Grim precedent: Obama's visit to Hiroshima will be first for sitting U.S. President

It was back in 2009, that Obama first expressed a desire to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki. But the time was never right — until now.

A woman floats paper lanterns lit in remembrance for victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima on the Motoyasu River at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, on Aug. 6, 2013. (Photo by Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty)

A woman floats paper lanterns lit in remembrance for victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima on the Motoyasu River in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, on Aug. 6, 2013.

May 11, 2016, 1:45 AM UTC / Updated May 11, 2016, 2:24 AM UTC

By Ron Allen, Ron Allen

It will have taken President Barack Obama some 7 years — most of his time in office — to make the sensitive and profound journey to Hiroshima, Japan.

A huge expanse of ruins left by the explosion of the atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945 in Hiroshima. (Photo by AP) — A huge expanse of ruins left by the explosion of the atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945 in Hiroshima. 140,000 people were killed.