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What Harwit and the curators saw as a balanced history of the bombings and their consequences, many interpreted the script as a depiction of vengeful Americans and an attempt to garner sympathy for the Japanese. For many, the script only confirmed those fears. Many veterans had advocated for the display of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress used to drop the bombs, as a celebration of American triumph over Japan, but there were already concerns that the Smithsonian was creating a politically correct, revisionist interpretation of the events. Once complete, he sent the script to the group for comment. Plans for the exhibition began as early as 1987, and Harwit had already been in discussions with the Air Force Association while the script was under development. The original script, completed on January 14, 1994, contained five sections: "A Fight to the Finish," depicting the last year of World War II "The Decision to Drop the Bomb," raising questions about the need to use nuclear weapons against Japan "The World's First Atomic Strike Force," illuminating the experiences of the bomber pilots "Cities at War" describing ground zero and "The Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," discussing the beginning of the arms race and the Cold War. In the years leading up to the 50 th anniversary of these attacks, National Air and Space Museum director Martin Harwit and curators Tom Crouch and Michael Neufeld imagined an exhibition that would provide a balanced look at the bombings. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and another on Nagasaki three days later. 'We would like to see the bomber and the legacy of nuclear weapons that we are dealing with today.In 1994, the National Air and Space Museum completed an exhibition script titled “The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb, and the Origins of the Cold War.” Over the next year, this script, and the versions following it, would generate one of the greatest controversies the Smithsonian ever experienced. Musil of the Physicians for Social Responsibility. 'We would like to see the exhibit go forward with a full, accurate, balanced presentation of the facts,' said Dr. We've been burnt before.' And supporters of the exhibit feel burned with the newest developments. Jack Greise of the Air Force Association called the secretary's action encouraging, but said, 'We have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. But not all critics have been satisfied with the decision. Peter Blute, R-Mass., one of the strongest critics of the exhibit, said the change was a 'good solution which I believe all parties should be happy with.' 'It is better that the thousands of young children who flock to the Air and Space Museum this summer learn about one of the most important missions in American history, rather than have a blind spot as to what it took to win the war,' Blute said. However, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Heyman made a 'wise decision,' and Rep.
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Heyman also plans to 'conduct an extensive management review of the National Air and Space Museum.' Some members of Congress have called for the museum director's firing. Heyman said that he would not use a formal consultation process to develop the display but will work with whomever he deems necessary to produce it. Heyman plans to make Enola Gay the focal point of the display and hopes to include a video about the crew along with the plane's restored fuselage. Veterans' groups and military historians have attacked the original scripts and subsequent versions as revisionist and sympathetic to the Japanese without taking into account the circumstances of the war in the Pacific. The original exhibition focused on the destruction and casualties suffered by the Japanese. 6, 1945, that dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. 'They were not looking for analysis, and, frankly, we did not give enough thought to the intense feelings such an analysis would evoke.' The Enola Gay flew the mission Aug. 'In this important anniversary year, veterans and their families were expecting, and rightly so, that the nation would honor and commemorate their valor and sacrifice,' Heyman said. Citing a 'basic error in attempting to couple an historical treatment of the use of atomic weapons with the 50th anniversary commemoration of the end of the war,' Heyman decided to exhibit the Enola Gay only in the context of its role in ending the war in the Pacific. Michael Heyman announced to the Board of Regents Monday his decision to replace the controversial Enola Gay exhibition scheduled to open in May at the National Air and Space Museum. 30 - Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution I.