important to remember also that truman went ahead with it primarily to intimidate the soviet union and ensure a greater sphere of influence for the US in the post-war order https://twitter.com/shaun_vids/status/1291385164506030082

as chomsky notes, when the soviets joined the war effort against the japanese, they realized it was over and indicated they were willing to surrender, which the US knew through its diplomatic channels, spies and intercepted messages. but truman went ahead with the bombing anyway

and though the soviet union declared war on august 8th, and the first bomb was dropped on the 6th, japanese intelligence knew soviets were transporting troops to the east in preparation for an invasion well before that, so their willingness to surrender came before the first bomb

kuznick is a historian who also collaborated on the oliver stone documentary "the untold history of the united states", which is worth watching. here's a good interview with him on the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki

this is also interesting and moving. chomsky talks about how he experienced the news of the bombing as a 15/16 year old and recalls how he had to go to the red light district with his wife to watch a documentary about hiroshima bc of how suppressed it was