Expression/Impression: VJ Day 1945 – MacArthur vs Truman announcing the end of WW2.

Seventy-nine years ago today, the Second World War finally came to a close when General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender on board a US warship in Tokyo Bay.

It was a momentous day, and the radio broadcast on 2nd September 1945 by General MacArthur was more than equal to the occasion. His address was an outstanding piece of speechwriting, far superior to that of President Truman the same day.

I’ve held the General up as a model of public speaking before in these pages (for his farewell speech to the US Congress after being fired by President Truman in 1951). This time, I regret to say I don’t have a recording to assess his delivery, but what follows is a critical look at the text of his VJ Day address, contrasting some of its strengths with President Truman’s far less inspiring version.

An opening crafted for impact

General MacArthur began with a series of short, powerful and dignified sentences.

“Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death. The seas bear only commerce. Men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace. The holy mission has been completed.”

President Truman, generally recognized as a rather weak public speaker, got off to a much slower start, almost bureaucratic in its plodding formality:

“My fellow Americans, and the Supreme Allied Commander, General MacArthur, in Tokyo Bay, the thoughts and hopes of all America -- indeed of all the civilized world -- are centered tonight on the battleship Missouri. There on that small piece of American soil anchored in Tokyo Harbor the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms. They have signed terms of unconditional surrender.”

What do we learn: Read your speech out loud after drafting it, to assess cadence and rhythm. There will certainly be a time, place and need for long sentences, but generally not right at the beginning of your address. ?

A broad sense of time and context

General MacArthur does an excellent job of situating the Japanese surrender within a broader timeline, making sense of the occasion by reaching all the way back to 1853, when Japan first opened to the West, and looking forward to a new age of peace and prosperity for Asia.

“We stand in Tokyo today reminiscent of our countryman, Commodore Perry, ninety-two years ago. His purpose was to bring to Japan an era of enlightenment and progress, by lifting the veil of isolation to the friendship, trade, and commerce of the world…. (Today)

to the Pacific basin has come the vista of a new emancipated world. Today, freedom is on the offensive, democracy is on the march. Today, in Asia as well as in Europe, unshackled peoples are tasting the full sweetness of liberty, the relief from fear.”

President Truman limited his sense of historical context to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. To be fair, he did attempt to look forward to the future, but his rambling sentences – and imprudent use of contradictory or conditional words like “but” and “can” – sapped his words of immediacy and conviction.

“Victory always has its burdens and its responsibilities as well as its rejoicing. But we face the future and all its dangers with great confidence and great hope. America can build for itself a future of employment and security. Together with the United Nations, it can build a world of peace rounded on justice, fair dealing, and tolerance.”

What do we learn: If you want to enhance your audience’s appreciation of what makes the present moment special, provide a broad sense of context, looking back to whence we’ve come and looking forward to where we’re going.

Judicious use of pronouns

This is not a small point. Getting one’s pronouns right can serve two crucial aims, engaging the audience and establishing the speaker’s credibility. Once again, General MacArthur gets it just right. He addresses his audience directly as “you” and, although he generally talks of “we”, he subtly asserts his position at the heart of the action by personally looking back at the bitter American defeats in 1942 in the Philippines. ?

“In reporting this to you, the people, I speak for the thousands of silent lips, forever stilled among the jungles and the beaches and in the deep waters of the Pacific which marked the way… As I look back on the long, tortuous trail from those grim days of Bataan and Corregidor, when an entire world lived in fear, when democracy was on the defensive everywhere, when modern civilization trembled in the balance, I thank a merciful God that he has given us the faith, the courage and the power from which to mold victory.

President Truman didn’t use the word “you” for his audience even once during his address, which is largely constructred around a refrain of “We think of…” and “Our thoughts go out to…” His only reference to himself was another rather stiff and bureaucratic pronouncement: “As President of the United States, I proclaim Sunday, September the second, 1945, to be V-J Day--the day of formal surrender by Japan.”

What do we learn: If you want to engage your audience, address them directly. And if you want to affirm your credibility in delivering your messages, use “I” at least once in such a way that shows you are personally involved.

A forward-looking conclusion

Be it empathy or common courtesy, we tend to close any encounter with a exhortation to the other person for the future, be it “Goodbye” (as in “God be with you”), “Good luck”, “See you soon”, “Bon voyage” or other. I urge you to do the same when ending a speech. It signals to your audience that you consider you have a relationship with them.

Compare the two endings to the General’s and the President’s VJ Day addresses. The General makes an explicit call to action upon his audience; the President invokes God.

The General: “And so, my fellow countrymen, today I report to you that your sons and daughters have served you well and faithfully with the calm, deliberated, determined fighting spirit of the American soldier… Their spiritual strength and power has brought us through to victory. They are homeward bound—take care of them.”

The President: “God's help has brought us to this day of victory. With His help we will attain that peace and prosperity for ourselves and all the world in the years ahead.”

What do we learn: End your speech by looking forward, and even better, if possible, with some form of call to action.

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Charles Fleming,?2nd September 2024? ?

You can read my other articles about public speaking and interview techniques on?my?Expression/Impression?website, available?here.?Please feel free to pass this article on to anyone?you think?might appreciate it.?