“During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of ’face’. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude…”
How about Eisenhower? I feel like this is fairly good evidence.
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/lesson-plans/re-thinking-dropping-atomic-bombs-lesson-2
Not who you’re talking to, but I’d never heard his take on that before. Thanks for sharing it.