In this new museum, different points of view coexist, and narrative voices compete. It points the way towards the more complicated, inclusive and self-conscious techniques of the postmodern museum. To a museum critic, the controversy illuminates the limits of both the notion of objectivity and the use of omniscient third-person narratives in exhibitions. But the event's meaning, like the history of the atom bomb itself, remains contested. Some who disliked the original 50th anniversary show saw its cancellation as the triumph of "objectivity" over a left-liberal political agenda. It vividly illustrates the enormous difficulties involved in translating strongly contested history into the medium of a museum exhibition. SHAMEFUL," wrote an anonymous skeptic.įive years later, the story of the original Enola Gay exhibition – an ambitious, if ultimately flawed attempt to capture a charged historical moment – remains a key marker in the evolution of American museums.
"You would think from this exhibit that hardly any Japanese lives were lost. We love our servicemen." Others lamented the gaps left by the exhibition. "History is history no matter what we feel. "This is history," declared Jeanne Newbery of Memphis, Tenn. Many applauded the Smithsonian, the plane and the veterans involved. Visitor reaction – recorded in comment cards stored in the Smithsonian archives – was mixed. Missing, however, was any substantial discussion of either the mission's historical context or its impact – on the Japanese and the postwar world. It featured the forward fuselage and propeller of the plane, a description of the plane's mission, an account of the plane's painstaking restoration, and video reminiscences of the men who flew it. On June 28, 1995, an abbreviated exhibition on the Enola Gay – the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan – did open at the National Air and Space Museum. There was deep resistance to achieving real balance." In talking to the museum, said Correll, "we were astounded at the bias, the close-mindedness, the reluctance to talk, that we ran into…. In his view, the National Air and Space Museum erred by trying to present a slanted account of the end of World War II that cast the Japanese as victims of American aggression. Not so, says John Correll, editor of Air Force Magazine and arguably the person most responsible for stirring opposition to the museum's planned exhibition on the Enola Gay. As far as they were concerned, there was a gospel truth: Dropping the bomb prevented the invasion of Japan and ended the war. The fact that there had been 30 years of historiographic debate and development…was irrelevant…. "They feel you must obviously be an anti-American evil person even to debate the legitimacy of dropping the bomb…. "A lot of people in this country don't want the decision to drop the bomb debated," he said. WASHINGTON – Sitting in his book-lined office at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Michael Neufeld talks bitterly about his role as the much-maligned curator of the most infamous museum exhibition never mounted.