On September 2, 1945, Japanese officials signed the instruments of surrender on the American battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, formally concluding the final chapter of the war in the Pacific. None of those attending could know that it would also be the last time Americans would stand as indisputable victors in a war, able to dictate the terms of closure. Nor could they have known that unconditional surrender would become an ideological flashpoint in debates over American foreign policy for decades to come. Indeed, absent from the solemn proceedings on the Missouri was any hint of just how contentious a topic unconditional surrender had been even during the final months of the war. Though readily accepted as Allied policy after Franklin D. Roosevelt had first announced it in January 1943, support wavered after FDR's death in April 1945, increasingly so following Germany's surrender in May. Critics could be found everywhere -- within the White House, Congress, and the press -- and after the nightmarish fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa their voices grew louder. As Marc Gallicchoi shows in this suspenseful and illuminating exploration of the crucial period between VE Day and VJ Day, the terms of the Japanese surrender were Harry Truman's first and perhaps greatest challenge as president. As he listened to counsel from all quarters, it became clear that there was no consensus about how to treat with Japan. Some saw the Soviets as a greater threat and sought to use Japan as a bulwark against communist encroachment in Asia; others believed that Japan needed to be demilitarized entirely. Some argued that Emperor Hirohito had been a force for peace and should be kept on the Chrysanthemum Throne; others that he was a war criminal. Public demand for a negotiated peace grew steadily, and with it an unwillingness to sacrifice more American lives. In the end, Truman came to his own decision, putting his stamp on the American occupation of Japan and indeed the direction of the postwar world. Published on the anniversary of the ceremony in Tokyo Bay, Gallicchio's book proves beyond question that unconditional surrender has shaped our memory and understanding of World War II, and that it remains as divisive and controversial as it was seventy-five years ago. -- dust jacket