Peace Declaration (1967)

August 6, 1945 has led us to the realization that on that day our world was forced to stand at the threshold of a new era. Life or death, annihilation or prosperity - these two and only two alternatives confront mankind today.

Indeed, the development of atomic energy crowned the twentieth century science with a brilliant victory, but the destiny of mankind has been made to test heavily on whether the great achievement of modern science will be employed for slaughter and destruction, or for human well-being and construction.

World peace, barely hinged on the balances of power and of terror among the great powers, is as precarious as eggs piled one on top of another. Powerful armed forces pitted against one another in heavy reliance on nuclear weapons may easily explode into a war that may well drag mankind into its ultimate destruction.

For delivery from this anxiety and danger, there no longer remains any other way out but to set up, in the spirit of solidarity of mankind, a new world order where Law shall prevail, based upon tolerance and faith, conciliation and discipline. In place of battlefields, let there be prepared a seat for mutual understanding under dominance of true international amity and lofty world law; let there be established a world order for the guarantee of mutual aid, cooperation and prosperous coexistence to all nations and peoples, banishing for good the tragedy of war from this earth. Only then will a permanent peace be created as fruit of the human wisdom, only then will a new era be ushered into our world.

Eloignment from sight begets oblivion; let us not forget the tragedy of Hiroshima that smote her like a bolt from the blue twenty-two years ago today, destroying more than two hundred thousand lives, and which even to this day threatens the life of many a surviving bomb-victim. Let it be remembered as an experience shared in common by all the world, and let our appeal ring out that all human intellect and power be concentrated so as to have any and all wars completely abandoned and nuclear weapons totally banned.

Thus we do proclaim far and wide to the entire world, as we today pay homage to the fallen victims of the Atom Bomb.

August 6, 1967

Setsuo Yamada
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima