Sold – the Launch of the U.S.S. Missouri, the Site of the Surrender of Japan

At the dawn of World War II, the battleship was the dominant sea force, one that would play a role in many of the decisive battles in the Pacific. Competition with the Japanese would require an able and strong naval force. The USS Missouri was one of the Iowa-class or “fast battleship” designs planned in 1938 to bolster the war effort under Franklin Roosevelt. Amid great fanfare, it launched on January 29, 1944 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and was commissioned on June 11, 1944 with Captain William Callaghan in command. The ship was christened at her launching by Margarent Truman, daughter of Harry Truman, then a Senator from Missouri and the ship’s sponsor.

In November 1944 the Missouri joined the Pacific fleet. On February 16, 1945 she launched the first air strikes against Japan since the famed Doolittle raid in April 1942. She then steamed to Iwo Jima where she provided support to the invasion landings. In March of 1945 she took part in the bombarding of Okinawa and subsequently in raids up and down the Japanese mainland.

On August 29, 1945, the Missouri entered Tokyo Bay to prepare for the surrender ceremony, which would occur onboard its decks on September 2. High-ranking military officials of all the Allied powers were present that day. Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (Supreme Commander for the Allies), and the Japanese representatives, headed by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, were all on board by 9am. At 9:02 General MacArthur stepped before a battery of microphones and the 23-minute surrender ceremony was broadcast to the waiting world. By 9:30am the Japanese emissaries had departed. With one of the great events of history behind her, the Missouri then headed for home, with a brief stop at Pearl Harbor. She reached New York City on October 23 and October 27 boomed out a 21-gun salute as President Truman boarded for Navy Day ceremonies. In his address the President stated that “control of our sea approaches and of the skies above them is still the key to our freedom and to our ability to help enforce the peace of the world.”

John W. Snyder was a close personal friend of then Senator Harry Truman; the men had met while serving in World War I. In 1936, Snyder began working for the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Reconstruction Finance Administration (RFA). During the 1940s, while with the RFA, Snyder and Truman worked closely together. After Truman became President in 1945, Snyder was first appointed Director of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, and in June 1946, Secretary of the Treasury, a post Snyder held until the end of the Truman administration. He became one of Truman’s closest advisors in both domestic as well as foreign policy. Drucie, his daughter, was active in Washington’s social scene and was present with her father for the launching and commissioning of the battleship in 1944, on the eve of its greatest contributions to the war.

Typed Letter Signed, Washington, February 10, 1944. “Dear Drucie, Here are the official pictures of the launching of the battleship Missouri. There is an excellent picture of Miss Snyder among them. Sincerely Yours, Harry Truman.“ With a autograph post-script, “My best to your mother and dad [John W. Snyder] when you write.” Included with this group are: 1) An original program for the commissioning ceremonies; 2) Various invitations to Drucie from Captain Callaghan and Margaret Truman to the launching in January and the commissioning in June, 1944.

The Missouri saw subsequent service in the Korean War and, after some refurbishment, in the first Gulf War. It now sits as a memorial and museum in Pearl Harbor.