[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12725-12726]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 REFLECTIONS ON THE 72ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND 
                                NAGASAKI

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, August 11, 2017

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in remembrance of 
the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ushered in the nuclear age 
72 years ago this week.
  The atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and 
Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 thankfully represent the only instances 
where the awesome destructive power of nuclear weapons were unleashed.
  While it is true that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki helped 
to bring a speedy and decisive end to the conflict in the Pacific 
theater during World War II, it is also true that devastation and 
carnage wrought by those explosions was a vivid reminder and compelling 
reason for the international community to work in concert to prevent 
the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons.
  And for 72 years, the international community, led by the United 
States, has deterred every nation on earth from using nuclear weapons 
although it has been less successful in deterring several nation-states 
from developing their nuclear weapons capability.
  So while we pause to remember the victims who perished in, and the 
lives that were saved by, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is 
critically important that we take this moment to redouble our 
commitment towards nuclear nonproliferation and banishing the threat of 
nuclear annihilation from the earth.
  Mr. Speaker, since 1945 preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and 
weapons technology has been a pillar of the U.S.-led, rules-based 
international order that has brought an unprecedented era of peace and 
prosperity to the United States and its allies in Europe, Asia, and the 
Pacific.
  It is this commitment to nuclear non-proliferation that has led the 
United States to work with the international community to keep rogue 
nations from developing their own nuclear arsenals, the most recent 
achievement in

[[Page 12726]]

this regard is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) 
negotiated with the Iranian government in 2015.
  Multilateral efforts like the JCPOA were made possible by 
responsible, level-headed leadership that did not needlessly engage in 
brinksmanship.
  Today, the world faces a grave threat from the rogue and hostile 
regime in Pyongyang in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
  Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that we continually seek to reduce the 
risk of war, and this is not accomplished through the use of 
overheated, reckless, and bombastic rhetoric.
  It is vitally important that the Trump Administration understand the 
importance of using restrained and judicious rhetoric in trying to 
diffuse this delicate situation.
  Mr. Speaker, blustery statements and bombastic tweets will not defuse 
the tense situation on the Korean peninsula or frighten the regime in 
North Korea.
  Instead, we must employ the full arsenal of America's smart power 
assets--diplomacy, economic sanctions--to persuade North Korea that it 
is in its self-interest to turn away from the dangerous path it is 
traveling.
  The United States does not harbor hostile intentions toward North 
Korea and is seeking to overthrow the regime in Pyongyang.
  Mr. Speaker, direct diplomatic engagement with North Korea represents 
America's best option and holds the promise of a favorable and peaceful 
outcome, just as was achieved with the JCPOA and the 1994 Agreed 
Framework reached with North Korea that stopped North Korea's nuclear 
weapons program for nine years.
  On July 16, 1945, after witnessing the first test of the atomic bomb 
in Alamagordo, New Mexico, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of 
the Manhattan Project, remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, 
the Bhagavad-Gita: ``Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.''
  Mr. Speaker, for more than 70 years the international community, led 
by the most indispensable of nations, the United States, has kept the 
nuclear genie in the bottle.
  We have been successful to date in no small part due to the 
thoughtful, persistent, judicious, restrained application of American 
power by responsible, sober, determined, informed Presidents of the 
United States, from Harry Truman through Barack Obama.
  When he took the oath of office on January 20, 2017, that torch, and 
the burden of leadership, was passed to Donald Trump and all Americans 
are anxiously hoping and praying he can restrain his impulses and rise 
to the occasion.

                          ____________________