chomsky says its up for debate but its the impending invasion of the russians which convinced japanese war hawks to surrender.
howard zinn says it was a great myth that we saved lives dropping hte nukes. says japanese were about to surrender. he says if your in favor of ending hte war more quickly by killing 100,000s of japanese, would you likewise be in favor of killing 100,000s of americans to end the war more quickly? the answer is no.
paul jay and gar alperovitz believe most historians agree the nukes were unnecessary.