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 * * *