Usual disclaimers apply and then some.

Having seen the Enola Gay exhibition yesterday, I can only say that the
display of "official history" made me sick.

The first panel, which says that material about the decision to drop the
bomb was removed and that now the artifacts "speak for
themselves," was a total crock.  Or rather, 50% crock.  Interpretive material
was indeed removed, but the artifacts hardly "speak for themselves."  On the
contrary, subsequent text clearly states that the bomb ended the war;
that an invasion would have been fiercely resisted, etc.  And it leaves no room
for dissent.

I have no position on the historical issues surrounding the decision to
drop the bomb; at any rate, no informed position; which is exactly the
point.  How can we reach an informed position if debate is suppressed?

This is not about whether the Japanese had it coming to them in 1945, nor is
it about whether American veterans get enough respect.  It's about
whether ordinary present-day Americans who go to the Mall can expect to
see something more than official mythography.  And clearly, the anwer is
no.

Andy Finch
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