ArtKramr wrote:

To have had the ability to end the war and not having done so, would have been
the greatest war crime of all.

I had the impression that thoughts along those lines were considered in
the administration. While the US had a good notion that the Japanese
surrender was only a matter of time, how much time was still in the air,
even with the Soviet declaration of war. The invasion of the home
islands were only a contingency, and really worse case planers might
have had the idea of a huge force close by, not so much to
invade/conqure the Japanese as much as to deter Soviet intrusion. But as
to the atomics, to have them and not use them, with the presumption that
they would bring the war to a quick end, would have the public demanding
for the heads of responsible leaders for every soldier killed beyond the
deployable date.