Obama in Hiroshima

On Friday, May 27, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, site of the first atomic bomb detonation in history. Amid the debate over the visit—will he or won’t he go; will he or won’t he meet with the Hibakusha; will he or won’t he apologize—it is clear that his visit is a monumentally historic event that will force the world to consider again the destructive consequences of nuclear weapons.

Below, we’ve assembled a reading list on the subject of the only uses of nuclear weapons in history, and what this visit by President Obama means to people in the U.S., Japan, and around the world. To help tackle the big questions raised, we are highlighting some of our best and most recent analysis.

What President Obama should say at Hiroshima, by Hugh Gusterson

Let Hiroshima guide us back to nuclear basics, by Kennette Benedict

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Lessons learned?Development and Disarmament Roundtable
 
Where will the next president stand on nuclear weapons?by Rachel Whitlark

Hiroshima and the Iran agreement, by Rachel Bronson

Can Japan become a bridge-builder for nuclear disarmament?by Masako Toki

The weight of a butterfly, by Emily Strasser

At Hiroshima, lay plans for a nuclear-weapon-free world, by Kennette Benedict

The harrowing story of the Nagasaki bombing mission, by Ellen Bradbury and Sandra Blakeslee

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The many retrospectives, by Dan Drollette

A picture's power to prevent, by Seth Baum

Comics, graphic novels, and the nuclear age, by Ariane Tabatabai

Nuclear Notebook Interactive: Our infographic of the world's nuclear arsenal

2016 Doomsday Clock Statement