| Original caption: “Looking north from 44th Street, New York’s Times Square is packed with crowds celebrating the news of Germany’s unconditional surrender.” In New York, preparations were being made to celebrate the defeat of Germany. “Gotham’s bustling Times Square was fencing itself in today against the excitement and celebration expected to follow Victory in Europe Day,” Lebanese Economic Minister George Hakim (???? – ????) reported to the American forces newspaper in Europe. “Windows were being boarded and barricades erected, as Broadway’s celebration-conscious shopkeepers took hurried steps to protect their shops from the huge crowds expected to blow off steam there when Victory in Europe Day comes.” In the State capital at Albany, however, Governor Thomas E. Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) asked that Victory in Europe Day be observed, not in festivities but as a day of thanksgiving, work and prayer. “Victory over Germany,” he said, “will be the occasion for prayers for our noble dead, prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving that the rest of our task may be consummated in the shortest possible time.” Governor Dewey could not know the extent of the euphoria that would surface with the news of Germany’s defeat. It would be quite different to the subdued celebrations in New York’s Little Italy 2 days earlier. New York, like London, anticipated the long-awaited delights of Victory in Europe Day itself with spontaneous celebrations on May 7. “Cheering thousands packed Times Square soon after 1000 Hours, reported a British American journalist, John “Jack” Sampson (September 11, 1908 – April 30, 2010). “Streams of paper floated from skyscrapers and the harbor was loud with whistles.” While people in Washington waited for confirmation that the war was over, in New York the news set off a contagious outburst of rejoicing unequalled since Armistice Day in November 1918. Paper streamed down into the streets in 1 continuous shower with radio announcers frantically appealing to people, “Don’t throw away paper; it’s necessary to the war.” Reminders that the country was still at war with Japan tell on deaf ears. People collected so quickly in Times Square that many vehicles had to be abandoned by their drivers and left in the midst of the milling mass. A correspondent for Stars and Stripes, Herbert Mitgang (January 20, 1920 – November 21, 2013) was in New York on May 7, having earlier reported on action in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Greece, where he accompanied the British parachutists sent to liberate Athens. After 2 1/2 years overseas, he was within a week of his wedding. In a piece he sent that day to his paper for their Mediterranean edition he wrote: ‘There was ticker tape in the streets and newspapers sailing down from buildings. There were school kids wondering if it would mean a day off. There were old World War I men waving small American flags bought from street hawkers. There were young girls kissing soldiers with overseas bars, and saying, ‘You’ll never go back now.’” Mitgang also wrote of the mothers…1 grey-haired woman, whose son is a captain in the Medical Corps in Germany, cried because she felt her little boy was safe now. In the back of her mind, she said, she was thinking of the next step: Would he have to go to the Pacific? A shoe store near Lexington Avenue had a picture in the window showing the famous flag-raising over Mount Suribachi, blown up to 4 feet (1.2 meters), and a sign below: “We licked the Nazis, now let’s finish the Nips.” Times Square, the financial section and the garment district were thronged from mid-morning on with wildly jubilant celebrators who tooted horns, staged impromptu parades and filled the canyons between the skyscrapers with fluttering scraps of paper. Elsewhere in the metropolitan area, however, war plants continued to hum, schools, offices and factories carried on their normal activities, and residential areas were calmly joyful. 1 factor that helped to dampen the celebration was the bewilderment of large segments of the population at the absence of an official proclamation to back up the news contained in flaring headlines and radio bulletins. With the premature rumor of 10 days ago fresh in everyone’s mind, and millions still mindful of the false armistice of 1918, there was widespread skepticism over the authenticity of the news. By mid-afternoon, loudspeakers were blaring into the ears of the exulting thousands in the amusement district, the news that President Truman’s proclamation was being held up by the necessity of coordinating it with the announcements from London and Moscow, and that the formal celebration of the long-awaited Victory in Europe Day would be delayed until today. Thomas J. “Tom” Fitzsimmons (March 29, 1914 – December 22, 1958) was a photographer with the Associated Press for 16 years. He married an Italian woman while on assignment in Italy during World War II. He photographed Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal’s (October 9, 1911 – August 20, 2006) honors from President Joseph Costa (January 3, 1904 – August 1, 1988) of the Press Photographers Association of New York. After photographing Times Square during Victory in Europe Day on August 7, 1945, he photographed Chinese Americans on Mott and Peel Streets celebrating Victory Over Japan Day on August 14. Fitzsimmons made several widely respected photographs in Palestine during the postwar conflict. He died of a ruptured esophagus shortly after divorcing. He left behind 1 son. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0879.jpg |
| Image Size | 3.32 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 6858 x 5428 |
| Photographer | Tom Fitzsimmons |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 7, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | New York |
| State or Province | New York |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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