It's rather more complicated than "whales being endangered or not". There are many different species which have each been exploited differently, and some, despite being more numerous, may nevertheless be more vulnerable. Also, species that may not be threatened overall may have critically endangered populations around the world.
Overall most whales who have been hunted in the past have made admirable recoveries as they claw their way out of dodge, but most remain "conservation dependant," which does appear to indicate that their survival is somewhat dependant on their conservation. Many more we simply have no clue about whatsoever. Only in 2003 a whole new species of rorqual (baleen whale like the blue and humpback, not right and grey) was discovered, though we are still verifying that with DNA testing.
Whaling never actually wiped out any species (that we know about) but some came damn close, if those bans had not come when they did, I shudder to think. What whalers have eliminated, though, was the whale-sized sirenian Hydrodamalis gigas, more commonly known as Steller's sea cow. The last one was hauled bloody and torn from the waters of the Bering sea in 1769. Record time, given that the animal had only been discovered in 1741.
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