President Harry S. Truman received Japan’s surrender documents at the White House in 1945. The documents were presented to him on September 7, five days after the formal signing aboard USS Missouri.
Colonel Bernard Theilen transported the Allied copy of the Instrument of Surrender and related documents from the Pacific to Washington, D.C. Truman accepted them during a White House ceremony. The items were later transferred to the National Archives, where the original Allied copy is preserved.
Truman had become president after Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. He therefore directed the final American wartime decisions against Japan, including the authorization of the atomic bombings and the diplomatic response to Japan’s surrender. He also issued a national statement about victory over Japan.
Truman is sometimes confused with General Douglas MacArthur, who accepted the surrender during the shipboard ceremony. MacArthur acted as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers; Truman was the United States president who received the documents in Washington after the event.