Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz represented the United States at Japan’s 1945 surrender ceremony.
Nimitz signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender after General Douglas MacArthur, who signed as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. His signature therefore identified the United States separately from MacArthur’s broader Allied command role.
Nimitz was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas during the war. His forces had conducted major naval operations across the Pacific, making his presence at the ceremony a symbolic representation of the American war effort in that theater.
The document was also signed by representatives of China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Their signatures reflected the multinational coalition that had fought Japan.