The government’s official narrative, along with Americans’ continued anger over Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, mistreatment of Allied POWs, and atrocities in Asia, had long ago conjoined to create a powerful and multifaceted mythos about the atomic bombings that still pervaded the American consciousness. Inflated claims of the potential number of American lives saved by the bombings and the bombs’ definitive role in ending the war were so ingrained in public thought and culture that many people still perceived the bombs as virtuous instruments of peace.
