Nagasaki
 With
its large harbor and many hills, Nagasaki was known as the San Francisco
of Japan. The atomic bomb, Fat Man, was dropped over Nagasaki on August
9, 1945. In a city of about 173,000, 45,000 people were killed instantly.
Many of those whose task it was to make the decision to use the weapon
were quite hopeful about the psychological effect the use of the bomb
might have upon the Japanese government and its people. Some, among
them Arthur Compton and General Leslie Groves, wanted to capitalize
upon that effect by dropping two bombs as quickly as possible. This,
they advised President Truman, would imply to the Japanese that the
U.S. had many bombs that it was prepared to use. They had begun to
hope that invasion of Japan would not be necessary. Five days after
the bombing of Nagasaki, on August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered. Emperor
Hirohito said: "I have given serious thought to the situation
at home and abroad and have concluded the continuing the war means
destruction for the nation and a prolongation of bloodshed and cruelty
in the world. I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any
longer...The time has come when we must bear the unbearable. I swallow
my tears and give my sanction to the proposal to accept the Allied
proposal on the basis outlined by the Foreign Minister."
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