onths, and years later from radiation effects. Through the Potsdam Conference that had ended a few days earlier had resulted in a general threat. At Potsdam, the allies had issued an ultimatum that called for unconditional surrender. The ultimatum was apparently ignored by the Japanese leaders. The New York Times quoted President Truman as saying: "It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not know except our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth." August 9, 1945, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, when the Japanese government did not surrender, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. This atom bomb was named "Fat Man." It was more powerful than the one dropped in Hiroshima. "Fat Man" was dropped by a bomber named Bock’s Car. New York Times reporter, William L. Laurence rode in an observation plane that accompanied the bomber. After the bomb was dropped, he described the blast: "...a giant ball of fire rose as though from the bowels (and) a giant pillar of purple fire ...shooting skyward with enormous speed." Laurence said of the mushroom cloud that it was: "...even more alive ...seething and boiling in a white fury of creamy foam, sizzling upward and then descending earthward, a thousand geysers rolled into one." The citizens of Nagasaki was very surprised because the Japanese government tried to minimize knowledge of the extent of damage to Hiroshima. The Japanese government told the people of Japan that it was a "special-type bomb." The "Fat Man" bomb killed nearly a hundred thousand people. Twelve hours later fires in Nagasaki were burning so brightly that pilots two hundred miles away could see the blaze. Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on August 14, 1945. In his announcement of intention to surrender, the Emperor of Japa...
