Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu ready to sign the surrender papers on the deck of the <i>U.S.S. Missouri</i>
date: label: Date made
content: 1945
name: label: photographer
content: Mydans, Carl
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Japan: Tokyo Bay
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Photographic History
label: See more items in
content: Photography
label: See more items in
content: Carl Mydans
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Mydans, Carl. Carl Mydans, Photojournalist
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0228.085
label: accession number
content: 2005.0228
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0228.085
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Photograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in x 8 in; 25.4 cm x 20.32 cm