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19451776 Club

Allies warn Japan: surrender now or face prompt and utter destruction

Stalin sits out the ultimatum since Moscow is not yet at war with Tokyo, but promises to sign on once it is.

Ten days after an atomic device lit up the New Mexico desert on July 16, the Allied leaders at Potsdam turned to the war still burning in the Pacific. On July 26, 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek issued a proclamation demanding the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, warning that refusal meant "prompt and utter destruction." American bombers scattered three million leaflets over Japan carrying the terms. Tokyo answered with silence…

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More from July 26
1941

Washington cuts off Japan's oil; London and the Dutch follow within days

Tokyo's push into southern Indochina triggers an embargo that erases four-fifths of Japan's oil supply.
1775

Congress cuts the cord to London's mail: Franklin named postmaster general

A line of posts is ordered from Falmouth to Savannah, and the emerging nation gets its own way to talk to itself.
1861

Five days after Bull Run, Lincoln hands his broken army to McClellan

The thirty-four-year-old general inherits a demoralized force and calls the deference of Lincoln, the Cabinet, and Scott a 'strange operation of magic'.
17881776 Club
Hamilton, Madison and Jay had spent months making the case in the newspapers; the Poughkeepsie convention barely came around.
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More from The World Wars
1945

American troops come ashore at Incheon; Korea splits at the 38th parallel

Lieutenant General John Hodge lands with no Korean speakers on his staff and a month-old line drawn by two colonels in Washington.
1942

A Japanese submarine surfaces off Cape Blanco and launches a floatplane over Oregon

A fire lookout spots the plane from Mount Emily before its bombs even hit the ground.
1941

Shovels hit dirt at Hoover Field; the War Department breaks ground on a five-sided headquarters

Contracts worth $31.1 million are finalized the same day, sixty years to the day before the building's darkest morning.
1924

American forces leave Santo Domingo; Dominican National Guard takes over policing

The handover closes an eight-year occupation, but Washington keeps its grip on the country's customs house.
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