Which U.S. president announced Japan’s acceptance of the Allied surrender terms in 1945?

Harry S. Truman announced Japan’s acceptance of the Allied surrender terms in 1945.

Truman was president when Japan surrendered and delivered a radio address to the American people after receiving word that Japan had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. His announcement came on August 14, 1945, in the United States, corresponding to August 15 in Japan because of the international date line and time differences.

Truman had become president on April 12, 1945, after Franklin D. Roosevelt died. During his presidency, the United States used atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan, and the Japanese government agreed to surrender.

Truman’s announcement was not the same event as the formal surrender ceremony. The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on September 2, 1945, aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. That ceremony legally formalized the end of hostilities with the Allied powers.