Tribune caption on the back, Sep. 5,1951-- "It's three on a matc for the apparently unsuperstitious Russians. The trio's faces light up-with cigarets that is- outside the War Memorial Opera House after last night's conference opening. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko demonstrates 'where there is smoke there must be fire' as he accepts a light." Photo shows one member of the Russian delegation offering a match to Gromyko who is leaning down to light his cigarette. The man holding the match has the wrong end of a cigarette in his mouth. Another delegate is standing with them exhaling smoke. A fairly large crowd is standing behind them. After the opening ceremony for the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference, Andrei Gromyko was swamped with autograph seekers and others and had to be escorted out of the Opera House by police. Once they arrived outside, the Russian delegation relized their cars were waiting at another entrance so they had to wait around as they are doing in this photo. The young man offering the match to Gromyko was so nervous he had stuck the wrong end of a cigarette in his mouth. [Information provided by "The Oakland Tribune" Sept. 2-9, 1951] The Japanese Peace Treaty Conference was held at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco September 4-8, 1951. In 1945, the Opera House was also the place where the United Nations had come into existence. A total of 51 countries participated in this conference. The treaty officially ended the war with Japan started when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. Some of the provisions of the treaty were: to end American occupation of Japan, make Japan pay some reparations for the war, and force it to comply with the peaceful wishes of other countries. The treaty allowed Japan to join the United Nations and rearm to a certain extent. Negotiations for the treaty had been going on for eleven months with John Foster Dulles as the primary force behind the negotions. Not all the countries participating were happy about the treaty. Some felt that Japan should be forced to pay reparations that were larger and should pay them immediately. The communists nations, primarily the Soviet Union, were not happy about the treaty as well, and the fact that they were not involved in the negotiations. They vowed even before the conference opened to cause as much trouble as possible. After some squabbling, primarily by the Communist countries, and after those countries offically walked out of the conference, the treaty was signed on September 8 by the remaining nations.