Sign Surrender

08/19/20 • 20 min

With Japan’s defeat, World War II finally came to an end. The formal end of World War II took place in suitably dramatic fashion, with a surrender ceremony on board the USS Missouri on September 2. “This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor,” said President Truman. “This is the day when Fascism finally dies.” Untested and relatively unknown when he became President just over four months ago, Truman had proven himself.

Previous Episode

A City Vanished

In the hours after Truman drops the bomb on Hiroshima, news reports begin to surface of “a city vanished.” As he said on many occasions, Truman never regretted the decision—seeing the bomb as the quickest way to bring an end to the bloodiest war in history. Speaking to the American people via radio, Truman described the bomb as “harnessing of the basic power of the universe,” and swore that “we shall completely destroy Japan’s power to make war.”

Next Episode

The Pool of Armed Might

Allied victory had rescued humanity from a dark future, but for President Truman and his administration, the celebrations were short lived. There were still a number of challenges that remained, including the demobilization of millions of men and women, reshaping the economy without putting millions out of work, growing racial tensions at home, and the looming threat of the nation’s burgeoning rivalry with the Soviet Union.