The U.S. president could only lament mankind’s use of science and technology to destroy each other, asserting that the nuclear bombs that ended World War II proved the horror that “mankind possessed the means to destroy itself”.
Advertisement
Later, Obama said, “Yet in the image of a mushroom cloud that rose into these skies, we are most starkly reminded of humanity’s core contradiction”.
Years ago, Daniel visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki to honour the victims of the attacks.
A second nuclear bomb destroyed the city of Nagasaki three days later, killing another 70,000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending a war that killed millions.
During his visit to Hiroshima as the first US sitting president to do so, President Obama didn’t outright apologize for the events of 1945, as many who objected to the visit feared he would.
Obama called for a world without nuclear weapons during his visit.
At the memorial, Obama said he came “to ponder a awful force unleashed in a not so distant past”. What a precious thing that is.
During the ceremony, President Obama laid a wreath and then stood in silence at a cenotaph near where the first atomic bomb fell. He did not offer an apology to the Japanese on behalf of the USA, but instead called for an end to nuclear stockpiles.
In Hiroshima, many people said they were grateful that Obama came, and most say they aren’t bothered that it took this long – or that he didn’t apologize for what predecessor Harry S. Truman ordered. He embraced a man named Shigeaki Mori, who created a memorial for American WWII POWs killed at Hiroshima.
“The president gestured as if he was going to give me a hug, so we hugged”, Mr Mori said.
“I tried to listen to him, but it was so overwhelming”, he said.
John Bolton, former United Nations ambassador, called Obama’s remarks a “not-too-thinly veiled attack on Harry Truman, whose morals apparently didn’t quite make it up to Barack Obama’s high standards”. “That is what is important”, he said.
“I was thrilled to attend the historic event”. This, he said, was “to prevent conflict through diplomacy and to strive to end conflicts after they’ve begun”.
Daniel said like his schoolmates, he learned about the bombing in school.
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.
The president, who has made uneven progress on his nuclear agenda over the past seven years, spoke of “the courage to escape the logic of fear” as he held out hope for diligent, incremental steps to reduce nuclear stockpiles.
Advertisement
The government attacked Japan in the state-run China Daily newspaper.
