The article below appeared in the Washington Post on Friday, Feb.
24, 1995 and may be of some interest to the list in light of the
recent discussion on the Enola Gay exhibit.
 
VIETNAM EXHIBIT POSTPONED
Smithsonian Chief Cites A-Bomb Flap, Budget Cuts
by Jacqueline Trescott
 
Burned by controversy over an exhibition he was forced to scrap,
stung by budget cuts proposed by Congress, Smithsonian Secretary
I. Michael Heyman has postponed a show on the Vietnam War in an
effort to avoid more trouble.
Heyman told an audience at the National Press Club yesterday that
he decided to delay the Vietnam exhibition, scheduled for 1997,
because of the trouble the Smithsonian had with a show marking the
50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan.  The A-bomb exhibit
was scrapped after extensive criticism, to be replaced by a benign
display of the Enola Gay, the airplane that carried the first bomb.
The Vietnam exhibition was in the early planning stages, Heyman said.
"I asked ... if they would put that on hold until we got through with
the Enola Gay and we could see what kind of ground rules we came up
with," he explained.  Now the exhibition has been postponed for five
years while the curator works on an unrelated book project - and the
dust settles.
Heyman said he is also planning to revise parts of an exhibition called
"Science in American Life" at the National Museum of American History.
On display since April, the show has been roundly criticized by scientists
who say it emphasizes failures rather than successes to make "politically
correct" points.
"We will see some changes in that which will render that exhibition a lot
more balanced," Heyman said.
The secretary's speech came the day after a House appropriations subcommittee
approved a bill calling for a $32 million cut in the Smithsonian's current
budget.  As a result, the next phase of planning for the National Museum
of the American Indian appears to be in jeopardy.  Still, Heyman put on
a brave face, saying he believes the Smithsonian will "prevail" as the
budget proposals advance through Congress.
The budget process will provide windows of opportunity, Heyman said,
allowing him to make the case that the American Indian museum was
created by legislation that called for the Smithsonian to raise one-third
of the cost of the complex on the Mall.  Most of that money has been
raised, he said.  In addition, he will remind Republican leaders in
Congress that an agreement for private support from the Heye Foundation
requires the building of a sizable storage and cultural facility, planned
for Suitland.
"I think those arguments are going to prevail, but given ... the desire
to reduce budgetary expenses at the federal level, it will be a struggle,"
Heyman said.
The Enola Gay flap slowed fundraising for the Smithsonian's 150th anniversary
in 1996, and for other projects, Heyman said.  Some potential corporate
contributors were so concerned they asked the institution to do a poll to
gauge the damage to the Smithsonian's reputation.  The survey, conducted
last week by Peter Hart Research Associates, found that 39 percent of
the respondents hadn't heard about the controversy; many of those who
had heard of the flap considered it irrelevant.  Five percent said
their estimate of the Smithsonian was enhanced.
Whatever the outcome of the federal funding battle, Heyman said,
fundraising from individuals and corporations will be intensified.
"I don't think this is a substitute for public funding.  It helps at
the margin," he said.  "But if we take terrible hits in terms of public
financing, we will have to think of other alternatives."
What he fears is that he'll be forced to charge admission, Heyman said.
"I would really like to avoid admission charges .... If we are absolutely
strangled, then of course we will have to consider them."  Two years ago,
the Smithsonian regents approved setting up donation boxes at four
Smithsonian sites, but the experiment was a miserable failure.