The Enola Gay ControversyHistory on trial Main Page

AboutRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Resources

"FullText" links provide a connection to electronic or print copies provided by the Lehigh Libraries and other services, such as electronic abstracts and interlibrary loan requesting.

5/1994. Harwit answers Correll's April story in Air Force Magazine, "War Stories at Air and Space," saying, among other things in defense of the NASM, that Correll "opt[s] for silence" on central matters.
"Harwit Responds," Martin O. Harwit, Air Force Magazine, May 1994, 4. [FullText]
5/4/1994. The American Legion, another veterans' group, adopts Resolution 22 condemning the exhibit and begins active opposition. The exhibit is "politically biased" and "in violation" of its charter: "The American Legion strongly objects to the use of the 'Enola Gay" . . . in an exhibit . . . which infers that America was somehow in the wrong and her loyal Airmen somehow criminal in carrying out this last act of war."
[PDF]
5/23/1994. One of the first coverages by major national media: "War is hell, and its commemoration, while less lethal, can be just as bedeviling."
"War and Remembrance," by Hugh Sidey, Time, May 23, 1994, 64. [FullText]
5/31/1994. Internal NASM review occasioned by the AFA critique finishes with draft #2 of the exhibit, now and henceforth entitled "The Last Act: The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II" through subsequent revisions.
5/1994. Sampling of coverage in May by major media.
"Smithsonian's Plans for Enola Gay Assailed," Arizona Republic, 05/08/94, A21. Ben Nicks, a WWII B-29 veteran, says, "The Enola Gay, the aircraft itself, is nothing but a piece of tin. But as a symbol, as a reminder to the generations who followed World War II and to whom it's only a memory, we hope that the symbol is one that reflects credit on us." [FullText]
"Air and Space Exhibit Gets Flak Even before Takeoff," by Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post, 05/31/94, A15. Burr Bennett, a B-29 veteran: "The very fact that they didn't display it for nearly 50 years says something. All we want is to have it exhibited without any political baggage." [FullText]