Editorial: A Very Significant Visit

August 6 of 1945 marks  a before and after in history. The detonation of an atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan, brought a new brand of terror to humanity. The unprecedented capacity for destruction of this new weapon changed the world irreversibly. A relentless race to obtain the bomb began, and the threat it poses on global peace has never ceased. 

During his visit to Hiroshima, Barack Obama is expected to address this threat in an event separate from the G-7 meeting to be held in Japan. It will be the first time a U.S. President will visit the city where at least 140,000 civilians were killed by the nuclear inferno.

It will be a tough visit, though. Although 70 years have passed since World War II, the memory and resentment of the conflict remain. Obama will have to maneuver in a minefield, as every one of his actions will be subjected to interpretation, often in exaggerated terms.

In the U.S., people still debate whether it was right to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki three days later, and whether President Harry Truman’s actions were a crime against humanity or a military action that saved the lives of millions of people who would have perished during a Japanese invasion.

Obama has said that he does not plan to apologize for the bomb, but his visit inevitably seems to have conciliatory intentions, not unlike his Cairo speech about Islam early in his presidency, or his policies to reestablish relations with Cuba. In the eyes of his internal critics, Obama is embarking on yet another humiliating tour.

China and South Korea are also concerned about the visit, two countries that suffered the devastation of the Japanese invasion. They resent Japan for not doing enough to admit the horrors they committed, including forcing more than 200,000 people to sexual slavery as “comfort women” to serve their troops. They also worry that Obama’s reaching out will embolden Japanese nationalists.

The road leading to a U.S. president visiting Hiroshima has been long. We are glad that Obama has taken this step. It will help reconcile the role of the U.S. in that chapter in history, strengthen relations with Japan, and remind the world of the dangers of using the destructive capabilities we have available.