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By October 26, 1994, virtually all of the "stakeholders" in the exhibit except other museum officials have entered the action. Very crucial, we also see Michael Heyman, the man who ultimately inherits responsibility for the life or death of the exhibit, arrive in the middle of the controversy as the new Secretary of the Smithsonian, replacing Robert McCormick Adams. We see Congress beginning a "hands on" policy, and we see some historians arguing for a "hands off" policy. This round begins with Martin Harwit of the National Air and Space Museum appointing a team to consider the criticism of the first draft of the exhibit leveled by the Air Force Association, and it climaxes with the production of the fifth and last draft, under a new name, half a year later: "Crossroads" becomes "The Last Act."ĭuring this period we see the American Legion beginning parallel action with the Air Force Association in organized resistance and also Enola Gay pilot/war hero Paul Tibbets and other individual veterans voicing deeply personal resistance. Tom Crouch, NASM curator.īetween April 16 and October 26, 1994, the controversy over the exhibit around the Enola Gay kicks into high gear. The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. The tone of this article is set at the beginning when the author characterizes the January 1995 cancellation of the original Enola Gay exhibition at the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum as possibly the greatest tragedy to befall the public presentation of history in many years.
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Round Two - The Resistance Movement: April 16 to October 26, 1994ĭo you want to do an exhibit to make veterans feel good, or do you want an exhibition that will lead our visitors to think about the consequences of the atomic bombing of Japan? Frankly, I don't think we can do both. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday at his home in Columbus, Ohio after suffering a number of health problems.