War in the Pacific and the Final Surrender

The War's Voices

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The War's Voices

Though European events foreshadowed World War II for most Americans, hostilities actually began in the Pacific. Nearly nine years before Germany invaded Poland and a full decade before attacking Pearl Harbor, Japan fired the war's opening shots with the invasion of Manchuria on September 18, 1931. Whether a function of culture, language, or simply proximity, war-time America tended to focus on Europe. However, thanks to radio, the war's Pacific voices did not go unheard.

The four radio broadcasts presented here come from original studio transcription disc recordings in the Arthur B. Church - KMBC Radio Collection in the Marr Sound Archives.

Broadcast #1
As early as 1935, with war imminent in the Pacific, President Roosevelt enlisted a military retiree to mobilize defenses in the Philippines. The man chosen was Douglas MacArthur, who had served as President Theodore Roosevelt's aide-de-camp, a division commander in World War I, superintendent of West Point, Army Chief of Staff, and the Philippines' military advisor, all before his 50th birthday. When war broke out, MacArthur became Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific area. As controversial as he was popular, MacArthur personified the Pacific theater of operations, and personally accepted Japan's formal surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri on September 1, 1945, where he made this speech in a ceremony broadcast around the globe.

Broadcast #2
As commander of Naval forces in the South Pacific, Admiral William Halsey used "island hopping" tactics to land amphibious forces on more vulnerable, remote islands, skirting heavier Japanese installations. The strategy, developed in cooperation with General MacArthur, helped avoid frontal assaults, saved untold American lives, and helped to establish Allied dominance throughout the Pacific. Though criticized for questionable actions during the war, Halsey was also one of the Allies' leading military strategists, and his flagship, the U.S.S. Missouri, hosted the surrender ceremonies. In this August 14, 1945 broadcast, just days after Japan's collapse, Halsey addresses the U.S. Third Fleet.

Broadcast #3
As World War II collided with Americans' personal aspirations, thousands found their lives sidetracked for the duration. One such individual was Webley Edwards, an Oregon native who moved to Hawaii in 1928 to sell cars, and was immediately smitten by the native culture. In 1935 he began broadcasting "Hawaii Calls," which aired "from under the spreading banyan tree at the Moana Hotel" on Waikiki Beach. The program ran for nearly 20 years and popularized Hawaiian music around the world. When America entered the war, Edwards' experience and knowledge of the Pacific region made him an invaluable broadcaster, and he was recruited by Columbia to join its budding foreign news service. Though known more for his contributions to music of the islands (including a string of recordings in the 1950s and '60s popular with returning veterans and post-war Americans), Edwards was notable as one of the few eyewitnesses to both the exact moment America entered World War II, and the war's conclusion: Edwards was the first radio announcer on the air with news of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, as well as the only broadcaster allowed aboard the U.S.S. Missouri to announce Japan's formal surrender on September 1, 1945. In this recording from Guam on August 14, 1945, Edwards comments on reports of the Japanese surrender.

Broadcast #4
Due to the wartime atmosphere, President Roosevelt's unprecedented fourth inaugural ceremony on January 20, 1945, was conducted on the South Portico of the White House with little fanfare and no post-inaugural festivities. The simple swearing-in ceremony mirrored both the grim uncertainties of war and the president's health. Roosevelt's unlikely running mate, Senator Truman from Missouri, would assume the presidency 82 days later on April 12, 1945. Despite questions surrounding his suitability to the task, Truman proved himself an able commander-in-chief when, in his first address to Congress four days later on April 16, 1945, he vowed to continue Roosevelt's policies. That July, following Germany's surrender, Truman, as part of the "Big Three" (along with Stalin and Churchill), represented the United States at the Potsdam Conference which sought to shape the post-war world. Days later, Truman would face the awesome decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan. The first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, with a second dropped on Nagasaki three days later, effectively ending World War II. When Japan signed formal surrender papers aboard the U.S.S. Missouri on September 1, 1945, the president made this broadcast from the White House. Truman had been in office less than five months.

Text by Scott O'Kelley, Marr Sound Archives
Digital Audio by Scott Middleton, Marr Sound Archives

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