Enola Gay Conroversy (at Smitsionian 1995)

Enola Gay Controversy

At the approach of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific , the Smithsonian Institution 's National Air and Space Museum (NASM ) planned an exhibit with its centerpiece , the Enola Gay , the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb at Hiroshima on August 6 , 1945 .1 The Enola Gay , the giant four engine superfortress , was named after the mother of its pilot , Colonel Paul W . Tibbets , which disappeared from sight after its deadly mission . Stored outdoors in three states before taking up residence in building 20

of the Smithsonian storage yard , it had been repaired by technicians for years and restored and was moved to the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian for an exhibit that was to be opened in May , 19952 . The exhibit was to be called The Crossroads : the end of World War II , the atomic bomb , and the origins of the cold war . When what the NASM intended to present was known to the public , a heated controversy developed , resulting in books , articles in historical journals and multitude of articles in the media that chronicled the debates over the proposed exhibit . The debates escalated over controversy over how the war ended that involved more than military and political history , becoming a flash point in the so called cultural wars .1

1 .O 'Reilly , C .T W .A . Rooney (2005 ) The Enola Gay and the Smithsonian Institution , McFarland and Company , pp .247

2 . Hogan , M .J (1996 ) Hiroshima in history and memory , Cambridge University Press , pp .290

The exhibit would have described the intense desire to end the war that led to the bombing , but also the way the bombing 's nightmarish effects infected the world with fear of nuclear annihilation . Conservatives claimed the exhibit would be anti-nuclear and anti-war , throwing into question the decision to drop the bomb , and would transform the Enola Gay 's crew from heroes to terrorists . Under relentless attack , the museum backed down and its director resigned .3

A firestorm of protest from veteran groups and others was ignited over the content of the exhibit , because it was felt that the overall tone of the exhibit put too much emphasis on the suffering of the Japanese and made the Americans looked like aggressors . Ultimately the plans for the exhibit were scaled backed to little more than a display of the fuselage of the Enola Gay .4 Veterans were upset by first hand accounts from the survivors of the Nagasaki bombing . They also challenged estimates that 30 ,000 to 50 ,000 allied soldiers would have died in a land invasion , insisting that the number would have been at least ten times higher . Twenty four members of the congress protested to the Smithsonian secretary about the exhibit 's anti-American , narrow and revisionist view . According to them Enola Gay , which is to become excellent symbol to honor America , the pilot of the Nagasaki bombing termed the exhibit as a collection of distortions , half truth , and outright lies...