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Opinion

Boston.com

Peter S. Canellos

Avoiding Hiroshima

Obama could send a vivid message about proliferation with one visit

By Peter S. Canellos

 |   

  October 22, 2011

Modern Hiroshima is a contradiction, a profoundly futuristic city unwilling to turn away from its past. So when Hiroshima’s schoolchildren and its senior citizens staged a letter-writing campaign to persuade Barack Obama to visit the city, their intention seemed clear: Before the atomic bombing of 1945 passes beyond human memory, they want a sitting American president to bear witness to the city’s suffering and recovery.

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