Obama to Become First Sitting President to Visit Hiroshima in Upcoming Diplomacy Tour

President Obama will taking a diplomatic promotional tour through Asia later this month, and during part of his tour he will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, the Japanese city destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945 that was ordered by US President Harry Truman.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki both hold major symbolic significance on the world stage, as their atomic bombings marked the world’s first utilization of nuclear weapons in an active wartime scenario. Obama reportedly doesn’t plan to apologize for America’s use of the bombs per se, but he is expected to speak about peace and security efforts and the international reduction of nuclear weapons throughout the trip.

“He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II,” said national security adviser Ben Rhodes, in a Medium blog. “Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future.”

A statement from the White House Press Secretary details that Obama will first visit Vietnam in order to discuss TPP and other issues pertaining to economics and human rights advancement. The president will then participate in the Ise-Shima G7 Summit before he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe head to the city as they discuss the future of the US-Japan alliance.

[Image via screengrab]

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