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The next would explain the decision to drop the Atomic Bomb. The first section was to deal with Japanese invasions and the attack on Pearl Harbor. The exhibition was supposed to contain five controversial narrative sections. This dispute and various other events led to the controversy over the Enola Gay exhibit and its eventual cancellation.
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The question was whether the Smithsonian Institution's exhibition of Enola Gay was non-biased, or if, instead, it was intended as an instrument of propaganda. Those who opposed the exhibit, however, were concerned with the credibility and the message it was trying to send. The Smithsonian wanted to make Americans and those who saw the exhibit reevaluate their understanding of World War II. The controversy surrounding the Enola Gay exhibit stems from disagreements between the Smithsonian, historians, members of Congress, veterans, and those who were there for the event that shook the world. A script was written to point out the different phases that took place before the decision to drop the bomb and the aftermath of that decision. Michael Heyman, Secretary of the Smithsonian, had a vision of creating an exhibit that would inspire people to have more profound discussions about the atom bomb. Harwit's contributions to the institution, I wish to express my gratitude.In 1995, the Enola Gay exhibit was intended to open for the 50th anniversary of the day the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Japan. Heyman said in a statement that the Enola Gay exhibit had been "fraught with controversy" and that "for all of Dr. That reduced exhibit is now scheduled to open in mid-June. "One doesn't make personnel decisions in the heat of the moment," he said.īut the Smithsonian's board, yielding to the pressure, decided to all but scrap the Enola Gay exhibit, eliminating all of the 10,000-square-foot display except for the plane's restored fuselage and a small plaque. Heyman said he would complete a management review but declined to say whether he would call on Mr.
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Harwit's immediate resignation or dismissal. In January, 81 members of the House of Representatives wrote a letter to Mr.
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The Enola Gay exhibit, which involved the largest restoration project in the museum's history, was drastically scaled back by the Smithsonian in January after repeated efforts to revise it had failed to quell a furor pitting veterans groups and members of Congress against some historians.Īs originally designed more than a year ago, the exhibit was to encourage visitors to re-examine their thinking about the use of atomic weapons to end World War II, in the context of the bombings' horror and of the arms race that followed.īut veterans groups, which had long pushed the Smithsonian to exhibit the bomber's fuselage, and later some members of Congress, criticized the exhibit's scripts, saying they were too sympathetic to the Japanese and ultimately an insult to the American troops who had fought and died in the Pacific.Ĭurators' repeated efforts to rewrite the scripts failed to satisfy the veterans groups or the lawmakers and provoked criticism from historians who said the exhibit was becoming inaccurate and politicized. Michael Heyman, that "I believe that nothing less than my stepping down from the directorship will satisfy the museum's critics and allow the museum to move forward with important new projects." Martin Harwit, said in a letter of resignation to the Smithsonian's secretary, I. The director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum resigned today, citing the "continuing controversy and divisiveness" over the exhibit of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima 50 years ago.