Fifty-six years ago, on the morning of July 16, 1945, the United States exploded the first atomic bomb at a testing range at Alarmogordo, New Mexico. Watching the blast, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, who played the leading role in the last stages of the Manhattan Project, reminded himself of a doomsday passage in the Hindu scriptures. Three weeks later, on Aug. 6, an atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima and another over Nagasaki Aug. 9. Thus began the "nuclear age."

During the Cold War that followed, nuclear weapons played a central role, creating a "balance of terror" in the world. That nuclear faceoff ended more than a decade ago, raising hopes that these weapons of mass destruction would be dismantled for good. It was not to be. Nuclear disarmament has made little progress. One is led to wonder whether it is possible at all to eliminate these weapons of mass destruction in this century.

Today, Hiroshima observes the first anniversary in the 21st century of the atomic bombing. The nonnuclear drive, however, appears to have lost some steam in recent years. Symbolic of this, perhaps, is a solitary scene often seen these days at the Peace Memorial Park, with an aged person praying alone before the monument to the atomic-bomb victims.