The United States supplied the first national representative to sign after MacArthur on Japan’s Instrument of Surrender.
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed for the United States at about 9:12 a.m. Japan Standard Time on 2 September 1945. General Douglas MacArthur had signed a few minutes earlier in his separate capacity as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
The order of signatures reflected the ceremony’s carefully arranged protocol. After Nimitz, General Hsu Yung-chang signed for China, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser for the United Kingdom, and Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko for the Soviet Union. Representatives of Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand followed.
The American signature is sometimes attributed to President Harry Truman because he was the U.S. president, but Truman did not attend the ceremony. Nimitz represented the United States at the signing, while MacArthur represented the Allied command. The document took effect at about 9:25 a.m.