Despite their initial support for the project, after the AFA had looked over the draft they released a press statement and report outlining their criticisms.Įxecutive Director of the Air Force Association, General Monroe Hatch Jr., also sent a letter to Harwit arguing that the exhibits plans inferred that both Japan’s and the United States ‘participation in the war was morally equivalent’, and may even suggest giving Japan the ‘benefit of opinion’ even though they were the aggressor. Harwit then forwarded the draft to the Air Force Association (AFA). The exhibits external advisory committee suggested some revisions, but ultimately they approved of the draft. The Crossroads: The End of World War II, The Atomic Bomb, and the Onset of the Cold W arĮ team curating the exhibition completed the first draft of the exhibit, titled ‘The Crossroads: the end of World War Two, the Atomic Bomb and the origins of the Cold War’.Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum.Even though a few people, including the Secretary of the Smithsonian Robert Adams and some veterans, expressed their concerns Director Martin Harwit insisted that the museum could fairly and responsibly achieve both an exhibition which commemorated veterans and provide further scholarship for the public.Ĭoncept documents for the exhibition included : From the outset of the planning of the exhibition, it was clear that it may been seen as contentious with some audiences. These plans stated that the exhibition’s primary goal was to not only present a ‘historical investigation’ into the event but to also provide an enquiry into the reasons behind America’s decision to drop the bomb in 1945, and whether it was needed or justified.
At this time the exhibition plans began to progress with the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) creating many proposals and concept documents. Although the roots of the Enola Gay Controversy started more than two decades before, it really began to take shape in 1993.