Who announced Japan’s surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, 1945?

Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, 1945.

The broadcast presented Hirohito reading the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War. Japan’s government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded the country’s surrender, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan.

The recording was made on August 14 and broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15. It was the first time most Japanese civilians had heard the emperor’s voice. Because the speech used formal classical Japanese and the recording quality was poor, many listeners found it difficult to understand immediately.

The announcement did not itself complete every legal and military step of surrender. The formal Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. That distinction explains why August 15 and September 2 are both important dates in accounts of Japan’s defeat.