To mark the 70th Anniversary of the end of World War II, the National Archives will host special programs and display the original Japanese Instrument of Surrender * that officially ended the war. This display is free and open to the public at the National Archives Museum, located on the National Mall on Constitution Avenue at 9th Street, NW. On September 2, 1945, in a formal ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan, representatives of the Japanese government signed this Instrument of Surrender, officially ending World War II. The formal ceremony took less than 30 minutes. Prepared by the U.S. War Department and approved by President Harry S. Truman, this document set out in eight short paragraphs the complete capitulation of Japan. The short second paragraph went straight to the heart of the matter: “We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General

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