President Obama's Visit to Hiroshima
It'll Be Impossible to Get This Moment From Obama's Visit to Hiroshima Out of Your Head
President Obama made a trip to Hiroshima today — he's the first sitting president to visit the Japanese city where the US unleashed the world's first atomic bomb during World War II on Aug. 6, 1945.
Obama was careful not to apologize for the attack, which many believe was necessary to end the war following the Pearl Harbor bombing. But he also acknowledged the pain and grief of the Japanese people.
"Seventy-one years ago, on a bright and cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed," Obama said in a speech alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "The flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself."
"We are not bound ... to repeat the mistakes of the past. We can learn. We can choose." —@POTUS speaks at Hiroshima. https://t.co/qLPoNEqlF9
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 27, 2016
About 140,000 people were killed as a result of the Hiroshima attack 71 years ago. Three days later, the US dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 more.
"We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell," he added "We force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. We listen to a silent cry."
Obama also said he hoped the Hiroshima bombing would be seen as a "moral awakening" and called for a world free of nuclear war.
Perhaps the most poignant moment came when he met and embraced two bombing survivors — 91-year-old Sunao Tsuboi and 79-year-old Shigeaki Mori. Tsuboi told reporters afterward that he appreciated how Obama held his hand and listened to him, according to the Associated Press. He said he told Obama that he will be remembered as the one who "listened to the voice of survivors like us."
Ahead, see more photos of the historic visit.
