Seventy-five years ago today, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, three days after dropping one on Hiroshima. No nuclear weapon has been used by any nation in war since.
The task now is to work to ensure no nation uses them in war again. Our past success should not lead us to naively assume that it will become easier the more time lapses since the events that ended the Second World War; in many ways it will be harder and more complex. Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States has used weapons every day—to deter war between the world’s major powers. And across administrations, nuclear deterrence has been national security mission one. The result has been relative peace.