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Douglas MacArthur. Typescript signed ("Douglas MacArthur") of radio broadcast regarding the surrender of Japan....
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Description
Douglas MacArthur. Typescript signed ("Douglas MacArthur") of radio broadcast regarding the surrender of Japan. 2 pages, (8 x 10.5 inches), no place [but Tokyo], [circa September 2, 1945]. On "Office of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces" Letterhead. Upper left corner of page two with staple hole. Staple still present on page one. Both pages are lightly toned and the lower right corner of page one shows small water spots. Small foxing spot above MacArthur's signature. Three pieces of tape attachment at top edge of verso. Paper a bit thin at top edge of page two, presumably from removal of a fourth piece of tape.General Douglas MacArthur addresses the American people following the surrender of Japan.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Just three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 15, a recorded speech by Japanese Emperor Hirohito was played over the radio announcing the unconditional surrender of Japan. The formal surrender occurred two weeks later, on the morning of September 2, when Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces overseeing the Allied occupation of Japan, accepted the surrender and afterward broadcast a message to the American people.
This document, addressed to "My Fellow Countrymen," is the full transcript of MacArthur's radio broadcast, signed at the conclusion in blue ink. Here he discusses the end of the war and outlines his plan for the rebuilding of a new Japan, with his success in the Philippines as his guide.
More Information: It reads, in full:
"Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death -- the seas bear only commerce -- men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace. The Holy Mission has been completed. And in reporting this to you, the people, I speak for the thousands of silent lips, forever stilled among the jungles and the beaches and in the deep waters of the Pacific which marked the way. I speak for the unnamed brave millions homeward- bound to take up the challenge of that future which they did so much to salvage from the brink of disaster.
"As I look back on the long, tortuous trail from those grim days of Bataan and Corregidor, when an entire world lived in fear; when democracy was on the defensive everywhere, when modern civilization trembled in the balance, I thank a merciful God that He has given us the faith, the courage, and the power from which to mould [sic] victory. We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. We must go forward to preserve in Peace what we won in War.
"A new era is upon us. Even the lesson of Victory itself brings with it profound concern, both for our future security, and the survival of civilization. The destructiveness of the War potential, through progressive advances in scientific discovery, has in fact now reached a point which revises the traditional concepts of War.
"Men since the beginning of time have sought Peace. Various methods through the ages have attempted, to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start, workable methods were found insofar as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of War. The utter destructiveness of war now blots out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system Armageddon will be at our door. The problem, basically, is theological, and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.
"We stand in Tokyo today, reminiscent of our countryman, Commodore Perry, ninety-two years ago. His purpose was to bring to Japan an era of enlightenment and progress, by lifting the veil of isolation to the friendship, trade and commerce of the world. But, alas, the knowledge thereby gained of Western science was forged into an instrument of oppression and human enslavement. Freedom of expression, freedom of action, even freedom of thought were denied through suppression of liberal education, through appeal to superstition, and through the application of force. We are committed by the Potsdam Declaration of Principles to see that the Japanese people are liberated from this condition of slavery. It is my purpose to implement this commitment just as rapidly as the armed forces are demobilized, and other essential steps taken to neutralize the war potential. The energy of the Japanese race, if properly directed, will enable expansion vertically, rather than horizontally. If the talents of the race are turned into constructive channels, the county can lift itself from its present deplorable state into a position of dignity.
"To the Pacific basin has come the vista of a new emancipated world. Today, freedom is on the offensive; democracy is on the march. Today, in Asia, as well as in Europe, unshackled peoples are tasting the full sweetness of liberty; the relief from fear.
"In the Philippines, America has evolved a model for this new free world of Asia. In the Philippines, America has demonstrated that peoples of the East and peoples of the West may walk side by side in mutual respect and with mutual benefit. The history of our sovereignty there has now the full confidence of the East.
"And so, my fellow countrymen, today I report to you that your sons and daughters have served you well and faithfully, with the calm, deliberate, determined fighting spirit of the American soldier and sailor, based upon a tradition of historical trait, as against the fanaticism of an enemy supported only by mythological fiction. Their spiritual strength and power has brought us through to victory. They are homeward bound -- take care of them."
Auction Info
2022 May 7 Treasures from the Melvin "Pete" Mark, Jr. Collection Signature® Auction #6256 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
May, 2022
7th
Saturday
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