President Obama will be the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima, the city where the US dropped the first atomic bomb in 1945. The White House has emphasized Obama will not be making a formal apology for the United States' past actions in Japan: "He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.
Obama will, however, speak about the pursuit of peace through nuclear disarmament. The president's critics are characterizing the visit as an "apology tour," claiming his speech will disrespect the memory of US World War II veterans and their sacrifices. Others want him to go further and formally apologize for using nuclear weapons against the people of Japan.
The US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, which killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima. A second bomb killed up to 80,000 people in Nagasaki three days later.
Should Obama apologize?
