The Enola Gay exhibit is planned for the Air and Space Museum, easily the most popular of the 15 museums in the Smithsonian complex. The truth of the matter is, though, that the Smithsonian has been backtracking for months under pressure by Congress, the American Legion, the Air Force Association and some 2,000 angry letter-writers. Michael Bilirakis of Palm Harbor.īilirakis joined 80 colleagues in sending a letter seeking the resignation of the Air and Space Museum director, Michael Harwit, because of his "continuing defiance and disregard for needed improvements to the exhibit."
"Those brave men and women who laid down their lives for our country should be honored, not sacrificed at the altar of political correctness," said Rep. 7, 1941, air and naval forces of Japan attacked the United States without provocation." "No politically correct, revisionist historian can change the fact that on Dec. "We are particularly concerned that the exhibit portrays the Japanese as victims, fighting to preserve their culture, while characterizing American motivations as vengeful and racist," complained Senate Republican Leader Robert Dole and his colleague John Warner of Virginia. In the dispute over the Enola Gay, though, the clout of the 3.1-million member American Legion and other veterans groups fuels the political rhetoric. The controversy comes as Gingrich and other Republicans are questioning the influence of elites in the media, Public Broadcasting, the arts and other entities that deal with the public or receive taxpayer money. The betting among some Capitol Hill leaders, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is that the regents will significantly scale back the presentation to focus simply on the Enola Gay. On Monday, the Smithsonian Board of Regents will meet to decide whether to go ahead with opening of the exhibit in May. For most Japanese, it was a war to defend their unique culture against Western imperialism." Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC."For most Americans," the early Smithsonian script said, "this war was fundamentally different from the one waged against Germany and Italy _ it was a war of vengeance. | Enola Gay | Japan (Hiroshima) Japan (Nagasaki) National Air and Space Museum DC : ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.Ĭurrent Events. (EH)ĮRIC Note: This exhibition script is a shortened and revised version of the original controversial script, see SO 026 999. Each section of the text is related to a display in the exhibition. Michael Heyman, at the beginning of the script address the controversy generated by the first plans and script for the exhibition that "provoked intense criticism from World War II veterans and others who felt the original planned exhibit portrayed the United States as the aggressor and the Japanese as victims and reflected unfavorably on the valor and courage of American veterans." The Museum eventually replaced the original planned exhibit with a simpler display in which the focus was on the restoration of the Enola Gay by the Smithsonian, explanatory material on the aircraft, ancillary topics related to the use of the first atomic bomb, and a video about the Enola Gay's crew. Remarks by the Smithsonian's Secretary, I.
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the surrender of Japan on August 14, 1945. This text accompanied the Smithsonian Institution's display, "Enola Gay," at the National Air and Space Museum commemorating the end of World War II and the role played by the B-29 aircraft, Enola Gay, that on Augcarried the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan. : Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse, 1995 Broken link? let us search Trove, the Wayback Machine or Google for you.