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. (TCK Archives).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. 3 -Prayer with the crew of the Enola Gay, 6 Aug 45.ģ Murrow, Edward R. We shall go forward trusting in thee, knowing that we are in Thy care, now and forever. May the men who fly this night be kept safe in Thy care and may they be returned safely to us. We pray Thee that the end of the war may come soon and that once more we may know peace on earth. You can listen to Chaplain Downey’s prayer in the following video and watch actual video footage of the bomb run and aftermath. “Reading what he had jotted down on the back of an envelope, Downey, then a captain, prayed for the men’s safe return.” 2 Realizing the historic significance of that day, video and audio recordings were made of the pre-flight briefings, the bomb run and other aspects of the mission, including Chaplain Downey’s prayer with the Enola Gay crew. According to Downey in a 1987 interview, “one of the security officers told me a little time before, there was going to be a really fantastic new thing, only one of the greatest things that ever happened in the history of the world.” 1 In the midst of this “greatest thing,” Chaplain Downey was there bringing God to the crews of the Enola Gay and Bockscar who would drop the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945.Ĭhaplain Downey prayed with the 12-man crew of the Enola Gay on Tinian Island just before they took off on their mission to drop “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. Downey, of the 509th Composite Bomb Group, was there when history was being made. Many chaplains find themselves in the middle of history in the making, some of them making that history.