To Eleanor Roosevelt’s credit, she later visited Hiroshima to survey the aftermath of the bombing and would often call for our collective better wisdom in the future.

Our good friend Harry S Truman, on the other hand, only offered condolences before reiterating how correct in his decision he was. Regardless of your personal position on the use of nuclear weapons, WWII or otherwise (mine should be well established at this point), to have a president completely absent of all introspection is troubling.

And there lies my main problem with Truman. We shouldn’t just elect our leaders to govern in the present, but also have some semblance of eye towards the future and its consequences. At the very least, we should expect our leaders to be introspective when necessary. Maybe even learn.