Like Oppenheimer, Truman agonized about dropping more nukes on Japan, troubled as he was by the thought of more innocents and noncombatants being killed. Was the Atomic Bomb project necessary? ”4In 1946 the Federal Council of Churches issued a statement declaring, “As American Christians, we are deeply penitent for the irresponsible use already made of the atomic bomb. The death toll from conventional bombing would have been just as high as that produced by the two atomic bombs, if not higher. On balance, then, dropping the atomic bombs was the least destructive of the options on the table.