The White House had debated whether the time was right for Obama to break a decades-old taboo on presidential visits to Hiroshima, especially in an election year.
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“We remember all the innocent killed in the arc of that bad war and wars that came before, and wars that would follow”.
After speaking, Obama shook hands and chatted briefly with two atomic bomb survivors.
“This afternoon I will visit Hiroshima”, Obama said at the base.
Obama says his visit to Hiroshima today is “an opportunity to honor the memory of all those who were lost during World War II”. Atomic Bomb Dome is seen in the background.
The city of Nagasaki was hit by a second nuclear bomb on 9 August, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later.
“It’s not only a reminder of the bad toll of World War II and the death of innocents across continents but it’s also to remind ourselves that the job’s not done”, he said Thursday.
At the expansive Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Obama silently placed a white-and-yellow wreath in front of a concrete, arch-shaped monument representing a shelter for the victims’ souls bearing an inscription in Japanese: “Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil”.
“Obama is seized with the wild ambition to dominate the world by dint of the United States nuclear edge”, the agency said.
Laird suggested the time was past when Japan had to keep atoning for its wartime history: “There were a lot of atrocities but that war is over”. He told the USA president he will be remembered as the one who “listened to the voice of survivors like us”.
In a ceremony loaded with symbolism, the first sitting USA president to visit the city met survivors of the fearsome attack that marked one of the final, terrifying chapters of World War II.
Obama, walking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, then quietly spoke to a pair of bombing survivors, Sunao Tsuboi, who heads an organization for victims, and Shigeaki Mori, who created a memorial for American World War II prisoners of war killed in Hiroshina.
Obama further hopes his appearance at the site will serve to reinforce his bid to reduce global stockpiles of nuclear weapons, an effort that’s had only moderate strides after seven years in office.
“We are under the USA nuclear umbrella, so Abe can’t do so much”, Obama said about USA protection of Japan.
While some in Japan feel the attack was an abomination because it targeted civilians, many Americans say it hastened the end of a brutal and bloody conflict, and ultimately saved lives.
Japanese officials had initially discouraged Obama from coming, but the final ground was paved by Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited the memorial and museum in April.
Truman responded to the Hiroshima resolution by writing a letter to the council’s chairman, saying that “the feeling of the people of your city is easily understood, and I am not in any way offended by the resolution”.
Obama arrived in Hiroshima, accompanied by Caroline Kennedy, ambassador to Japan and the daughter of the 35th USA president.
Atomic bomb survivors have said an apology from Obama would be welcome but their priority is ridding the world of nuclear arms, a goal that seems as elusive as ever.
“It was the war of aggression the Japanese militarist government launched against its neighbours and its refusal to accept its failure that had led to U.S. dropping the atomic bombs”, it added.
There are American former POWs who want the president to fault Japan for starting the war in the Pacific.
The Washington Post even ran an editorial urging Mr Obama to visit.
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Obama arrived at Hiroshima’s memorial park on Friday.
