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Japanese Surrender Address Signed By Douglas MacArthur, 

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Japanese Surrender Address Signed By Douglas MacArthur, 

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Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
4pp, 7.25 x 10.5" "onionskin" sheets, signed Douglas MacArthur on last page and stamped in red Sep. 2 1945. MacArthur's address was delivered aboard the USS Missouri before the Japanese surrender ceremony of the above date. 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 wal upright in the sunlight. The entire world lies 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.

...Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods ...have attempted todevise[sic] an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations....Military alliances, balance of power, Leagues of Nations all turn failed, leaving the lony[sic- only] path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war now blots out this alternative....If we do not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem is basically theological... It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.

MacArthur then likens the situation in Tokyo harbor to that of Perry nearly a century earlier. ...We are committed by the potsdam[sic] Declaration of Principles to see that the Japanese people are liberated from this condition of slavery....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 contry can lift itself...into a position of dignity....And so my fellow countrymen, today I report yo[sic] you that your sons and daughters have served you well and faithfully.... They are homeward bound - take care of them.

Indeed many historians see MacArthur's greatest contribution to history as the next five years in his management of the rebuilding of Japan. He left Emperor Hirohito in place, providing the people with a rallying point (and demonstrating that the Allies were not out to obliterate Japan). Of course, Japan has become one of the world's strongest industrial powers and one of America's strongest allies. 

Condition: Excellent.