There are 3 historical narratives about Hiroshima and Nagasaki that emerge roughly in chronological order: the "heroic" narrative, the "tragic" narrative, and the "apocalyptic" narrative.

The "heroic" narrative touts that US were the good guys in WWII, a “good war”, a war to defeat fascism. The atomic bombs were dropped to end the war hastily and spare a land invasion, blockade, and continued strategic bombing, ultimately saving lives.

According to US intelligence in 1945, the highest estimate for a land invasion of Japan was 46,000 casualties. Later in his life Truman upped that number to 500,000 in his memoirs, secretary of war Stimson claimed a "million" casualties were averted, i.e. around 250,000 dead.

George HW Bush claimed the atomic bombings saved “millions” of American lives. Estimates have steadily risen over the years along with criticism. Japanese and other Asian casualties began to be grouped in, in the same manner that Nazis are grouped in as “victims of communism”

From the outset, the estimated "lives saved" by nuking Japan was deliberately overblown by those in power to overshadow the massive amount of life lost at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the highest estimates at 210,000 people killed.

The "tragic" narrative asserts that the atomic bombings were not necessary. Japan was already defeated and pursuing options for surrender, and with military targets wiped out by 1945, the primary victims were civilians, women and children, and enslaved Koreans and Chinese.

This narrative emerged in the late 60s and early 70s, at the peak of the American anti-nuclear movement. Though most Americans today regard the bombings as a tragedy, this narrative was unsuccessful in challenging the establishment narrative that the bombings were unavoidable.

The "apocalyptic" narrative asserts that dropping atomic bombs unnecessarily was not only a war crime, but sets a potentially omnicidal precedent. Truman knowingly began a process that could threaten the existence of all life on earth. He claims he "never lost a wink of sleep."

We have been lucky to avoid another Hiroshima. In the past 75 years there have been over 80 nuclear "near-misses" in the form of comms blackouts, false intel, and standoffs like the Cuban missile crisis that, if cooler heads had not prevailed, could have ended life as we know it.

There are 3 prevailing myths about WWII: that the US won the war in Europe, that the Cold War started during WWII because of Soviet aggression, and that the atomic bombs ended the war and saved lives.

In 1945 7 out of 8 5-star admirals and generals agreed that the bombs were militarily unnecessary or morally reprehensible. The 8th was MacArthur, who had “no doubt” that altered surrender terms would’ve ended the war. MacArthur would heavily advocate for nukes in the Korean war.