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Author Topic: The japanese surrender of 1945. This is how we do business.  (Read 948 times)

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Offline Flyin6

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A FASCINATING
PIECE OF HISTORY

 
Why did the US choose a US Navy Iowa-class battleship as the location for
Japan's surrender in World War 2 even though they were in Tokyo Bay
and could have used a building on land? Pure symbolism. Nothing says
"you're utterly defeated" than having to board the enemy's massive battleship in the waters
of your own capital city.

A naval vessel is considered sovereign territory for the purposes of accepting a
surrender. You just don't get that if you borrow a ceremonial space from the host country. In addition,
the Navy originally wanted the USS South Dakota to be the surrender site. It was President Truman who changed
it to USS Missouri, Missouri being Truman's home state.

The Japanese delegation had to travel across water to the Missouri, which sat at the center of a huge US fleet. It's a bit like those movie scenes where someone enters a big-wig's office, and the big-wig is sat silhouetted at the end of a long room,
behind a massive desk. The appellant has to walk all the way to that desk along a featureless space, feeling
small, exposed, vulnerable and comparatively worthless before the mogul enthroned in dramatic lighting before
him. By the time he gets there the great speech he had prepared is reduced to a muttered sentence or
two.

In addition, the USS Missouri flew the flag of Commodore Perry's 19th century gun-boat diplomacy mission that opened the closeted Edo-era Japan to the world and forced upon them the Meiji restoration which ended the rule of the samurai class. The symbolism here is pretty clear - "this is how we want you to be, and remember what happens to countries that defy us." It was particularly humiliating for a proud country like Japan, and that was entirely the
point.

The symbolism of the ceremony was even greater than that. The ship was anchored at the
precise latitude/longitude recorded in Perry's log during his 1845 visit, symbolizing the purpose of both
visits to open Japan to the West. Perry's original flag was also present, having been flown all the way
from the Naval Academy for the ceremony.
 
When the Japanese delegation came aboard, they were forced to use an accommodation
way (stairs) situated just forward of turret #1. The freeboard (distance between the
ship's deck and the water line) there makes the climb about twice as long as if it had been set up
farther aft, where the freeboard of the ship is less. NOTE: This was even more of an issue for the Japanese
surrender party as the senior member, Foreign Affairs Minister Shigemitsu, was crippled by an assassination
attempt in 1932, losing his right leg in the process.
 
The #1 and #2 turrets had been traversed about 20 degrees to starboard. The ostensible
reason for this was to get the turret overhangs out of the way to create more room for the ceremony on the
starboard veranda deck, but in fact this would have only required traversing turret #2 had it been the real
reason. However, the turret position also put the gun tubes directly over the heads of the Japanese. They
were literally boarding the ship "under the gun”.
 
The honor guard of US sailors (side boys) were all hand-picked to be over six feet
tall, a further intimidation of the short-statured Japanese. The surrender documents themselves, one copy
for the Allies and one for the Japanese contained identical English-language texts, but the
Allied copy was bound in good quality leather, while the Japanese copy was bound with light canvas whose
stitching looked like it had been done by a drunken tailor using kite string.
 
After the signing ceremony, the Japanese delegation was not invited for tea and
cookies; they were shuffled off the ship as an Allied air armada of
over 400 aircraft flew overhead as a final reminder that American forces
still had the ability to continue fighting should the Japanese have second thoughts
on surrender.

Now you know………
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Offline JR

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Re: The japanese surrender of 1945. This is how we do business.
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2019, 11:35:20 PM »
 :likebutton:
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Offline cj7ox

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Re: The japanese surrender of 1945. This is how we do business.
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2019, 03:52:46 AM »
 :beercheers:
~Sean M. Davis

“The citizens of a free state ought to consist of those only who bear arms.” ~Aristotle

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Offline Flyin6

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Re: The japanese surrender of 1945. This is how we do business.
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2019, 09:03:15 AM »
We don't start em'

But we know how to finish em' in style!
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Offline Superwhdm

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Re: The japanese surrender of 1945. This is how we do business.
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2019, 07:06:14 PM »
Thanks Don, this was a great read. I love the tact that used. All of dripping with symbolism. This should be used more today. The balls that hung then don’t seem to be around much these days.
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Offline Flyin6

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Re: The japanese surrender of 1945. This is how we do business.
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2019, 11:04:51 AM »
Thanks Don, this was a great read. I love the tact that used. All of dripping with symbolism. This should be used more today. The balls that hung then don’t seem to be around much these days.
Well I say for our sphere of influence and for those we can influence. lets change things up. Leaders can have far reaching effect...Jesus was a leader...
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