‘US government documents admit that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not necessary to end WWII. Japan was on the verge of surrendering. The nuclear attack was the first strike in Washington’s Cold War on the Soviet Union. Ben Norton reviews the historical record.’
They went as far as intentionally not bombing certain cities, to encourage refugees, industries and military offices to relocate there, so when they did bomb them later they’d inflict greater casualties and damage. They didn’t do this explicitly to drop nukes, but the list of targets largely contained these cities.