Interview with Ben Rhodes, deputy assistant to President Obama, on president’s visit to Hiroshima
Jul. 8, 2016
by Yumi Kanazaki and Keiichiro Yamamoto, Staff Writers
WASHINGTON—On the morning of July 6 (the early morning of July 7 in Japan), Ben Rhodes, 38, the deputy assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama, gave an exclusive interview to the Chugoku Shimbun at the White House. Mr. Rhodes worked on the speech that President Obama made in Hiroshima. He said that Mr. Obama’s visit to the A-bombed city, the first sitting American president to come to Hiroshima, was a success. Regarding the contents of the speech, he made clear that Mr. Obama was himself determined to make his visit to Hiroshima a moral mission in order to continue advancing the quest for nuclear disarmament.
Mr. Rhodes stressed the progress made by the Obama administration in this area, including such firsts as the attendance by the U.S. ambassador to Japan at the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima and a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Hiroshima in April. He said that these firsts have now opened the door to future visits by U.S. presidents and American officials to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Obama administration, he said, can be proud of the fact that a new relationship has been built between the United States and the A-bombed cities.
Mr. Obama spent a total of 52 minutes in the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward during his visit, with 17 of those minutes spent making his speech. Over the process of drafting that speech, Mr. Rhodes said that the research team, at Mr. Obama’s request, had sought to collect as many powerful stories of A-bomb survivors’ experiences as they could. He also explained that Mr. Obama had rewritten the speech significantly himself, something he didn’t usually do, including the first line of the speech that describes the moment of the A-bomb attack.
Concerning criticism that the speech didn’t refer to concrete plans for pursuing nuclear disarmament measures, Mr. Rhodes said that he understands this criticism, but that “He (Mr. Obama) thought that the appropriate thing to do would be to describe the feelings of being there, and to mourn for the people who were lost, and make, not just policy ideas, but kind of a moral mission out of the visit to Hiroshima to continue to pursue disarmament.”
Mr. Rhodes also touched on Mr. Obama’s time in the Peace Memorial Museum, which was not open to the public during his visit. He said that Mr. Obama was able to see a number of artifacts that survived the bomb blast, as well as some photographs. According to Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Obama told him that he had been particularly moved by the paper cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki, a girl who died of A-bomb-induced leukemia at the age of 12, ten years after the bombing. Though he said that Mr. Obama would be unable to also visit Nagasaki, the other A-bombed city, during his time in office, which ends next January, he offered on Mr. Obama’s behalf: “I’m sure he will be interested in visiting Nagasaki, too.”
He did not deny that the Obama team was carrying the so-called “nuclear football,” a communication device to direct a nuclear attack, during the visit to Hiroshima.
Mr. Rhodes has been involved in writing drafts of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy speeches since the president’s inauguration, including the address he delivered in Prague in April 2009. In that speech Mr. Obama described a range of ideas for resolving nuclear issues. Mr. Rhodes was also involved in the final decision-making for Mr. Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, which took place on May 27, and he accompanied the president on this trip.
(Originally published on July 8, 2016)
WASHINGTON—On the morning of July 6 (the early morning of July 7 in Japan), Ben Rhodes, 38, the deputy assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama, gave an exclusive interview to the Chugoku Shimbun at the White House. Mr. Rhodes worked on the speech that President Obama made in Hiroshima. He said that Mr. Obama’s visit to the A-bombed city, the first sitting American president to come to Hiroshima, was a success. Regarding the contents of the speech, he made clear that Mr. Obama was himself determined to make his visit to Hiroshima a moral mission in order to continue advancing the quest for nuclear disarmament.
Mr. Rhodes stressed the progress made by the Obama administration in this area, including such firsts as the attendance by the U.S. ambassador to Japan at the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima and a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Hiroshima in April. He said that these firsts have now opened the door to future visits by U.S. presidents and American officials to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Obama administration, he said, can be proud of the fact that a new relationship has been built between the United States and the A-bombed cities.
Mr. Obama spent a total of 52 minutes in the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward during his visit, with 17 of those minutes spent making his speech. Over the process of drafting that speech, Mr. Rhodes said that the research team, at Mr. Obama’s request, had sought to collect as many powerful stories of A-bomb survivors’ experiences as they could. He also explained that Mr. Obama had rewritten the speech significantly himself, something he didn’t usually do, including the first line of the speech that describes the moment of the A-bomb attack.
Concerning criticism that the speech didn’t refer to concrete plans for pursuing nuclear disarmament measures, Mr. Rhodes said that he understands this criticism, but that “He (Mr. Obama) thought that the appropriate thing to do would be to describe the feelings of being there, and to mourn for the people who were lost, and make, not just policy ideas, but kind of a moral mission out of the visit to Hiroshima to continue to pursue disarmament.”
Mr. Rhodes also touched on Mr. Obama’s time in the Peace Memorial Museum, which was not open to the public during his visit. He said that Mr. Obama was able to see a number of artifacts that survived the bomb blast, as well as some photographs. According to Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Obama told him that he had been particularly moved by the paper cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki, a girl who died of A-bomb-induced leukemia at the age of 12, ten years after the bombing. Though he said that Mr. Obama would be unable to also visit Nagasaki, the other A-bombed city, during his time in office, which ends next January, he offered on Mr. Obama’s behalf: “I’m sure he will be interested in visiting Nagasaki, too.”
He did not deny that the Obama team was carrying the so-called “nuclear football,” a communication device to direct a nuclear attack, during the visit to Hiroshima.
Mr. Rhodes has been involved in writing drafts of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy speeches since the president’s inauguration, including the address he delivered in Prague in April 2009. In that speech Mr. Obama described a range of ideas for resolving nuclear issues. Mr. Rhodes was also involved in the final decision-making for Mr. Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, which took place on May 27, and he accompanied the president on this trip.
(Originally published on July 8, 2016)
