If you’re a president wanting to make a statement against nuclear weapons, there are few places you can visit more loaded with powerful symbolism than Hiroshima, Japan. Barack Obama is that president, and he’ll be making a historic visit to the first city ever hit with a nuclear weapon when he visits Japan at the end of the month. Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, which he will make with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is intended “to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” the White House said in a statement.

Expect Republicans to howl that the president is somehow betraying America with this visit. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes anticipated that line of attack in a Medium post:

[Obama] will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future. To be sure, the United States will be eternally proud of our civilian leaders and the men and women of our armed forces who served in World War II for their sacrifice at a time of maximum peril to our country and our world. Their cause was just, and we owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude, which the President will again commemorate shortly after the visit on Memorial Day. This visit will offer an opportunity to honor the memory of all innocents who were lost during the war.

As for that forward-looking vision, it will include a celebration of the relationship between the U.S. and Japan despite the nuclear history, and a recognition and commitment that “our shared work is not yet finished. We will continue to strive together for a more peaceful world without nuclear weapons, while ensuring our shared security.”