Chester Nimitz signed Japan’s surrender for the United States during the USS Missouri ceremony.
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender after General Douglas MacArthur signed as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Nimitz represented the United States, the principal Allied power in the Pacific theater, at the formal ceremony on September 2, 1945.
Nimitz had commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas for most of the war. He directed major campaigns and naval operations across the Pacific, including the battles of Midway, the Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf. His signature therefore represented the U.S. naval command that had driven much of the Allied advance toward Japan.
Other signatories represented China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The document was not signed only by Japan and the United States; it recorded Japan’s capitulation to the Allied coalition.