Object Details
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- 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
- 1945
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.085
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.085
- Object Name
- Photograph
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10 in x 8 in; 25.4 cm x 20.32 cm
- place made
- Japan: Tokyo Bay
- Related Publication
- Mydans, Carl. Carl Mydans, Photojournalist
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Photographic History
- Photography
- Carl Mydans
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_1303404
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-18bf-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
