(Some people stayed that way for days)
Over two days since the first false reports of a Japanese surrender and nothing but rumors and speculation following it. On this particular day in 1945 most of the country, if not the world, were glued to their radios waiting for any kind of word, no matter how insignificant, that World War 2 would finally be over.
And so the airwaves were filled with non-top news reports, bulletins and discussions, like this round table discussion broadcast over Mutual at 1:00 pm on August 12th asking the question what was holding up the peace bandwagon (their words, not mine). The news, speculations and bets on when this thing would finally be over kept up a steady stream until the actual news did come. Every network provided wall-to-wall news coverage starting on August 10th.
On August 12, 1945 the world was filled with nervous people.