A Beautiful Photograph of the Japanese Surrender Ending World War II, Signed by U.S. Signatory Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

Zenith was for many decades the leading name in radios and televisions. It pioneered the manufacture of portable radios in 1924, and in 1926 it introduced the first home radio receivers to operate on AC power instead of batteries. By the mid-1930s, about 450 people worked at Zenith plant. In the late 1940s, Zenith began to manufacture televisions; during the 1950s and 1960s, it was the number one maker of black-and-white sets. During World War II, Zenith manufactured radar, communications equipment, and high-sensitivity frequency meters. The company filled military orders for bomb fuses and other devices. The Zenith Sales Corporation was the sales arm of the company. The aid it gave the military was a factor in the Allied victory.

Chester Nimitz was Fleet Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Naval forces in the Pacific in World War II, and was largely responsible for the successful island-hopping campaign against the Japanese that brought the war to a successful conclusion. He signed the Japanese surrender document on behalf of the United States.

An 8 by 10 inch photograph of him signing the Japanese surrender document as the U.S. representative aboard the USS Missouri, with Douglas MacArthur and other dignitaries looking on, Tokyo Bay, September 2, 1945. He has signed and inscribed the photo at the top, “To the Zenith Sales Corporation, with best wishes, C.W. Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, USN.” Nimitz’s aide used to say that the admiral signed these souvenir photographs with the same pen he used to sign the surrender document.