Obama to Make Historic First Visit to Hiroshima Friday
He is the first U.S. president to visit the city.
— -- President Obama will travel to Hiroshima Friday, becoming the first American president to visit the city where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb during World War II.
The fact an American president is visiting Hiroshima showcases the remarkable change in the U.S.'s relationship with Japan, once considered an enemy of the United States.
"The dropping of the atomic bomb, the ushering in of nuclear weapons was an inflection point in modern history," the president said Thursday. "It is something that all of us have had to deal with in one way or another."
He added: "The backdrop of a nuclear event remains something that, I think, presses on the back of our imaginations."
President Obama, who will be accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will lay a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial before making a statement reflecting on his visit.
The highly emotional visit will cap off the president’s five-day trip to Vietnam and Japan.
Obama has said he won’t apologize for President Harry Truman’s decision to launch the world’s first nuclear attack, but he will use the visit as an opportunity to make his case for ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
Earlier in the day, he will stop at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni to thank troops. After his stop in Hiroshima, the president returns to the U.S.