Call on President Obama to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki this month.

Targeting: The President of the United States

Started by: Leonard Eiger

President Barack Obama will visit Japan on November 12 and 13, 2009. As this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and as an advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons, he has an unprecedented opportunity to continue building momentum towards this goal by visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only cities on which nuclear weapons have ever been used. A visit to one, or both, of these cities as well as a speech to the world from Hiroshima would be a bold statement of hope in the months preceeding the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference (May 2010).

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Petition Text

Please visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki on your stop in Japan

Dear President Obama

Your visit to Japan this November presents you with a historic opportunity to be the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only cities to have ever suffered from the use of nuclear weapons in war.  Such a visit, coupled with a speech to the world from one of these cities, would send a powerful message to the entire world, not only reemphasizing the critical importance of nuclear disarmament, but also demonstrating the leadership of the United States.

The citizens of all nations and their leaders need a strong reason to push for the difficult work needed to abolish nuclear weapons, and there can be no stronger reasons than these two cities that were devastated by nuclear weapons.  Addressing the world from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park would allow you to present Hiroshima's experience to the world while also presenting the opportunity and hope for a nuclear weapons-free future.

Through your speech in Prague in April and leading the special session of the UN Security Council in September, you have demonstrated your dedication to nuclear weapons abolition.  People in the U.S. and around the world have responded to your "audacity of hope", and a visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, coupled with an address to the world, would exemplify the epitome of both audacity and hope.

Please make visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki part of your itinerary during your visit to Japan.

[Your name]