Obama visits Hiroshima memorial
Barack Obama on Friday paid tribute to the “silent cry” of the 140,000 people killed by the world’s first atomic bomb attack as he became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima.
“Death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said, after laying a wreath, closing his eyes and briefly bowing his head before an arched monument in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park. The park honours those killed on Aug. 6, 1945, when U.S. forces dropped the bomb that ushered in the nuclear age.
The bombing, Obama said, “demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.”
Obama did not apologize, instead offering, in a carefully choreographed display, a reflection on the horrors of war and his hope that Hiroshima would be remembered as the beginning of a “moral awakening.”
WE STAND HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS CITY AND FORCE OURSELVES TO IMAGINE THE MOMENT THE BOMB FELL ... WE LISTEN TO A SILENT CRY.
As he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood near an iconic bombed-out domed building, Obama acknowledged the devastating toll of war and urged the world to do better.
“We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell ... we listen to a silent cry,” Obama said.
A second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki three days after Hiroshima, killed 70,000 more.
Obama also sought to look forward to the day when there was less danger of nuclear war. He received a Nobel Peace Prize early on in his presidency for his antinuclear agenda but has since seen uneven progress.
“We must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them,” Obama said of nuclear weapons.
Following the remarks, Abe called Obama’s visit courageous and long-awaited. He said it would help the suffering of survivors and echoed the anti-nuclear sentiments.
“At any place in world, this tragedy must not be repeated again,” Abe said.
The visit presented a diplomatic tightrope for a U.S. president trying to make history without ripping open old wounds.
Critics believe Obama’s mere presence in Hiroshima will be viewed as an apology for what they see as a justified attack. But he has also drawn praise from those who see it as a long overdue gesture for two allies ready to bury a troubled past.
After his remarks, he met with two survivors, but his remarks to the aging men were out of ear shot of reporters.
At one point, Obama could be seen laughing and smiling with 91-year-old Sunao Tsuboi, and he embraced Shigeaki Mori, 79, in a hug. But mostly, Obama just listened to the men as they spoke through an interpreter.
Han Jeong-soon, the 58-year-old daughter of a Korean survivor, was also at the park Friday.
“The suffering, such as illness, gets carried on over the generations — that is what I want President Obama to know,” she said. “I want him to understand our sufferings.”