Which U.S. fleet admiral signed the Japanese surrender instrument as the American representative?

Chester W. Nimitz signed the Japanese surrender instrument as the American representative.

Nimitz signed aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, after Douglas MacArthur had signed as Supreme Commander for the Allied powers. Nimitz signed on behalf of the United States at approximately 9:12 a.m. Japan Standard Time.

He had commanded the United States Pacific Fleet during most of the Pacific War. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Nimitz directed major naval operations across the Pacific.

Nimitz became one of the first officers to hold the rank of fleet admiral, which Congress established in December 1944. He is sometimes confused with Admiral William Halsey, who commanded the U.S. Third Fleet near the end of the war, but Halsey did not sign the surrender instrument.