Potsdam Declaration (1945)
Proclamation Defining Terms For Japanese Surrender
1. We - The president of the United States, the President of the National
Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain,
representing the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and
agree that Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war.
2. The
prodigious land, sea and air forces of the United States, the British Empire and
of China, many times reinforced by their armies and air fleets from the west,
are poised to strike the final blows upon Japan. This military power is
sustained and inspired by the determination of all the Allied Nations to
prosecute the war against Japan until she ceases to resist.
3. The
result of the futile and senseless German resistance to the might of the aroused
free peoples of the world stands forth in awful clarity as an example to the
people of Japan. The might, that now converges on Japan is immeasurable greater
than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to
the lands, the industry and the method of life of the whole German people. The
full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the
inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as
inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.
4. The time
has come for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be controlled by those
self-willed militaristic advisers whose unintelligent calculations have brought
the Empire of Japan to the threshold of annihilation, or whether she will follow
the path of reason.
5. Following are our terms. We will not deviate from
them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay.
6. There must
be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have
deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest, for we
insist that a new order of peace, security and justice will be impossible until
irresponsible militarism is driven from the world.
7. Until such a new
order is established and until there is convincing proof that Japan's war-making
power is destroyed, points in Japanese territory to be designated by the Allies
shall be occupied to secure the achievement of the basic objectives we are here
setting forth.
8. The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried
out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu,
Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine.
9. The
Japanese military forces, after being completely disarmed, shall be permitted to
return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful and productive
lives.
10. We do not intend that the Japanese shall be enslaved as a
race or destroyed as a nation, but stern justice shall be meted out to all war
criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon our prisoners. The
Japanese Government shall remove all obstacles to the revival and strengthening
of democratic tendencies among the Japanese people. Freedom of speech, of
religion, and of thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights
shall be established.
11. Japan shall be permitted to maintain such
industries as will sustain her economy and permit the exaction of just
reparations in kind, but not those industries which would enable her to re-arm
for war. To this end, access to, as distinguished from control of, raw materials
shall be permitted. Eventual Japanese participation in world trade relations
shall be permitted.
12. The occupying forces of the Allies shall be
withdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives have been accomplished and
there has been established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the
Japanese people a peacefully inclined and responsible government.
13. We
call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of
all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of
their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter
destruction.