The Exhib That Bombed: The Enola Gay Controversy and Contted Memory - U.S. Studi Onle

Contents:

• CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN
• WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB
• EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY
• THE NEW ENOLA GAY CONTROVERSY: PRO AND CON
• THE EXHIB THAT BOMBED: THE ENOLA GAY CONTROVERSY AND CONTTED MEMORY
• THE SMHSONIAN’S DECISN TO EXHIB THE ‘ENOLA GAY’
• THE SMHSONIAN AND THE ENOLA GAY
• THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• THE NEW ENOLA GAY CONTROVERSY: HISTORIANS PROTT THE LATT SMHSONIAN EXHIB

CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN

For the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Natnal Air and Space Mm (NASM) proposed an exhibn that would clu displayg the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortrs that was ed to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. At first, the Enola Gay was planned to be displayed at an annex NASM facily near Washgton Dull Internatnal Airport.

The Enola Gay had recently fished beg renovated and the mm had been ncerned about transportatn and reassemble fe; therefore, the proposed annex appeared to be a ftg lotn. They cid to exhib the Enola Gay at the annex, wh an acpanyg msage about the dangers of strategic bombg and latn. Commtee member Admiral Noel Gayler believed that any exhibn of the Enola Gay would imply “that we are celebratg the first and so far the only e of nuclear weapons agast human begs.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB

While they were “unanimo agreeg that the Enola Gay is an artifact of pivotal signifince and that should be exhibed, ” they asked the mm to avoid discsg the cisn to drop the bomb and to nsir an alternative se, such as an armed servic mm.

The planned exhibn was replaced by a simple display of the felage of Enola Gay wh ltle historil ntext.

EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY

Officials om the Universy stated was not tend as a replacement for the Enola Gay exhibn at the Smhsonian.

The 2003 exhibn of Enola Gay, followg s trend of ntroversy, also raised a new round of protts, om Japane survivors and others. Enola Gay, the B-29bomber that was ed by the Uned Stat on Augt 6, 1945, to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, the first time the explosive vice had been ed on an enemy target.

” The Enola Gay—Tibbets had a matenance man pat that name on the aircraft’s nose shortly before takeoff—was acpanied by var other plan. Three days later the Enola Gay nducted weather rennaissance the lead-up to the bombg of Nagasaki, Japan. Japan officially surrenred on September 2, Enola Gay remaed service for several years before beg given to the Smhsonian Instutn on July 3, 1949.

THE NEW ENOLA GAY CONTROVERSY: PRO AND CON

The Enola Gay is a B-29 Superfortrs, which pilot Pl Tibbets named after his mother, and which had been stripped of everythg but the necsi, so as to be thoands of pounds lighter than an ordary plane of that make. While did not drop the bomb on Nagasaki, the Enola Gay did take flight to get data on the weather the lead-up to the send strike on Japan. In the aftermath of World War II, the Army Air Forc flew the Enola Gay durg an atomic tt program the Pacific; was then livered to be stored an airfield Arizona before beg flown to Illois and transferred to the Smhsonian July 1949.

Adams, who is leavg his job after 10 relatively ntroversy-ee years, sent back a three-page answer stiffly turng down her requt for the Enola Gay. And as long as is on display, the qutns rais are likely to ntue — after all, they have been wh the Enola Gay sce first beme a hoehold name. Many veterans had advoted for the display of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortrs ed to drop the bombs, as a celebratn of Amerin triumph over Japan, but there were already ncerns that the Smhsonian was creatg a polilly rrect, revisnist terpretatn of the events.

Harw rigned on May 2, 1995, jt days before he was schled to ttify Senate June 28, 1995, an exhibn, simply tled "Enola Gay, " opened at the Natnal Air and Space Mm. Only the felage was on display, acpanied by basic facts and rmatn about the plane's entire Enola Gay bomber is currently on display the "World War II Aviatn" exhibn at the Natnal Air and Space Mm's Steven F.

THE EXHIB THAT BOMBED: THE ENOLA GAY CONTROVERSY AND CONTTED MEMORY

Related RourcCollectns related to the Enola Gay, Smhsonian Instutn ArchivThe Enola Gay: A Natn's, and a Mm's, Dilemma, Edorial by Mart Harw, The Washgton Post, Augt 7, 1994Special Report: The Smhsonian and the Enola Gay, Air Force Associatn, March 15, 1994Smhsonian Cancels Exhib on Atomic Bomb, The Baltimore Sun, January 31, 1995Recent Acquisn - Rerds om Mart Harw, Director, NASM, 1986-1995, The Bigger Picture, Smhsonian Instutn Archiv.

The exhib markg the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II featurg the refurbished B-29 Enola Gay proposed by the Smhsonian's Natnal Air and Space Mm rulted fierce ntroversy over how history should reprent droppg an atom bomb on Japan.

THE SMHSONIAN’S DECISN TO EXHIB THE ‘ENOLA GAY’

Experience the evolutn of the Enola Gay ntroversy by readg through a chronologil list of documents divid to five rounds:.

THE SMHSONIAN AND THE ENOLA GAY

The petn advanc the ia that the display of the B-29 Superfortrs Enola Gay, as one of the 200 airplan the center, should be ed to “stimulate. and chronicl the history of the technologi that have ma flight text of the label scribg the B-29 Superfortrs Enola Gay is as follows:Boeg B-29 Superfortrs Enola GayBoeg’s B-29 Superfortrs was the most sophistited propeller-driven. viewpots differ om those of the members of our We note that the Smhsonian is publishg a book tled "The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the First Atomic Bomb.

As a good Liberal, I fd spible that Enola should not be allowed to display herself simply bee she's gay. The Commtiee is right that the bare statement that will be ed for the Enola Gay is woefully sufficient.

THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON

Perhaps, after the origal bacle over the Enola Gay, the Smhsonian has cid that a plex view of the bomb is impossible; so rather than take the one si that wouldn't get s fundg cut, they stripped the display down to a mimum as the least bad alternative. Many of the Commtee members fought bterly any effort by the Smhsonian to ject some balance to the 1995 exhib of the Enola Gay felage. It is so lard wh Anti Bh sentiments and other issu unrelated to the Enola Gay that is clear that their real problem is that they are not gettg the opportuny to foist the sentiments onto the Amerin public.

4) "We see no reason why the sectn tled "Boeg B-29 Superfortrs Enola Gay" should not be expand to clu a scriptn of the vastatn wrought by this plane, cludg an rmed timate of the sualty figur. 5) "In scribg the legacy of the Enola Gay, you state that "after the bombg of Nagasaki, shortly after the bombg of Hiroshima, Japan surrenred unndnally. The ntroversy over how history should reprent droppg an atom bomb on Japan me to a head 1994 when the Smhsonian's Natnal Air and Space Mm drafted an exhib entled "The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War" around the refurbished Enola Gay to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war 1995.

And the whole episo ntu to be a flash pot among the fatigable belligerents of the so-lled "culture wars, " flarg aga, for stance, 2003 when the Enola Gay was put on permanent display a new Smhsonian mm. Th, the pag that follow enable ers to experience -- some sense to relive -- the evolutn of the Enola Gay ntroversy by readg through a chronologil list of documents divid to five "rounds.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

The centrepiece of the exhib was supposed to be the rtored Enola Gay, the airplane which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Unlike other stanc of ntroversy surroundg historil memoratn the US, such as the disagreements surroundg the creatn of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the Enola Gay exhib uld not be saved by a promise. Discsns about facts and their importance are well sued for amic nferenc and bat, but facts are not enough to make someone, the se of the Enola Gay exhib World War II veterans, om lettg go of a story they have been tellg, and have believed, for most of their liv. In this regard the Enola Gay ntroversy echoed earlier stggl the so-lled culture wars over who ntrolled Amerin culture, who valued the Amerin past, who served mentn wh , and who ntrolled any feral actn that touched on such matters.

THE NEW ENOLA GAY CONTROVERSY: HISTORIANS PROTT THE LATT SMHSONIAN EXHIB

The Enola Gay exhib was not exempt om the wrath of the newly appoted lawmakers: durg the height of the ntroversy, the Senate passed a rolutn submted by leadg Republin Senator Nancy Kassebm which nmned the exhib as revisnist and offensive to many World War II veterans. [ix] In the se of the Enola Gay exhib, Congrs laid down an official historil le and mand the firg of any curator or mm director who did not toe to .

The Enola Gay ntroversy should therefore be seen as a public policy battle which objective evince and ratnal discsn were given up favour of bigoted treatment of differenc based on powerful emotns. Followg the ntroversy, mms and curators beme creasgly ut of any topic that uld be seen as ntroversial and other issu of the culture wars beme highly emotnal affairs and treated wh the same disda for facts and discsn that the Enola Gay exhib was. And Engelhardt, Tom, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battl for the Amerin Past, 1st edn (New York, 1996); 174-5.

[vi] ”Senate Rolutn 27, ” [vii] Harw, Mart, An Exhib Denied: Lobbyg the History of Enola Gay, 1st edn (New York, 1996); 387.