Barack Obama’s decision to become the first US president to visit Hiroshima not only demonstrates anew his own personal dignity. It has also returned to the world’s attention the outward, forward-looking America that has delivered stability and prosperity over the many decades since it unleashed unfathomable horror in August 1945.
TOKYO – At a time when Donald Trump’s indecency and vulgarity are distorting the world’s view of America, Barack Obama’s decision to become the first US president to visit Hiroshima demonstrates anew his own great personal dignity. Moreover, it returns to the world’s attention the outward, forward-looking America that has delivered stability and prosperity over the many decades since the atomic bomb was first used.
In coming to Hiroshima, Obama will come to know intimately the deepest pain of a nation that was once America’s enemy, but which is now a devoted friend. In examining the ruins of the nuclear abyss and recognizing our eternal sorrow, he will confirm our countries’ now-unbreakable ties. And it is because of the alliance between the US and Japan that peace in Asia and the Pacific will continue unbroken, whatever challenges may come.
Obama’s solemn trek is thus also a forward-looking moment for Japan. In the joint recognition by Japan and the United States of the horrors visited on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, both countries – the Pacific War’s victor and the vanquished – will show the world how bonds of alliance and solidarity are forged and maintained.
TOKYO – At a time when Donald Trump’s indecency and vulgarity are distorting the world’s view of America, Barack Obama’s decision to become the first US president to visit Hiroshima demonstrates anew his own great personal dignity. Moreover, it returns to the world’s attention the outward, forward-looking America that has delivered stability and prosperity over the many decades since the atomic bomb was first used.
In coming to Hiroshima, Obama will come to know intimately the deepest pain of a nation that was once America’s enemy, but which is now a devoted friend. In examining the ruins of the nuclear abyss and recognizing our eternal sorrow, he will confirm our countries’ now-unbreakable ties. And it is because of the alliance between the US and Japan that peace in Asia and the Pacific will continue unbroken, whatever challenges may come.
Obama’s solemn trek is thus also a forward-looking moment for Japan. In the joint recognition by Japan and the United States of the horrors visited on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, both countries – the Pacific War’s victor and the vanquished – will show the world how bonds of alliance and solidarity are forged and maintained.