President Obama Visits Hiroshima, Echoing URI Prayer

2 June 2016

Jun 02, 2016. 

 A screenshot from the Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons CC video featuring prominent figures praying for an end to nuclear weapons - view it here

“Obama in Hiroshima Calls for 'World Without Nuclear Weapons'” - Read the CNN article here

Read URI's press release here

Today, Barack Obama stands in Hiroshima, Japan, honoring the residents of the city and all who were affected by the tragic nuclear bombing of WWII. He is the first sitting United States president to visit the city. 

President Obama has called for a "world without nuclear weapons;" a thought echoed by many prominent leaders across the political spectrum. In URI’s own community, the Cooperation Circle Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons brings together a former Secretary of State, a former Secretary of Defense, several United States Ambassadors, a famous physicist, and more to raise their voices in calling for a world without nuclear weapons.  

"The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of an atom requires a moral revolution as well," Obama said.  This sentiment supports and amplifies the voices of URI members as they call for an end to the nuclear threat.  

Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons CC has just released a short video starring these veterans of nuclear negotiations as they join together to pray for nuclear disarmament: 

  • The Honorable William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense under President Clinton 

  • The Honorable George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State under President Reagan 

  • Dr. Sidney Drell, Professor Emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator  

  • Ambassador James E. Goodby, former Strategic Nuclear Arms Negotiator with the U.S.S.R. 

  • Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr, former Senior U.S. Diplomat  

  • Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute  

  • Monica Willard, United Religions Initiative Representative to the United Nations  

  • The Right Rev. William E. Swing, former Episcopal Bishop of California, and President and Founder of the United Religions Initiative  

As President Obama wrote in the guest book at the Hiroshima museum today, he hopes the world will "find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons.‎"