PRESIDENT TRUMAN ADDRESSES THE NATION ON SEPT 1, 1945.
V-J DAY
The end of World War II in the Pacific was nowhere near the shocking surprise as its beginning some 45 months earlier.
The United States, Great Britain and Soviet Union had agreed on Japan’s unconditional surrender terms at the two week Potsdam Conference that ended on August 2, 1945. The terms were hardly secret but had been formally issued to Japan through Swiss diplomatic channels.
Meanwhile, American intelligence had been able to intercept and decode Japan’s internal government communications for well over a year, so it was aware that some factions of the defeated country were holding out for a “negotiated peace” which amounted to little more than a cease fire.
The U.S. bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, with its devastating new atomic weapon shocked the Japanese high command into realizing that America was capable of winning the war from the air without risking its ground troops. The bombing of Nagasaki three days later convinced them that it was indeed what the Allies planned to do. Nevertheless, it required the rare intervention of Emperor Hirohito to override his deadlocked Imperial Council and demand that Japan surrender.
Japan sent its offer of conditional surrender via shortwave radio at 7:36 a.m. ET on August 10th. Trade magazine Broadcasting reported that CBS opened its lines early and became the first network to broadcast the news six minutes later. The condition demanded by the Japanese was that Hirohito remain the empire’s head of state. Two days later U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes rejected the terms, demanding an unconditional surrender, but allowed that Hirohito could remain Japan’s ceremonial head of state.
No response was heard from Tokyo and conventional bombing of Japan resumed on August 13th while arguments raged within its Imperial Council whether to capitulate or fight on. America’s frustration with the delay can be heard in the voice of an otherwise typically positive Gabriel Heatter.
The war’s end was hastened by a bombing of a different kind a day later when a fleet of B-29’s showered Tokyo with leaflets describing the terms of unconditional surrender offered to Japan on August 12th. It was the first time that the war-weary Japanese public had learned of the surrender negotiations and most except the few remaining dedicated militants welcomed the news. Again, Hirohito called his Imperial Council into session and said, “I cannot endure the thought of letting my people suffer any longer”
Meanwhile, halfway around the world, NBC’s Max Jordan was about to break the biggest story of his career.
Neutral Switzerland brokered the surrender negotiations between the Allies and Japan. All communications between the combatants flowed through the Swiss. Once again - as he had been in Munich at the war’s start - Jordan was also on the spot at its finish. (1)
NBC News interrupted its soap opera Stella Dallas at 4:18 p.m. on August 14th for Jordan’s initial dispatch that the Japanese government’s coded message accepting surrender terms had been received in Berne. It’s a masterpiece of understated objectivity:
“Within approximately two hours from now the White House in Washington will have the complete transcribed facts of the Japanese reply to the last message of the Allies in relation to their demand of unconditional surrender. The general impression in Diplomatic Quarters (is) that Japan has accepted the terms of the Allies in principle and that the war is over.”
Those 60 words ignited the wildest celebration America had ever seen. The biggest of them all broke out in New York City’s Times Square as described by NBC’s Ben Grauer. Also posted are the comments of H.V. Kaltenborn summarizing the events.
CBS added to broadcasting's events of the day with a special 15-minute commemoration, Norman Corwin's Fourteen August, an often overlooked dramatic recitation by Orson Welles in a day of gleeful celebration.
Adding the Entertainment Industry's postscript was a special one hour episode of Armed Forces Radio's Command Performance I and Command Performance II.
Meanwhile, a broadcast of a different nature was being prepared in Tokyo for Emperor Hirohito to record for broadcast, announcing to the world Japan’s surrender to the allies. Some die-hard elements of the Japanese high command attempted to steal the recording and stage a coup but failed.
The Japanese people heard their leader’s voice on radio for the first time saying, “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage…” - an incredibly awkward way of admitting defeat and the loss of three million individuals of the country’s military and civilian population.
Two weeks later the battleship U.S.S. Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay for the official signing of peace documents. The signings took place on the deck of the ship at mid-morning on Sunday, September 2, 1945 - still late evening on September 1st in Washington.
President Truman addressed the ceremonies and the nation at 10:00 p.m. declaring the following day as V-J Day. The President’s nine minute speech registered a 46.8 Hooperating and was heard by an estimated audience of 35.5 Million.
World War II, which established radio as a vital form of 20th Century journalism, was over.
(1) Ironically, the outstanding war reporter became a man of peace. Max Jordan retired from NBC in 1947 at the age of 52. A PhD in religious philosophy, he became a Benedictine priest - a position in which he served for the remaining 31 years of his life.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
The end of World War II in the Pacific was nowhere near the shocking surprise as its beginning some 45 months earlier.
The United States, Great Britain and Soviet Union had agreed on Japan’s unconditional surrender terms at the two week Potsdam Conference that ended on August 2, 1945. The terms were hardly secret but had been formally issued to Japan through Swiss diplomatic channels.
Meanwhile, American intelligence had been able to intercept and decode Japan’s internal government communications for well over a year, so it was aware that some factions of the defeated country were holding out for a “negotiated peace” which amounted to little more than a cease fire.
The U.S. bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, with its devastating new atomic weapon shocked the Japanese high command into realizing that America was capable of winning the war from the air without risking its ground troops. The bombing of Nagasaki three days later convinced them that it was indeed what the Allies planned to do. Nevertheless, it required the rare intervention of Emperor Hirohito to override his deadlocked Imperial Council and demand that Japan surrender.
Japan sent its offer of conditional surrender via shortwave radio at 7:36 a.m. ET on August 10th. Trade magazine Broadcasting reported that CBS opened its lines early and became the first network to broadcast the news six minutes later. The condition demanded by the Japanese was that Hirohito remain the empire’s head of state. Two days later U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes rejected the terms, demanding an unconditional surrender, but allowed that Hirohito could remain Japan’s ceremonial head of state.
No response was heard from Tokyo and conventional bombing of Japan resumed on August 13th while arguments raged within its Imperial Council whether to capitulate or fight on. America’s frustration with the delay can be heard in the voice of an otherwise typically positive Gabriel Heatter.
The war’s end was hastened by a bombing of a different kind a day later when a fleet of B-29’s showered Tokyo with leaflets describing the terms of unconditional surrender offered to Japan on August 12th. It was the first time that the war-weary Japanese public had learned of the surrender negotiations and most except the few remaining dedicated militants welcomed the news. Again, Hirohito called his Imperial Council into session and said, “I cannot endure the thought of letting my people suffer any longer”
Meanwhile, halfway around the world, NBC’s Max Jordan was about to break the biggest story of his career.
Neutral Switzerland brokered the surrender negotiations between the Allies and Japan. All communications between the combatants flowed through the Swiss. Once again - as he had been in Munich at the war’s start - Jordan was also on the spot at its finish. (1)
NBC News interrupted its soap opera Stella Dallas at 4:18 p.m. on August 14th for Jordan’s initial dispatch that the Japanese government’s coded message accepting surrender terms had been received in Berne. It’s a masterpiece of understated objectivity:
“Within approximately two hours from now the White House in Washington will have the complete transcribed facts of the Japanese reply to the last message of the Allies in relation to their demand of unconditional surrender. The general impression in Diplomatic Quarters (is) that Japan has accepted the terms of the Allies in principle and that the war is over.”
Those 60 words ignited the wildest celebration America had ever seen. The biggest of them all broke out in New York City’s Times Square as described by NBC’s Ben Grauer. Also posted are the comments of H.V. Kaltenborn summarizing the events.
CBS added to broadcasting's events of the day with a special 15-minute commemoration, Norman Corwin's Fourteen August, an often overlooked dramatic recitation by Orson Welles in a day of gleeful celebration.
Adding the Entertainment Industry's postscript was a special one hour episode of Armed Forces Radio's Command Performance I and Command Performance II.
Meanwhile, a broadcast of a different nature was being prepared in Tokyo for Emperor Hirohito to record for broadcast, announcing to the world Japan’s surrender to the allies. Some die-hard elements of the Japanese high command attempted to steal the recording and stage a coup but failed.
The Japanese people heard their leader’s voice on radio for the first time saying, “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage…” - an incredibly awkward way of admitting defeat and the loss of three million individuals of the country’s military and civilian population.
Two weeks later the battleship U.S.S. Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay for the official signing of peace documents. The signings took place on the deck of the ship at mid-morning on Sunday, September 2, 1945 - still late evening on September 1st in Washington.
President Truman addressed the ceremonies and the nation at 10:00 p.m. declaring the following day as V-J Day. The President’s nine minute speech registered a 46.8 Hooperating and was heard by an estimated audience of 35.5 Million.
World War II, which established radio as a vital form of 20th Century journalism, was over.
(1) Ironically, the outstanding war reporter became a man of peace. Max Jordan retired from NBC in 1947 at the age of 52. A PhD in religious philosophy, he became a Benedictine priest - a position in which he served for the remaining 31 years of his life.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
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