Handwritten on the back of the photo, "Pickets in front city hall. S.F. Peace Treaty [sic]." Photo shows a small group of mostly men walking on the sidewalk apparently in front of San Francisco City Hall holding protest signs. The signs say "Gromyko!!! You... But can't fool all of the people all of the time. (Abraham Lincoln) 'Loyalty League' to combat Communism in the USA;" "Gromyko- you want peace? Tell it to the Marines;" "Pakhutns beg the freedom-loving people of the world to join them in their struggle against aggression." [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 negotations. 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.