And 59 years ago today the US military dropped a 20 kiloton atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The bombing quickly killed over 140,000 people and marked the start of the nuclear arms race. About a quarter of a million people are believed to have died from effects of the bombing. Three days after Hiroshima, the U.S. dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki killing tens of thousands more. Today the mayor of Hiroshima condemned the United States for continuing to build nuclear weapons. He said “Ignoring the United Nations and its foundation of international law, the United States has resumed research to make nuclear weapons smaller and more usable.”