Peace Declaration (1966)

The Sixth of August has come upon us again today.

Twenty-one years ago on this day, we, the people of Hiroshima, went through that dreadful catastrophe which led us to sense the advent of an age in which war would take on a radically different character.

A nuclear bomb is not merely a powerful weapon of destruction; its radioactivity, long infesting both land and sea, becomes a menace to the life of living beings, and once used in large quantities, it would, as has been established, utterly pollute the atmosphere, eventually rendering the very earth unfit for human habitation. Furthermore, with technology capable of delivering rockets to the lunar surface, it would not take a difficult feat to effect in an opponent country, simultaneously with the outbreak of hostilities, an utmost demolition of its cities and major installations, causing millions of casualties among its inhabitants at a single blow.

War in the nuclear age is no longer a means of self-defense, but nothing less than an act of suicide by mankind itself.

It is most depressing, however, to see that even now one or two nations are forcing nuclear experiments in the atmosphere, aiming at the exploit of the diabolical weapon, while in Vietnam, the Middle East, the Near East and elsewhere in the world, warlike conflicts are being pursued at grave risks.

We firmly believe that all nations and peoples should rise to the cause of human survival, laying aside all self-interests and past grievances, now that man has come to share his lot not so much with a particular nation as with the earth in its entity.

As we, on this anniversary of the atomic bombing, make homage to the memory of its victims, we once again declare the belief of the people of Hiroshima and appeal therewith to the whole world.

August 6, 1966

Shinzo Hamai
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima