A New Sun Rises - August 6, 1945

8:15 AM, August 6, 1945

To people walking past the Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall, it was an ordinary morning, as ordinary as it could be during war time. The industrial city of Hiroshima was critical to Japan’s war effort and luckily it had been spared much of the destruction that rained down on other Japanese cities.

To look upward, at the partly cloudy sky, you would never think a new sun was about to be born. A new sum that would rise above the city and burn every living thing it touched. That morning some people in Hiroshima were transformed into shadows, leaving only their outlines exposed on sidewalks like blurry photographs. The new sun of the atomic age dawned over Hiroshima that morning and the world has never been the same.

I believe that those who built and dropped that weapon and the second one on Nagasaki believed they were doing the right thing. I have no way of putting myself in their shoes, so I will not second guess their decision. Nuclear weapons are a fact. Today, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain as the only places where the power and horror of these weapons has ever been released. I pray that they remain that way.


It is always a good idea to pause and remember that event. I sincerely believe we can avoid ever using these weapons again. The blasts and carnage of those bombs has been transformed today. The industrial trade center has become a memorial to peace and the stories of the people whose lives ended there can still speak to us today. I urge you to visit the website of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and take a few minutes this August 6th to learn more about what happened and what brought mankind to that fateful day.