The following press release was distributed this morning by the
Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
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Aug. 29, 1994
NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO EXHIBITION
FEATURING THE ENOLA GAY AND THE END OF WWII
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has announced that an
exhibition focusing on World War II in the Pacific Theater from 1937 to
1945 has been added to the upcoming exhibition "The Last Act: The
Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II."
The new exhibition, tentatively titled "The War in the Pacific: An
American Perspective," is being added in response to complaints from
veterans' organizations and military historians that "The Last Act" was
unbalanced in that it did not provide sufficient context about the
origins of World War II.
"After reviewing the original exhibition script many times," National
Air and Space Museum Director Martin Harwit said, "we felt that their
concerns were valid, and we think this new exhibit--coupled with
changes within the original exhibition--addresses those concerns."
"American Perspective" will focus on the ways that Americans
experienced the Pacific War, both on the battlefield and on the home
front. The background for the exhibition will be the major military
engagements of the Pacific, beginning in 1937 when Japan embarked on
the conquest of China and continuing with the attack on Pearl Harbor on
Dec. 7, 1941, and the major carrier battles and costly assaults on
Pacific islands that followed. The photo exhibition will end with the
capture of Okinawa by American forces, in June 1945. Against that
setting, photographic images will show views of the war as seen by
individual soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.
The exhibition will occupy an area of approximately 4,000 square feet
and will consist of approximately 50 photographs. "American
Perspective" will also include a Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat, the most
successful carrier-based fighter in World War II. The exhibition will
be located in the "Special Aircraft Exhibitions" gallery space in the
museum, directly adjacent to "The Last Act." Each visitor to "The Last
Act" will first pass through "American Perspective."
"Every major exhibition or film undergoes a very thorough review
process," Harwit said. "As 'The Last Act' went through this process, a
number of military historians and representatives of veterans'
organizations expressed their concerns that the exhibition did not
include enough information about the origins of World War II and
Japanese expansionism and aggression in the late 1930s and early war
years. Because the focus of the exhibition was the final months of the
conflict, they were concerned that an uninformed visitor would leave
the exhibition with the false impression that Japan was the victim and
the United States the aggressor."
A central feature of "The Last Act" will be the forward fuselage of the
B-29 Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb on
Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. The restoration of the Enola Gay is
the largest such project in the museum's history, costing the museum
nearly $1 million and requiring more than 35,000 hours of labor since
the restoration effort began in 1984.
"The Last Act" will focus on five areas: the Pacific War in the summer
of 1945, the decision to develop and use atomic bombs, the two
missions, the effects of the bombings on the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, and the legacy of the bombings.
"American Perspective" will be curated and designed by a team of
National Air and Space Museum staff members. The exhibition team
includes Col. Tom Alison, USAF (Ret.), curator of military aircraft;
Lt. Col. Donald Lopez, USAF (Ret.), former deputy director of the
National Air and Space Museum; Capt. E.T. Wooldridge, USN (Ret.),
former chairman of the department of aeronautics and current Ramsey
Fellow (naval aviation historian); and Nadya Makovenyi, assistant
director for exhibits and public spaces.
SI-325-94
posted by:
Kim
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