Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

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Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions, remove all

Nazi and militarist influences from public office and from

the cultural and economic life of the German people; and

take in harmony such other measures in Germany as may

be necessary to the future peace and safety of the world. It

is not our purpose to destroy the people of Germany, but

only when Nazism and militarism have been extirpated will

there be hope for a decent life for Germans, and a place

for them in the comity of Nations.

Reparation by Germany

We have considered the question of the damage caused by

Germany to the Allied Nations in this war and recognized

it as just that Germany be obliged to make compensation

for this damage in kind to the greatest extent possible. A

commission for the compensation of damage will be estab-

lished. The commission will be instructed to consider the

question of the extent and methods for compensating

damage caused by Germany to the Allied countries. The

commission will work in Moscow.

United Nations Conference

We are resolved upon the earliest possible establishment

with our allies of a general international organization to

maintain peace and security. We believe that this is essen-

tial, both to prevent aggression and to remove the political,

economic, and social causes of war through the close and

continuing collaboration of all peace-loving peoples.

The foundations were laid at Dumbarton Oaks. On

the important question of voting procedure, however,

agreement was not there reached. The present Confer-

ence has been able to resolve this difficulty.

We have agreed that a conference of United Nations

should be called to meet at San Francisco in the United

States on April 25, 1945, to prepare the charter of such an

organization, along the lines proposed in the informal con-

versations at Dumbarton Oaks.

The Government of China and the Provisional Gov-

ernment of France will be immediately consulted and

invited to sponsor invitations to the conference jointly with

the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and

the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. As soon as the

consultation with China and France has been completed,

the next of the proposals on voting procedure will be made

public.

Declaration on Liberated Europe

The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,

the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Pres-

ident of the United States of America have consulted with

each other in the common interests of the peoples of their

countries and those of liberated Europe. They jointly

declare their mutual agreement to concert during the tem-

porary period of instability in liberated Europe the policies

of their three Governments in assisting the peoples liber-

ated from the domination of Nazi Germany and the peo-

ples of the former Axis satellite states of Europe to solve by

democratic means their pressing political and economic

problems.

The establishment of order in Europe and the

rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by

processes which will enable the liberated peoples to

destroy the last vestiges of Nazism and Fascism and to cre-

ate democratic institutions of their own choice. This is a

principle of the Atlantic Charter—the right of all peoples

to choose the form of government under which they will

live—the restoration of sovereign rights and self-govern-

ment to those peoples who have been forcibly deprived of

them by the aggressor Nations.

To foster the conditions in which the liberated peoples

may exercise these rights, the three Governments will

jointly assist the people in any European liberated state or

former Axis satellite state in Europe where in their judg-

ment conditions require (a) to establish conditions of inter-

nal peace; (b) to carry out emergency measures for the

relief of distressed peoples; (c) to form interim govern-

mental authorities broadly representative of all democratic

elements in the population and pledged to the earliest pos-

sible establishment through free elections of governments

responsive to the will of the people; and (d) to facilitate

where necessary the holding of such elections.

The three Governments will consult the other United

Nations and provisional authorities or other Governments

in Europe when matters of direct interest to them are

under consideration.

When, in the opinion of the three Governments, con-

ditions in any European liberated state or any former Axis

satellite state in Europe make such action necessary, they

will immediately consult together on the measures neces-

sary to discharge the joint responsibilities set forth in this

declaration.

By this declaration we reaffirm our faith in the princi-

ples of the Atlantic Charter, our pledge in the declaration

by the United Nations, and our determination to build in

cooperation with other peace-loving Nations world order

under law, dedicated to peace, security, freedom, and gen-

eral well-being of all mankind.

In issuing this declaration, the three powers express

the hope that the Provisional Government of the French

Republic may be associated with them in the procedure

suggested.

Poland

A new situation has been created in Poland as a result of

her complete liberation by the Red Army. This calls for the

establishment of a Polish provisional government which

1452 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

can be more broadly based than was possible before the

recent liberation of western Poland. The provisional gov-

ernment which is now functioning in Poland should there-

fore be reorganized on a broader democratic basis with the

inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and

from Poles abroad. This new government should then be

called the Polish Provisional Government of National

Unity.

M. Molotov, Mr. Harriman, and Sir A. Clark Kerr are

authorized as a commission to consult in the first instance

in Moscow with members of the present provisional gov-

ernment and with other Polish democratic leaders from

within Poland and from abroad, with a view to the reorga-

nization of the present government along the above lines.

This Polish Provisional Government of National Unity

shall be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elec-

tions as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage

and secret ballot. In these elections all democratic anti-

Nazi parties shall have the right to take part and to put for-

ward candidates.

When a Polish Provisional Government of National

Unity has been properly formed in conformity with the

above, the Government of the U.S.S.R., which now main-

tains diplomatic relations with the present provisional gov-

ernment of Poland, and the Government of the United

Kingdom and the Government of the U.S.A. will establish

diplomatic relations with the new Polish Provisional Gov-

ernment of National Unity, and will exchange ambassadors

by whose reports the respective Governments will be kept

informed about the situation in Poland.

The three heads of government consider that the

eastern frontier of Poland should follow the Curzon line

with digressions from it in some regions of five to eight

kilometers in favor of Poland. They recognized that

Poland must receive substantial accessions of territory in

the North and West. They feel that the opinion of the

new Polish Provisional Government of National Unity

should be sought in due course on the extent of these

accessions and that the final delimitation of the western

frontier of Poland should thereafter await the peace con-

ference.

Yugoslavia

We have agreed to recommend to Marshal Tito and Dr.

Subasic that the agreement between them should be put

into effect immediately, and that a new government should

be formed on the basis of that agreement.

We also recommend that as soon as the new govern-

ment has been formed it should declare that:

1. The anti-Fascist Assembly of National Liberation

(Avnoj) should be extended to include members of the last

Yugoslav Parliament (Skupschina) who have not compro-

mised themselves by collaboration with the enemy, thus

forming a body to be known as a temporary Parliament;

and,

2. Legislative acts passed by the anti-Fascist Assembly

of National Liberation will be subject to subsequent ratifi-

cation by a constituent assembly.

There was also a general review of other Balkan ques-

tions.

Meetings of Foreign Secretaries

Throughout the Conference, besides the daily meetings of

the heads of governments and the Foreign Secretaries,

separate meetings of the three Foreign Secretaries, and

their advisers have also been held daily.

These meetings have proved of the utmost value and

the Conference agreed that permanent machinery should

be set up for regular consultation between the three

Foreign Secretaries. They will, therefore, meet as often

as may be necessary, probably about every three or

four months. These meetings will be held in rotation in

the three capitals, the first meeting being held in Lon-

don, after the United Nations Conference on World

Organization.

Unity for Peace as for War

Our meeting here in the Crimea has reaffirmed our com-

mon determination to maintain and strengthen in the

peace to come that unity of purpose and of action which

has made victory possible and certain for the United

Nations in this war. We believe that this is a sacred obliga-

tion which our Governments owe to our peoples and to all

the peoples of the world.

Only with the continuing and growing cooperation

and understanding among our three countries and among

all the peace-loving Nations can the highest aspiration of

humanity be realized—a secure and lasting peace which

will, in the words of the Atlantic Charter, “afford assurance

that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in

freedom from fear and want.”

Victory in this war and establishment of the proposed

international organization will provide the greatest oppor-

tunity in all history to create in the years to come the

essential conditions of such a peace.

Source:

Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Papers of the Presidents of the

United States. New York: Random House, 1938–50.

Act of Chapultepec, 1945

Agreement signed by 21 American republics on March 3,

1945, during the Inter-American Conference on Problems of

War and Peace held at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City.

World War II at Home and Abroad 1453

On December 24, 1938, in Lima, Peru, at an Inter-

American conference, these American states had agreed to

defend American principles against foreign intervention. In

case of any threat to their peace, security, or territorial integrity,

foreign ministers should meet for consultation. This act reaf-

firmed decisions already reached in a similar conference at

Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936. At Lima, the United States

had wanted a more potent declaration of unity in the Western

Hemisphere, to oppose totalitarian Germany and Italy and oth-

ers. However, for much of World War II, which began in 1939,

some South American countries sympathized with Germany.

On April 14, 1939, Pan-American Day, President Franklin

D. Roosevelt proclaimed the solidarity of the American

nations against outside attack, whether military or economic,

and at the same time recognized the interrelationship between

the New World and the Old. Roosevelt declared that the

United States was prepared to defend the sovereignty and

independence of “the American family of nations.” He also

stated: “The truest defense of the peace of our hemisphere

must always lie in the hope that our sister nations beyond the

seas will break the bonds . . . of perpetual warfare.” Five

months later, a further declaration was issued at the Pan-

American Conference on Neutrality, held in Panama from

September 23 to October 3, 1939. It stated that the American

republics would create a safety zone around the hemisphere,

exclusive of Canada (part of the British Empire), which was to

present a united front against aggressors. In this zone, varying

from 250 miles to 1,250 miles in width, no aggressor would be

permitted to commit a hostile act. The area would be policed

by the navies of the United States and the Latin American

countries. The declaration, however, quickly became ineffec-

tive, as it was violated in the fighting between German and

British warships. In January 1940 Great Britain and Germany

refused to recognize the zone.

The 1945 agreement provided for common action against

an aggressor from without or within the Western Hemisphere

(World War II was still in progress). The act proclaimed that an

attack against any American state would be considered an act

of aggression against all, thus calling for collective action

against the aggressor. A turning point in the development of

inter-American relations, the Act of Chapultepec expanded the

Monroe Doctrine’s unilateral guarantee against intervention in

the hemisphere into a mutual security system, and for the first

time it included provisions that would ban aggression by one

American state against another.

________________________

_______________________

DECLARATION on Reciprocal Assistance and American

Solidarity by the Governments Represented at the Inter-

American Conference on War and Peace Whereas:

(1) The peoples of the Americas, animated by a pro-

found love of justice, remain sincerely devoted to the prin-

ciples of international law:

(2) It is their desire that such principles, notwith-

standing the present difficult circumstances, may prevail

with greater force in future international relations:

(3) The Inter-American Conferences have repeat-

edly proclaimed certain fundamental principles, but

these must be reaffirmed and proclaimed at a time when

the juridical bases of the community of nations are being

established:

(4) The new situation in the world makes more imper-

ative than ever the union and solidarity of the American

peoples, for the defense of their rights and the mainte-

nance of international peace:

(5) The American States have been incorporating in

their international law, since 1890, by means of con-

ventions, resolutions and declarations, the following prin-

ciples:

(a) The prescription of territorial conquest and the

non-recognition of all acquisitions made by force (First

International Conference of American States, 1890).

(b) The condemnation of intervention by a State in the

internal or external affairs of another (Seventh Interna-

tional Conference of American States, 1933, and Inter-

American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace,

1936).

affects directly or indirectly all civilized peoples, and

endangers the great principles of liberty and justice which

constitute the American ideal and the standard of its inter-

national policy (Inter-American Conference for the Main-

tenance of Peace, 1936).

(d) The procedure of mutual consultation in order to

find means of peaceful co-operation in the event of war

or threat of war between American countries (Inter-

American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace,

1936).

(e) The recognition that every act susceptible of dis-

turbing the peace of America affects each and every one of

them and justifies the initiation of the procedure of con-

sultation (Inter-American Conference for the Mainte-

nance of Peace, 1936).

(f) That any difference or dispute between the Amer-

ican nations, whatever its nature or origin, shall be settled

by the methods of conciliation, or unrestricted arbitration,

or through the operation of international justice (Inter-

American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace,

1936).

(g) The recognition that respect for the personality,

sovereignty and independence of each American State

constitutes the essence of international order sustained by

continental solidarity, which historically has been

expressed and sustained by declarations and treaties in

force (Eighth International Conference of American

States, 1938).

1454 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

(h) The affirmation that respect for and the faithful

observance of treaties constitutes the indispensable rule

for the development of peaceful relations between States,

and treaties can only be revised by agreement of the con-

tracting parties (Declaration of American Principles,

Eighth International Conference of American States,

1938).

(i) That in case the peace, security or territorial

integrity of any American republic is threatened by acts of

any nature that may impair them, they proclaim their com-

mon concern and their determination to make effective

their solidarity, co-ordinating their respective sovereign

will by means of the procedure of consultation, using the

measures which in each case the circumstances may make

advisable (Declaration of Lima, Eighth International Con-

ference of American States, 1938).

(j) That any attempt on the part of a non-American

State against the integrity or inviolability of the territory,

the sovereignty or the political independence of an Amer-

ican State be considered as an act of aggression against all

the American States (Declaration of the Second Meeting

of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Habana, 1940).

(6) The furtherance of these principles, which the

American States have practiced in order to secure peace

and solidarity between the nations of the continent, con-

stitutes an effective means of contributing to the general

system of world security and of facilitating its establish-

ment: and

(7) The security and solidarity of the continent are

affected to the same extent by an act of aggression against

of the American States by a non-American State, as by an

American State against one or more American States.

Part I. Declaration.

The Government Represented at the Inter-American Con-

ference on War and Peace Declare:

First. That all sovereign States are juridically equal

amongst themselves.

Second. That every State has the right to the respect

of its individuality and independence, on the part of the

other members of the international community.

Third. That every attack of a State against the integrity

or the inviolability of territory, or against the sovereignty or

political independence of an American State, shall, con-

formably to Part III hereof, be considered as an act of

aggression against the other States which sign this declara-

tion. In any case, invasion by armed forces of one State

into the territory of another trespassing boundaries estab-

lished by treaty and demarcated in accordance there with

shall constitute an act of aggression.

Fourth. That in case acts of aggression occur or there

may be reasons to believe that an aggression is being

prepared by any other State against the integrity and

inviolability of territory, or against the sovereignty or

political independence of an American State, the States

signatory to this declaration will consult amongst them-

selves in order to agree upon measures it may be advis-

able to take.

Fifth. That during the war, and until the treaty recom-

mended in Part II hereof is concluded, the signatories of

this declaration recognize that such threats and acts of

aggression as indicated paragraphs Third and Fourth

above constitute an interference with the war effort of the

United Nations, calling for such procedures, within the

scope of their constitutional powers of a general nature

and for war, as may be found necessary, including:

recall of chiefs of diplomatic missions; breaking of

diplomatic relations; breaking of consular relations; break-

ing of postal, telegraphic, telephonic, radiotelephonic rela-

tions; interruption of economic, commercial and financial

relations; use of armed force to prevent or repeal aggres-

sion.

Sixth. That the principles and procedure contained in

this declaration shall become effective immediately, inas-

much as any act of aggression or threat of aggression dur-

ing the present state of war interferes with the war effort

of the United Nations to obtain victory. Henceforth, and

with the view that the principles and procedure herein

stipulated shall conform with the constitutional principles

of each republic, the respective Governments shall take

the necessary steps to perfect this instrument on order that

it shall be in force at all times.

Part II. Recommendation.

The Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and

Peace Recommends:

That for the purpose of meeting threats or acts of

aggression against any American republic following the

establishment of peace, the Governments of the American

republics should consider the conclusion, in accordance

with their constitutional processes, of a treaty establishing

procedures whereby such threats or acts may be met by:

The use, by all or some of the signatories of said treaty

of any one or more of the following measures:

recall of chiefs of diplomatic missions; breaking of

diplomatic relations; breaking of consular relations; break-

ing of postal, telegraphic, telephonic, radiotelephonic rela-

tions; interruption of economic, commercial and financial

relations; use of armed force to prevent or repeal aggres-

sion.

Part III.

This declaration and recommendation provide for a

regional arrangement for dealing with matters relating to

the maintenance of international peace and security as are

appropriate for regional action in this hemisphere and said

World War II at Home and Abroad 1455

arrangements and the activities and procedures referred to

therein shall be consistent with the purposes and princi-

ples of the general international organization, when estab-

lished. This declaration and recommendation shall be

known as the Act of Chapultepec.

The regional treaty mentioned in Part III was signed

on Sept. 2, 1947 and is known as the Inter-American

Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance.

Source:

Landmark Documents in American History, Facts On File, Inc.

Germany’s Surrender in

World War II, 1945

Instrument of unconditional surrender of Germany signed in

Rheims, France, at a little red schoolhouse, the forward com-

mand post of SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters of the Allied

Expeditionary Force, or AEF), on May 7, 1945, by Colonel

General Alfred Jodl, chief of staff of the German army; U.S.

lieutenant general Walter B. Smith, for the Supreme Allied

Command; General François Savez, for the commander of

French forces of the AEF; and General Ivan Susloparov, for the

Russian High Command. It provided for an end to German

hostilities in World War II. The document specified the uncon-

ditional surrender of all German forces to the Supreme Allied

Command and the Russian High Command; that all forces

remain in their present positions; that the German High Com-

mand issue a cease-fire at 12:01

. on May 9, 1945; that the

German High Command obey all orders issued by U.S. gen-

eral Dwight D. Eisenhower (supreme commander of the AEF)

or the Russian High Command; and that, in the event of Ger-

man noncompliance with the terms of surrender, the Allies

would “take such punitive or other action as they deem appro-

priate.”

The United States and West Germany formally ended a

state of war between them August 2, 1951. However, this doc-

ument was not a formal peace treaty as long as Germany was

divided; the Western Allies agreed that only with a united Ger-

many could there be a true “peaceful settlement.” Under the

contract, the Allies ended their military occupation, but they

reserved their military rights in West Germany. The Bonn gov-

ernment gained almost complete control over its internal

affairs. . . . The Allies also pledged to defend West Berlin in a

cover letter to the contract.

________________________

_______________________

Act of Military Surrender

1. We the undersigned, acting by authority of the Ger-

man High Command, hereby surrender unconditionally to

the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force and

simultaneously to the Soviet High Command all forces on

land, sea, and in the air who are at this date under German

control.

2. The German High Command will at once issue

orders to all German military, naval and air authorities and

to all forces under German control to cease active opera-

tions at 2301 hours Central European time on 8 May and

to remain in the positions occupied at that time. No ship,

vessel, or aircraft is to be scuttled, or any damage done to

their hull, machinery or equipment.

3. The German High Command will at once issue to

the appropriate commanders, and ensure the carrying out

of any further orders issued by the Supreme Commander,

Allied Expeditionary Force and by the Soviet High Com-

mand.

4. This act of military surrender is without prejudice

to, and will be superseded by any general instrument of

surrender imposed by, or on behalf of the United Nations

and applicable to Germany and the German armed forces

as a whole.

5. In the event of the German High Command or any

of the forces under their control failing to act in accor-

dance with this Act of Surrender, the Supreme Comman-

der, Allied Expeditionary Force and the Soviet High

Command will take such punitive or other action as they

deem appropriate.

Signed at Rheims France at 0241 on the 7th day of

May, 1945.

Source:

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.

Harry S. Truman, Announcement of the

Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, 1945

Statement issued on August 6, 1945, announcing that the

United States had dropped a single atomic bomb on the

Japanese city of Hiroshima earlier that day. Truman described

the bomb as a revolutionary new force for destruction, har-

nessing the basic power of the universe and having more force

than 20,000 tons of TNT. More than 70,000 people were

killed. Truman warned that if the Japanese continued to refuse

to surrender unconditionally, “they may expect a rain of ruin

from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this

earth.” On August 9, the United States dropped a second

atomic bomb, on Nagasaki. In his statement, Truman also

promised to establish a commission to control the production

and use of atomic power within the United States.

Truman justified using the bomb, to prevent prolonging

the war and to save the lives of Americans fighting in the

Pacific (the European phase of the war had already ended).

1456 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

Even at the time, using the bomb was controversial. The atom

bomb project had been spurred by a letter written over Albert

Einstein’s signature but probably drafted by Hungarian-born

refugee physicist Leo Szilard. Dated August 2, 1939, the letter

warned of the possibility that Germany was trying to construct

a new type of extremely powerful bomb derived from nuclear

chain reactions in a large mass of uranium. Such a bomb,

according to the letter, could destroy an entire port and sur-

rounding territory. It urged the United States to speed up its

experimental work. Einstein later considered his recommen-

dation to build an atomic bomb to be “the great mistake” of

his life.

On June 11, 1945, seven distinguished scientists, led by

German-born American physicist and Nobel laureate James

Franck, issued a report to the U.S. secretary of war urging the

United States to refrain from using atomic weapons against

Japan. Nuclear power, they wrote, “is fraught with infinitely

greater dangers than were all the inventions of the past.” Warn-

ing that use of a new weapon of indiscriminate destruction

against civilians would cost the U.S. support of other nations

and would precipitate a nuclear arms race, the report urged a

demonstration of the atomic bomb, before representatives of the

United Nations, on a desert or barren island, to pressure Japan

into surrendering during World War II. The report also proposed

an international agreement to prevent nuclear warfare.

In recent years a controversy has raged among historians

and between historians and veterans over why Truman really

used the bomb, and whether either the Hiroshima or Nagasaki

bomb was justified. Veterans, especially those who had been

stationed in the Pacific, supported the use of the bomb. So did

historians who hold that Japan would not have surrendered

otherwise. Those opposing Truman’s decision believe that his

major reason was to demonstrate American power to the Rus-

sians, then our ally, but already identified by many in govern-

ment as a future enemy. The controversy flourished quite

publically in response to a proposed exhibit at the Smithson-

ian Institution about the first atomic bombs. A recapitulation of

the controversy with an emphasis on the veteran’s arguments

is available at <www.afa.org/media/enolagay>.

________________________

_______________________

Sixteen Hours Ago an American airplane dropped one

bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base.

That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It

had more than two thousand times the blast power of the

British “Grand Slam” which is the largest bomb ever yet

used in the history of warfare.

The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Har-

bor. They have been repaid many fold. And the end is not

yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revo-

lutionary increase in destruction to supplement the grow-

ing power of our armed forces. In their present form these

bombs are now in production and even more powerful

forms are in development.

It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic

power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws

its power has been loosed against those who brought war

to the Far East.

Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists

that it was theoretically possible to release atomic energy.

But no one knew any practical method of doing it. By

1942, however, we knew that the Germans were working

feverishly to find a way to add atomic energy to the other

engines of war with which they hoped to enslave the world.

But they failed. We may be grateful to Providence that the

Germans got the V-1’s and V-2’s late and in limited quanti-

ties and even more grateful that they did not get the

atomic bomb at all.

The battle of the laboratories held fateful risks for us

as well as the battles of the air, land and sea, and we have

now won the battle of the laboratories as we have won the

other battles.

Beginning in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, scientific

knowledge useful in war was pooled between the United

States and Great Britain, and many priceless helps to

our victories have come from that arrangement. Under

that general policy the research on the atomic bomb

was begun. With American and British scientists work-

ing together we entered the race of discovery against the

Germans.

The United States had available the large number of

scientists of distinction in the many needed areas of knowl-

edge. It had the tremendous industrial and financial

resources necessary for the project and they could be

devoted to it without undue impairment of other vital war

work. In the United States the laboratory work and the pro-

duction plants, on which a substantial start had already

been made, would be out of reach of enemy bombing,

while at that time Britain was exposed to constant air attack

and was still threatened with the possibility of invasion. For

these reasons Prime Minister Churchill and President Roo-

sevelt agreed that it was wise to carry on the project here.

We now have two great plants and many lesser works

devoted to the production at atomic power. Employment

during peak construction numbered 125,000 and 65,000

individuals are even now engaged in operating the plants.

Many have worked there for two and a half years. Few

know what they have been producing. They see great quan-

tities of material going in and they see nothing coming out

of these plants, for the physical size of the explosive charge

is exceedingly small. We have spent two billion dollars on

the greatest scientific gamble in history—and won.

But the greatest marvel is not the size of the enter-

prise, its secrecy, nor its cost, but the achievement of sci-

World War II at Home and Abroad 1457

entific brains in putting together infinitely complex pieces

of knowledge held by many men in different fields of sci-

ence into a workable plan. And hardly less marvelous has

been the capacity of industry to design, and of labor to

operate, the machines and methods to do things never

done before so that the brain child of many minds came

forth in physical shape and performed as it was supposed

to do. Both science and industry worked under the direc-

tion of the United States Army, which achieved a unique

success in managing so diverse a problem in the advance-

ment of knowledge in an amazingly short time. It is doubt-

ful if such another combination could be got together in

the world. What has been done is the greatest achievement

of organized science in history. It was done under high

pressure and without failure.

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and

completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have

above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks,

their factories, and their communications. Let there be no

mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan’s power to

make war.

It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruc-

tion that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam.

Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do

not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin

from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this

earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces

in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and

with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.

The Secretary of War, who has kept in personal touch

with all phases of the project, will immediately make pub-

lic a statement giving further details.

His statement will give facts concerning the sites at

Oak Ridge near Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Richland

near Pasco, Washington, and an installation near Santa Fe,

New Mexico. Although the workers at the sites have been

making materials to be used in producing the greatest

destructive force in history they have not themselves been

in danger beyond that of many other occupations, for the

utmost care has been taken of their safety.

The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a

new era in man’s understanding of nature’s forces. Atomic

energy may in the future supplement the power that now

comes from coal, oil, and falling water, but at present it

cannot be produced on a basis to compete with them com-

mercially. Before that comes there must be a long period

of intensive research.

It has never been the habit of the scientists of this

country or the policy of this Government to withhold from

the world scientific knowledge. Normally, therefore,

everything about the work with atomic energy would be

made public.

But under present circumstances it is not intended to

divulge the technical processes of production or all the

military applications, pending further examination of pos-

sible methods of protecting us and the rest of the world

from the danger of sudden destruction.

I shall recommend that the Congress of the United

States consider promptly the establishment of an appro-

priate commission to control the production and use of

atomic power within the United States. I shall give further

consideration and make further recommendations to the

Congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful

and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world

peace.

Source:

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Harry S. Tru-

man, 1945–1953. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing

Office, 1966.

London Agreement and Charter of the

International Military Tribunal, 1945

Signed August 8, 1945, this document established what be-

came known as the Nuremburg Tribunal, named for the place

in which German war criminals were tried in 1946.

When the Allies liberated the concentration camps after

World War II they were shocked and sickened by what they

found. Those still breathing were like barely living skeletons.

Worse, some 6,000,000 Jews and hundreds of thousands of

Poles, homosexuals, gypsies, and disabled persons had died as

a result of disease, starvation, mistreatment as slave labor, and

most horrifying of all, the systematic murder of Jews using gas

chambers, ovens, and mass executions by shooting. As early as

1942, President Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston

Churchill, upon hearing of Hitler’s “Final Solution,” warned

that its perpetrators would be brought to justice for “crimes

against humanity.” The Japanese received a similar warning.

Under Truman and Churchill the European tribunal was estab-

lished by this agreement. Associate Supreme Court justice

Robert H. Jackson served as the American special prosecutor.

Eventually 12 Nazis received death sentences and seven others

were imprisoned. Public opinion supported the trials and none

of the convicted Nazis appealed. Since then some 2,000 other

trials have been held throughout Europe, the United States, and

Israel, plus an unknown number in the Soviet Union, as Nazis

who escaped after the war were located. The Nuremburg trials

in effect invented a new category: “crimes against humanity.”

After special tribunals tried perpetrators of heinous crimes

against humanity in Africa and the former Yugoslavia, in 2002

a special court was established in the Hague to try officials that

were not punished by their home countries.

1458 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

________________________

_______________________

AGREEMENT by the Government of the UNITED

STATES OF AMERICA, the Provisional Government of

the FRENCH REPUBLIC, the Government of the

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND

NORTHERN IRELAND and the Government of the

UNI0N Of SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS for the

Prosecution and Punishment of the MAJOR WAR CRIM-

INALS of the EUROPEAN AXIS

WHEREAS the United Nations have from time to

time made declarations of their intention that War Crimi-

nals shall be brought to justice;

AND WHEREAS the Moscow Declaration of the

30th October 1943 on German atrocities in Occupied

Europe stated that those German Officers and men and

members of the Nazi Party who have been responsible for

or have taken a consenting part in atrocities and crimes will

be sent back to the countries in which their abominable

deeds were done in order that they may be judged and

punished according to the laws of these liberated countries

and of the free Governments that will be created therein;

AND WHEREAS this Declaration was stated to be

without prejudice to the case of major criminals whose

offenses have no particular geographical location and who

will be punished by the joint decision of the Governments

of the Allies;

Now THEREFORE the Government of the United

States of America, the Provisional Government of the

French Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom

of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Govern-

ment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (here-

inafter called “the Signatories”) acting in the interests of all

the United Nations and by their representatives duly

authorized thereto have concluded this Agreement.

Article 1. There shall be established after consultation

with the Control Council for Germany an International

Military Tribunal for the trial of war criminals whose

offenses have no particular geographical location whether

they be accused individually or in their capacity as mem-

bers of organizations or groups or in both capacities.

* * *

Article 7. This Agreement shall come into force on the day

of signature and shall remain in force for the period of one

year and shall continue thereafter, subject to the right of

any Signatory to give, through the diplomatic channel, one

month’s notice of intention to terminate it. Such termina-

tion shall not prejudice any proceedings already taken or

any findings already made in pursuance of this Agreement.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the Undersigned have

signed the present Agreement.

DONE in quadruplicate in London this 8th, day of

August 1945 each in English, French and Russian, and

each text to have equal authenticity.

For the Government of the United States of America

R0BERT H. JACKSON. For the Provisional Government

of the French Republic ROBERT FALCO. For the Gov-

ernment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and

Northern Ireland JOWITT C. For the Government of the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics I. NIKITCHENKO A.

TRAININ

Charter of the International Military Tribunal

1. CONSTITUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL MIL-

ITARY TRIBUNAL Article 1. In pursuance of the Agree-

ment signed on the 8th, day of August 1945 by the

Government of the United States of America, the Provi-

sional Government of the French Republic, the Govern-

ment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and

Northern Ireland and the Government of the Union of

Soviet Socialist Republics, there shall be established an

International Military Tribunal (hereinafter called “the

Tribunal”) for the just and prompt trial and punishment of

the major war criminals of the European Axis.

Article 2. The Tribunal shall consist of four mem-

bers, each with an alternate. One member and one al-

ternate shall be appointed by each of the Signatories.

The alternates shall, so far as they are able, be present at

all sessions of the Tribunal. In case of illness of any

member of the Tribunal or his incapacity for some other

reason to fulfill his functions, his alternate shall take

his place.

* * *

II. JURISDICTION AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Article 6. The Tribunal established by the Agreement

referred to in Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment

of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries

shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting

in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as

individuals or as members of organizations, committed any

of the following crimes.

The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming

within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which, there

shall be individual responsibility:

(a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning,

preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or

a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or

assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspir-

acy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;

(b) WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or

customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be

World War II at Home and Abroad 1459

limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave

labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or

in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners

of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder

of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities,

towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military

necessity;

der, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other

inhumane acts committed against any civilian population,

before or during the war; or persecutions on political,

racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection

with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal,

whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the

country where perpetrated.

Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices par-

ticipating in the formulation or execution of a common

plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes

are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in

execution of such plan.

Article 7. The official position of defendants, whether

as Heads of State or responsible officials in Government

Departments, shall not be considered as freeing them

from responsibility or mitigating punishment.

Article 8. The fact that the Defendant acted pursuant

to order of his Government or of a superior shall not free

him from responsibility, but may be considered in mitiga-

tion of punishment if the Tribunal determines that justice

so requires.

Article 9. At the trial of any individual member of

any group or organization the Tribunal may declare

(in connection with any act of which the individual

may be convicted) that the group or organization of

which the individual was a member was a criminal or-

ganization.

* * *

II. JURISDICTION AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Article 6. The Tribunal established by the Agreement

referred to in Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment

of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries

shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting

in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as

individuals or as members of organizations, committed any

of the following crimes.

The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming

within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which, there

shall be individual responsibility:

(a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning,

preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or

a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or

assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspir-

acy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;

(b) WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or

customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be

limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave

labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or

in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners

of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder

of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities,

towns or villages, or devastation;

der, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other

inhumane acts committed against any civilian population,

before or during the war; or persecutions on political,

racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection

with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal,

whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the

country where perpetrated.(1)

Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices par-

ticipating in the formulation or execution of a common

plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes

are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in

execution of such plan.

Article 7. The official position of defendants, whether

as Heads of State or responsible officials in Government

Departments, shall not be considered as freeing them

from responsibility or mitigating punishment.

Article 8. The fact that the Defendant acted pursuant

to order of his Government or of a superior shall not free

him from responsibility, but may be considered in mitiga-

tion of punishment if the Tribunal determines that justice

so requires.

Article 9. At the trial of any individual member of

any group or organization the Tribunal may declare (in

connection with any act of which the individual may be

convicted) that the group or organization of which the

individual was a member was a criminal organization.

* * *

VI. JUDGMENT AND SENTENCE Article 26. The

judgment of the Tribunal as to the guilt or the innocence

of any Defendant shall give the reasons on which it is

based, and shall be final and not subject to review.

Article 27. The Tribunal shall have the right to impose

upon a Defendant, on conviction, death or such other pun-

ishment as shall be determined by it to be just.

Article 28. In addition to any punishment imposed by

it, the Tribunal shall have the right to deprive the con-

victed person of any stolen property and order its delivery

to the Control Council for Germany.

Article 29. In case of guilt, sentences shall be carried

out in accordance with the orders of the Control Council

for Germany, which may at any time reduce or otherwise

alter the sentences, but may not increase the severity

thereof. If the Control Council for Germany, after any

1460 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

Defendant has been convicted and sentenced, discovers

fresh evidence which, in its opinion, would found a fresh

charge against him, the Council shall report accordingly to

the Committee established under Article 14 hereof, for

such action as they may consider proper, having regard to

the interests of justice.

* * *

Source:

International Conference on Military Trials, Report of Robert H.

Jackson, United States Representative to the International

Conference on Military Trials, London, 1945.

Japan’s Unconditional Surrender, 1945

Instrument of surrender of Japan signed aboard the U.S. bat-

tleship

Missouri

in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, by For-

eign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru and General Umezu

Yoshijiro and by representatives of Australia, China, France,

New Zealand, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the Soviet

Union, and the United States. It provided for Japan’s surren-

der, effectively ending World War II (1939–45). The docu-

ment required the Japanese Imperial Headquarters, the

Japanese armed forces, and all forces everywhere under

Japan to surrender unconditionally to the Allied powers;

required the Japanese Imperial Headquarters to order all

forces to surrender unconditionally; required all Japanese

officials to enforce the order and to see that all orders given

by the supreme command of the Allied powers were carried

out; required Japan to accept the so-called Potsdam Dec-

laration in its entirety; required Japan to provide for the liber-

ation and safety of all prisoners of war; and required the

Japanese emperor and government to recognize the supreme

governing authority of the supreme commander of the Allied

powers.

________________________

_______________________

We, acting by command of and on behalf of the Emperor

of Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese

Imperial General Headquarters, hereby accept the provi-

sions set forth in the declaration issued by the heads of the

Governments of the United States, China and Great

Britain on 26 July 1945, at Potsdam and subsequently

adhered to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,

which four powers are hereafter referred to as the Allied

Powers.

We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender

to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General

Headquarters and of all Japanese armed forces and all

armed forces under Japanese control wherever situated.

We hereby command all Japanese forces wherever sit-

uated and the Japanese people to cease hostilities forth-

with, to preserve and save from damage all ships, aircraft,

and military and civil property and to comply with all

requirements which may be imposed by the Supreme

Commander for the Allied Powers or by Agencies of the

Japanese Government at his direction. We hereby com-

mand the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters to

issue at once orders to the Commanders of all Japanese

forces and all forces under Japanese control wherever sit-

uated to surrender unconditionally themselves and all

forces under their control.

We hereby command all civil, military and naval offi-

cials to obey and enforce all proclamations, orders and

directives deemed by the Supreme Commander for the

Allied Powers to be proper to effectuate this surrender and

issued by him or under his authority and we direct all such

officials to remain at their posts and to continue to perform

their noncombatant duties unless specifically relieved by

him or under his authority. We hereby undertake for the

Emperor, the Japanese Government and their successors

to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration in

good faith, and to issue whatever orders and take whatever

action may be required by the Supreme Commander for

the Allied Powers or by any other designated representa-

tive of the purpose of giving effect to that Declaration.

We hereby command the Japanese Imperial Govern-

ment and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters at

once to liberate all allied prisoners of war and civilian

internees now under Japanese control and to provide for

their protection, care, maintenance and immediate trans-

portation to places as directed.

The authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Gov-

ernment to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme

Commander for the Allied Powers who will take such

steps as he deems proper to effectuate these terms of

surrender.

Source:

Landmark Documents in American History, Facts On File, Inc.

United Nations Charter, 1945

Charter signed on June 26, 1945, formally establishing the

United Nations (UN), an international peace organization that

replaced the League of Nations. The UN officially came into

existence when the required number of nations (29) ratified

the charter of October 24, 1945.

In 1943, Congress had passed resolutions expressing U.S.

intentions to help establish and join an international peace-

keeping organization. On September 21, the U.S. House of

Representatives approved a resolution, introduced by Repre-

World War II at Home and Abroad 1461