Harry S. Truman received the Allied copy of Japan’s surrender documents in Washington in September 1945.
After the ceremony aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, Colonel Bernard Theilen transported the Allied copy of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender and related documents to Washington, D.C. He presented them to President Harry S. Truman at a White House ceremony on September 7.
Truman had become president after Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. During Truman’s presidency, the United States developed and used atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, accepted Japan’s surrender, and began the occupation of Japan under Allied authority.
The White House presentation was separate from the signing ceremony in Tokyo Bay. Truman did not sign the instrument aboard Missouri, and the ceremony there was led by General Douglas MacArthur. The Washington event instead transferred the historical documents into U.S. custody for preservation and display.