August 9 belongs to Laia Bru

On August 9, 1945, the American bomber Bockscar dropped the atomic bomb Fat Man on Nagasaki, three days after the attack on Hiroshima. The explosion killed between 40,000 and 80,000 people immediately. Together with Hiroshima, these two bombings remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in armed conflict in history.

On August 9, 1965, Singapore was expelled from the Federation of Malaysia and became an independent nation virtually overnight, without having sought it. Its first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, announced it at a press conference in tears. Within decades he transformed a small port into one of the richest and most advanced economies in the world.

On August 9, 1974, Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th President of the United States, hours after Nixon formally resigned. Ford became the only president in US history to take office without having been elected as either president or vice-president. One month later, he pardoned Nixon over the Watergate affair.