
- 1945
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- place made
- Japan: Tokyo Bay
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10 in x 8 in; 25.4 cm x 20.32 cm
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.085
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.085
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Photographic History
- Carl Mydans
- Photography
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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