The Final Storm - Jeff Shaara [233]
The Japanese government is ready to accept the terms enumerated in the joint declaration that was issued at Potsdam, July 26, 1945, by the heads of government of the United States, Great Britain and China, and later subscribed to by the Soviet government, with the understanding that said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a sovereign ruler. The Japanese government hopes sincerely that this understanding is warranted and desires keenly that an explicit indication to that effect will be speedily forthcoming.
Truman realized that the Japanese were balancing their conditions solely on the survival of their emperor and his full authority over the Japanese people. After consultations with his own cabinet and military leaders, Truman accepted the Japanese terms, so long as the Japanese government abided specifically by the Potsdam Declaration. The one fly in the ointment came from the Soviets, who, since they were now officially one of the combatants, added a last-second clause in the agreement that the Japanese would have to formally surrender to a representative of both the American and Soviet governments, as though to symbolize that victory had been achieved by the blood and toil of both nations equally. The maneuver was blatantly transparent, since Soviet troops were already galloping through Manchuria with virtually no opposition, seizing territory that Truman knew would be as impossible to pry loose from Stalin’s hands as the territories he now controlled in Eastern Europe. Truman’s response was definite and negative, though of course the language that was transmitted to the Soviets was couched in diplomatic niceties. Privately Truman had his own description of Stalin’s ploy. After only one day’s participation in the war against an enemy that for fifteen years had brutalized and massacred their way through Asia and the Pacific, Stalin expected to become a full partner in the spoils. Truman’s response, stripped of its diplomacy, was a firm rebuke, otherwise best stated as “nice try.”
OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
AUGUST 14, 1945, 7 P.M.
Most of his cabinet was in place, the members of the press corps squeezing in as best they could. Truman waited patiently behind his desk, would allow the microphones to be placed correctly, checked and double-checked, wanted no one left out. To one side he saw Bess, nervous, looked at her with a smile, a small nod, tried to reassure her with a gentle gesture, thought, she’s as nervous as I am, and I’m about to drill myself through this floor. Don’t show it though. This is one of those, well … perfect moments.
The room seemed to settle down, the guards at the door motioning to him that no one remained outside. He stood now, saw his wife jump, flinching, and he smiled again, tried to calm her from the short distance between them, but there was no time now for levity.
“I should like to read to you a message received this afternoon from the Japanese government in reply to the message forwarded to that government by the secretary of state on August eleventh. I deem this reply a full acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration which specifies the unconditional surrender of Japan.”
There was much more, but through the room he could already feel the surge of energy, the thought flickering through him once more. Yes, a perfect moment. The war is over.
33.