THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The flap over the display of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian is a sad commentary on our times. You'd think it possible to show the B-29 out of whose belly the Atomic Age was born without causing a political firestorm. But no.
Certainly, controversy has surrounded the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki three days later since the beginning. Some scientists who built the bomb thought the Japanese should be warned that a new and terrible weapon was coming. Dropping the second bomb without giving the Japanese much chance to assess what hit them has also been debated.
Some say the Japanese were close to surrender, though the evidence is thin. Others claim the loss of Japanese lives averted a worse loss of American and Japanese lives in an invasion. These issues will be discussed forever. But the bombing is a fact, and the advent of nuclear arms irrevocably changed the political and military landscape.
If the Enola Gay isn't a historic object, nothing is. It is freighted with all the weight of nuclear weapons. The fear and awe they inspire have haunted mankind for 50 years. Yet they have never been used again, in part because what the world saw at Hiroshima and Nagasaki has given us pause.
A display ought to be able to capture some of that significance and place the events of 50 summers ago in context for those too young to remember. It ought to be able to facilitate debate, not polarize it. Yet the Smithsonian bungled the assignment by preparing an exhibit that went to one revisionist extreme. It seemed to begin from the premises that the bombings were unnecessary and immoral with the Americans the aggressors and the Japanese victims - trying ``to defend their unique culture against Western imperialism.''
Not surprisingly, veterans groups and other Americans playing with a full deck went ballistic. Did the Smithsonian's wizards not recall Pearl Harbor? Had they forgotten who the real imperialists were? Had they never heard of the Bataan death march or the rape of Nanking? Epithets like political correctness and academic freedom were traded. Firings were demanded.
Now the Smithsonian has backed down. The Enola Gay will be shown, along with recollections of its crew. But no further explanatory matter will be offered. Smithsonian Secretary Michael Heyman's explanation is unintentionally revealing of the mind-set that got the Smithsonian in such a mess in the first place. He said management failed to understand the ``intense feelings'' of veterans. In other words, the Smithsonian is out of touch with reality.
Then Heyman added condescension to witlessness by saying no exhibit could be contrived that would both honor the valor and sacrifice of veterans and offer analysis since ``they were not looking for analysis.'' In other words, the veterans were too emotional to listen to ``the truth.'' But if the episode shows anything, it is that ordinary Americans have a pretty good nose for the truth and can spot a biased academic analysis from 20,000 feet.
Too bad the Smithsonian couldn't see its error and admit it. The mute testimony of the Enola Gay will be more eloquent than the tendentious exhibit the curators were concocting. But there is something sadly awry when a great institution can't mount an exhibit concerning a watershed event of the 20th century that lays out the issues fairly and lets viewers form their own opinions. by CNB