DOUGLAS MacARTHUR GENERAL OF THE ARMY
(1880 - 1964)
Actual Scans from Surrender Photo
MacArthur's signature appears on the signed surrender photograph
over his pants leg. MacArthur is shown standing to the left of
the microphone. A medium tipped fluid black ink pen was used.
MacArthur was born on January 26, 1880 near Little Rock, Arkansas.
MacArthur, like his father, was a recipient of the Congressional
Medal of Honor. Before his career was complete, he had become
the most decorated man in the history of the Armed Forces of the
He was commissioned as an Officer in the United States Army on
the plains of the West Point Military Academy in 1903. The Academy's
Motto "Duty, Honor, Country" guided his distinguished
military career. During his military service, he commanded a division
in World War I; was Superintendent of the Military Academy; became
Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces; Military Advisor to the Commonwealth
of the Philippines; Army Commander of the Far East; Commander
of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific; and Supreme Commander
for the Allied Powers near the end of World War II.
Before the Japanese were invited to sign the Instrument of Surrender,
MacArthur gave a brief address in which he remarked:
"We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring
powers -- to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be
restored. The issues involving divergent ideals and ideologies,
have been determined on the battlefields of the world and hence
are not for our discussion or debate. Nor is it for us here to
meet, representing as we do a majority of the people of the earth,
in a spirit of distrust, malice or hatred. But rather it is for
us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity
which alone befits the sacred purposes we are about to serve,
committing all our people unreservedly to faithful compliance
with the obligation they are here formally to assume.
It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope and indeed the hope
of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall
emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past -- a world founded
upon faith and understanding -- a world dedicated to the dignity
of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish -- for freedom,
tolerance and justice.
The terms and conditions upon which the surrender of the Japanese
Imperial Forces is here to be given and accepted are contained
in the Instrument of Surrender now before you."
"As Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, I announce it
my firm purpose, in the tradition of the countries I represent,
to proceed in the discharge of my responsibilities with justice
and tolerance, while taking all necessary dispositions to insure
that the terms of surrender are fully, promptly and faithfully
After the two official Japanese representatives, Foreign Minister
Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu, signed both copies
of the Instrument of Surrender. MacArthur signed as Supreme Commander
for the Allied Powers.
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as the U. S. Representative signed.
General Hsu Yung-Ch'ang signed for the Republic of China, Admiral
Sir Bruce A. Fraser for the United Kingdom, Lt. General Kuzma
Derevyanko for the Soviet Union, General Sir Thomas Blamey for
the Commonwealth of Australia, Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave for Canada,
General Jacques Le Clerc for the Provisional Government of the
French Republic, Admiral C. E. L. Helfrich for the Kingdom of
the Netherlands, and Air Vice Marshal Leonard M. Isitt for the
Dominion of New Zealand.
After all the representative had finished signing, MacArthur stated:
"Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and
that God will preserve it always. These proceedings are closed"
After the ceremony was completed, MacArthur broadcasted the following
message to the American people:
"Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A
great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death --
the seas bear only commerce men everywhere walk upright in the
sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace. The holy mission
has been completed. And in reporting this to you, the people,
I speak for the thousands of silent lips, forever stilled among
the jungles and the beaches and in the deep waters of the Pacific
which marked the way. I speak for the unnamed brave millions homeward
bound to take up the challenge of that future which they did so
much to salvage from the brink of disaster.
As I look back on the long, tortuous trail from those grim days
of Bataan and Corregidor, when an entire world lived in fear,
when democracy was on the defensive everywhere, when modern civilization
trembled in the balance, I tank a merciful God that He has given
us the faith, the courage and the power from which to mold victory.
We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph,
and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. We
must go forward to preserve in peace what we won in war.
A new era is upon us. Even the lesson of victory itself brings
with it profound concern, both for our future security and the
survival of civilization. The destructiveness of the war potential,
through progressive advances in scientific discovery, has in fact
now reached a point which revises the traditional concepts of
Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods
through the ages have attempted to devise an international process
to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start
workable methods were found insofar as individual citizens were
concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international
scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances
of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the
only path to be by way of the crucible of war. We have had our
last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable
system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically
is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement
of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless
advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural
developments of the past two thousand years, It must be of the
spirit if we are to save the flesh.
We stand in Tokyo today reminiscent of our countryman, Commodore
Perry, ninety-two years ago. His purpose was to bring to Japan
an era of enlightenment and progress, by lifting the veil of isolation
to the friendship, trade, and commerce of the world. But alas
the knowledge thereby gained of western science was forged into
an instrument of oppression and human enslavement. Freedom of
expression, freedom of action, even freedom of thought were denied
through appeal to superstition, and through the application of
force. We are committed by the Potsdam Declaration of principles
to see that the Japanese people are liberated from this condition
of slavery. It is my purpose to implement this commitment just
as rapidly as the armed forces are demobilized and other essential
steps taken to neutralize the war potential.
The energy of the Japanese race, if properly directed, will enable
expansion vertically rather than horizontally. If the talents
of the race are turned into constructive channels, the county
can lift itself from its present deplorable state into a position
To the Pacific basin has come the vista of a new emancipated world.
Today, freedom is on the offensive, democracy is on the march.
Today, in Asia as well as in Europe, unshackled peoples are tasting
the full sweetness of liberty, the relief from fear.
In the Philippines, America has evolved a model for this new free
world of Asia. In the Philippines, America has demonstrated that
peoples of the East and peoples of the West may walk side by side
in mutual respect and with mutual benefit. The history of our
sovereignty there has now the full confidence of the East.
And so, my fellow countrymen, today I report to you that your
sons and daughters have served you well and faithfully with the
calm, deliberated determined fighting spirit of the American soldier,
based upon a tradition of historical truth as against the fanaticism
of an enemy supported only by mythological fiction. Their spiritual
strength and power has brought us through to victory. They are
homeward bound -- take care of them."