Harry S. Truman said the proclamation of V-J Day should await Japan’s formal surrender signing.
Truman announced Japan’s acceptance of the Allied terms in a nationwide address broadcast in the United States on August 14, 1945. He explained that the formal event was scheduled for September 2 and that the official proclamation of V-J Day would wait until the surrender terms were signed.
This statement helps explain the two dates associated with victory over Japan. Japan’s government communicated its decision in August, and Hirohito’s radio address reached the Japanese public on August 15. The legal ceremony, however, took place on September 2 aboard USS Missouri.
Truman had become president after Franklin D. Roosevelt died in April 1945. He authorized the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and directed the final phase of the war against Japan. His careful wording distinguished a surrender announcement from the formal completion of the surrender process.