McCurry, the White House press secretary, said President Clinton supported the Smithsonian's decision. Last week more than 80 Republican and Democratic members of the House sent a letter to Mr. The veterans, who maintained that the exhibit underestimated the likely casualties, won support in Congress. But the discussions broke down over the question of how many casualties the United States would have had if it had invaded Japan instead of dropping the bomb. Gone, too, is talk of American lives saved by the use of the bomb or of the 130,000 Japanese who were killed or injured in the attack on Hiroshima, and the 75,000 killed or injured in Nagasaki.Īfter the veterans complained, several groups, including the American Legion, met with Smithsonian curators and, by late October, a compromise seemed to be in the making that would have preserved the entire exhibit. Gone are arguments over the morality of using atomic weapons. 6, 1945, and another on Nagasaki three days later. Truman's decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. Gone is any discussion of the issues that influenced President Harry S. Some veterans groups said they were pleased with today's decision, while others, including the Air Force Association, remained skeptical, saying it would wait until the exhibit opened before offering an opinion of today's decision.īut several historians and groups like the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an antinuclear group based in Washington, decried the move, calling it censorship and arguing that the original exhibit provided a historical context for the bombing that would not be available now. He also said there would be no catalogue of the show and that items and artifacts relating to the bombing, lent by the Government of Japan, would be returned. "One doesn't make personnel decisions in the middle of passion and heat," Mr. Heyman said that he would look into the management of the Air and Space Museum, but would not say whether he would ask for Mr. Harwit, the director of the Air and Space Museum. Members of Congress and veterans groups had called for the dismissal of Martin O. They said it should have explained how the United States entered the war and should have mentioned Japanese atrocities during the war. Veterans' groups complained that the presentation undervalued their part in ending the Pacific phase of World War II and painted the use of the bomb as tantamount to a war crime. The scaled-down exhibit is scheduled to open in May at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum here.Īrguments over the original plan erupted almost as soon as it became public more than a year ago.
"They were not looking for analysis and, frankly, we did not give enough thought to the intense feelings such analysis would evoke." Michael Heyman, secretary of the Smithsonian, in announcing today's decision to scale back the exhibit. After nearly two decades of restoration, the Enola Gay will be one of the highlights of the museum’s new Udvar-Hazy Center, which is scheduled to open at Dulles International Airport on December 15, 2003."In this important anniversary year, veterans and their families were expecting, and rightly so, that the nation would honor and commemorate their valor and sacrifice," said I. This book tells the story of the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 program, and the combat operations of the B-29 type. The original, controversial exhibit script was changed, and the final exhibition attracted some 4 million visitors, testifying to the enduring interest in the aircraft and its mission. The aircraft was the primary artifact in an exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum from 1995 to 1998. The Japanese government, which had been preparing a bloody defense against an invasion, surrendered six days later. Three days later, another B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The “Little Boy” bomb exploded with the force of 12.5 kilotons of TNT, nearly destroying the city. The world entered the atomic age in August 1945, when the B-29 Superfortress nicknamed Enola Gay flew some 1,500 miles from the island of Tinian and dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.