A Gallop poll conducted soon after the bombings revealed that an unprecedented eighty-five percent of Americans supported the United States' decision to utilize the atomic bombs against Japan. Despite vast public approval, a calculated campaign led by government officials was employed to spread a narrative of the bombings that ignored the facts in favor of portraying the bombings in a positive light. This coupled with decades of ignorance of the facts of the bombings has accounted for the striking disparity between the public's endorsement of the use of the atomic bombs against Japan and the reluctance to commemorate the bombings as part of World War II.

In this U.S. view, the atomic bombs were dropped to bring an end to a brutal war started by Japan and to prevent countless American and enemy casualties that could occur in a full American invasion of the Japanese islands. In the consciousness of the American public, the atomic bomb created peace, it did not threaten it. Popular culture in the U.S. reflected this politicized view and allowed for the disconnect in the American opinion of the bombings from that of the Japanese.