Which date did President Harry Truman designate as the official U.S. V-J Day?

President Harry Truman designated September 2, 1945, as the official U.S. V-J Day.

The date was chosen because Japan formally signed the Instrument of Surrender that day aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Truman had announced Japan's surrender to the American public on August 14, but he said the formal proclamation should wait until the surrender terms were signed.

V-J Day has more than one commonly used date. August 15 was the date of Hirohito's broadcast in Japan and in much of the British Commonwealth. In the United States, the announcement arrived on August 14 because of time-zone differences.

The September 2 ceremony marked the end of organized World War II hostilities in the Pacific. It is therefore the date most closely tied to the formal legal surrender, even though public celebrations began weeks earlier.