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| 1945, April 25–June 26 |
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| SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE. Delegates of 50 nations met at San Francisco to complete a charter for the United Nations Organization. A preliminary draft was submitted to the conference on June 22 by U.S. secretary of state Edward R. Stettinius. It provided for four organs in the new body: (1) a General Assembly as the major policy-shaping forum; (2) a security council to supervise military and political problems; (3) an economic and social council to deal with problems of economic and social conflict; and (4) an international court of justice for the adjustment of international disputes. The administrative work of the United Nations Organization was to be handled by a general secretariat directed by a secretary-general. | 1 |
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| July 17–Aug. 2 |
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| POTSDAM CONFERENCE. President Harry S. Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Generalissimo Joseph V. Stalin met in Potsdam to confer on plans for reestablishing peace. After July 28, Clement R. Attlee, head of the new British Labour cabinet, replaced Churchill at the conference. An agreement was reached to establish a council of foreign ministers, representing the U.S., Great Britain, the Soviet Union, France, and China, to continue the drafting of peace settlements. Its first session was held in London (Sept. 11). | 2 |
| For Germany the decisions reached at the Potsdam Conference implied: (1) disarmament and demilitarization; (2) dissolution of National Socialist institutions; (3) trial of war criminals; (4) encouragement of democratic ideals; (5) restoration of local self-government and democratic political parties; (6) freedom of speech, press, and religion, subject to the requirements of military security. | 3 |
| Economic restrictions drafted by the conference for Germany included: (1) prohibition of the manufacture of war materiel and implements of war; (2) controlled production of metals, chemicals, and machinery essential to war; (3) decentralization of German cartels, syndicates, and trusts; (4) emphasis upon agriculture and peaceful domestic industries; (5) control of exports, imports, and scientific research. The methods whereby the victors would enforce these conditions were to be worked out in detail later. | 4 |
| The conference further ordained “that Germany be compelled to compensate to the greatest possible extent for the loss and suffering that she caused to the United Nations.” The members of the conference agreed in principle on the disposal of the German navy and merchant marine, but in this matter likewise the details were not worked out. | 5 |
| Peace treaties with Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Italy were to be drawn up as promptly as possible. | 6 |
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| Sept. 2 |
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| FORMAL TERMS OF SURRENDER were signed by the Japanese civil and military envoys aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The Japanese home islands were placed under the rule of a U.S. army of occupation, but the emperor remained as the head of the state and the Japanese political and police officials continued to fulfill their functions. The high command and the military organizations were progressively disbanded. American forces also occupied island possessions regained or newly captured in the Pacific Ocean. | 7 |
| Korea was placed under Soviet and U.S. occupation, pending establishment of a Korean democratic government. The Kurile Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin were ceded to Russia, Outer Mongolia was recognized as part of the Soviet sphere of control, and Russia shared with China the facilities and supervision of Port Arthur and the Manchurian railroads. | 8 |
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| Sept. 9 |
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| Capitulation terms for Japanese forces in China (estimated at 1 million men) were signed at Nanking by Japanese commanders and representatives of Jiang Jieshi. | 9 |
| China regained sovereignty over Inner Mongolia and Manchuria, as well as the islands of Formosa and Hainan. Hong Kong was reoccupied by the British, who likewise accepted the formal surrender at Singapore (Sept. 12) of all Japanese forces (585,000 men) in Southeast Asia and the East Indies. | 10 |
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