Well, can't say I didn't bring it up.
But also today: "Museum director rebuked curators of A-bomb exhibit; memo
cites 'lack of balance', call criticism 'understandable'"--I've called the
reporter to see if they'd mind if the full text were uploaded.
Anyway--isn't the whole point about lack of balance still not fully addressed?
Adding the 'American experience' of the war is nice, but what about the
Chinese [Nanking], Manchuria, Indochina, Malaysia/Singapore, Indonesia?
Surely _that_ experience also informed the decsion-making on use of the bomb.
Is _50_ pictures enough of a context? Can an adequate context be cobbled
together in such a short time?
Matthew Gilmore
[log in to unmask]
According to _Kim
Riddle: .
. The following press release was distributed this morning by the
. Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
..
. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
. 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
. [log in to unmask]
..
Matthew Gilmore
[log in to unmask]
D.C. Public Library
Washingtoniana Division
202.727.1213
________Celebrating the Bicentennial of the District of Columbia________
1791-2002
* * *
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