Everything I have heard about Laurence indicates that he was a fishy character. Amy Goodman had a segment on him, explaining how some people are advocating that he be retroactively stripped of his Pulitzer because of his propagandistic reporting on nuclear fallout. The way you describe him adds an additional layer of depth, and makes him seem like a thoughtless enthusiast who had to be kept in check by the authorities, as opposed to the image of a suave goateed Machievellian accomplice that I pictured in my mind’s eye.

Still, credit where it’s due — when I read his description of the ride in the Bockscar, my skin crawls. “But no sooner did this happen when another mushroom, smaller in size than the first one, began emerging out of the pillar. It was as though the decapitated monster was growing a new head… As the first mushroom floated off into the blue it changed its shape into a flower-like form, its giant petal curving downward, creamy white outside, rose-colored inside. It still retained that shape when we last gazed at it from a distance of about 200 miles.” Shoddy journalism aside, the man gets full marks for evocative writing.

Mr. W.L. Laurence was nothing if not eloquent. He worked for the New York Times, donchakno. *nods sagely*