World War II ended in 1945. In Europe the war came to an end on May 8; in the Pacific on August 15. But in these two theaters the Allies had fought two very different conflicts. The men inducted in Europe in 1939 battled an enemy remarkably similar to the foe their fathers had met, with weaponry initially quite similar. As in World War I, battles might end with whole armies surrendering, and troops passing the remainder of the war in prisoner of war camps. And though wonder weapons, like long-range rockets and jet aircraft, were brought on line, none except radar had a major impact on the outcome of the war.
The war in the Pacific was different. Opposing forces battled an
unfamiliar enemy. Racial and cultural differences fanned fears, and inflamed
hatreds. Savage battles ended with horrible losses on both sides, as men fought
to their deaths, taking no prisoners and afraid to surrender for fear of
consequences worse than death. And in the war against Japan there was indeed a
vastly superior new weapon.
While all the major participants in World War II had conducted
rudimentary experiments on nuclear fission, only the United States had completed
construction of an atomic bomb. Its employment against Hiroshima and Nagasaki
may not have influenced the ultimate outcome of the war, but it set in motion
events that have had consequences of unparalleled proportions for our times.
In the first section of the exhibit, the necessary historical context
will be given: the last phase of World War II in Europe and the Pacific and the
increasingly brutal character of that conflict. This section will touch upon a
variety of topics, including strategic bombing in Europe, the firebombing of
Japan, and contrasting racist perceptions about the different enemies. (For a
more complete discussion of the war in Europe, and battles at sea, visitors
will, at this point, be directed respectively to the Museum’s existing World
War II and Naval Aviation galleries, while the new exhibition will continue with
a focus directed at the war against Japan, inadequately discussed elsewhere in
the Museum.)
A video of selected newsreel footage from the period will give a sense of
the atmosphere in the last months of the war in the United States and Japan, as
well as posters, cartoons and other visual images of this period. The fighting
on Okinawa and other islands and the kamikaze campaign will highlight the
desperate character of the Pacific conflict. Among the artifacts that may be
included are a Japanese “Okha” suicide bomb and leaflets and bomb canisters
dropped by American B-29s.
This introductory section will prepare the ground for the next major unit: After a quick overview of the decision to build the atomic bomb and the history of the Manhattan Project, this unit will offer the visitor a nuanced picture of the way decisions were made in the American and Japanese governments in 1945, to provide visitors a deeper understanding of this complex topic: Quotations from major participants and key documents, such as the 1939 Einstein letter to President Roosevelt and the July 1945 Air Force order to drop the atomic bombs, will be used in this context. A “Little Boy” atomic bomb casing will be used here to indicate the reality of the bomb that was becoming available to American decision-makers. A fuller discussion of the topic, however, will be left to outside reading suggested in a brochure that will be available to visitors.
A key component of the next part of the exhibition will be the forward
fuselage of the B-29 Enola Gay. The entire aircraft has been in the
Museum’s possession for many decades and will be fully restored by 1995, but
it is too large to fit in any of the Museum’s galleries. Therefore, the
exhibit will be using only the portion comprising the aircraft’s cockpit and
the bombsight, the evocative name painted on the port side of the aircraft, and
the bomb-bay with a reconstruction of the special sway braces and latch. In the
vicinity of this massive artifact we will treat the development of the bases in
the Marianas, the 509th Composite Group (Col. Tibbets’ special
atomic weapons unit) and the final preparations for the missions. Beyond the
fuselage itself, artifacts that can be used in this section will include an
engine, propeller or other pieces of the Enola Gay (to further convey its
massive scale), plus documents, pictures and memorabilia of the crews.
The next major section of the exhibit will treat the bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki themselves and the ensuing surrender of Japan. The
dimensions of the destruction and suffering in the two cities will be shown here
through pictures and film of the victims, however upsetting that may be to some
visitors. We will include, as far as possible, bomb-damaged artifacts from the
two cities and other documents and artifacts from the missions. A “Fat
Man”-type plutonium bomb-casing will also be shown here. A video or movie in
this section would include footage of the missions and their aftermath, plus
interviews with survivors on the ground and crew members of the attacking and
accompanying aircraft.
The exhibition would conclude by noting the debatable character of the
atomic bombings, as well as their important role as one of the starting points
of the nuclear age and Cold War. The closing video will include the perspectives
of a whole range of people—historical actors, survivors, scholars and ordinary
people, both Japanese and American. At the very end, visitors will be able to
ponder what they have seen and record their own reactions and thoughts in
comment books. They will leave the exhibition, it is hoped, with a deeper
appreciation for the importance and complexity of these watershed events in
modern history.
In setting this exhibition in motion, we have had the cooperation of a
large number of organizations, both in the United States and in Japan. A
consensus appears to have emerged that events, discussions of which were so
often shunned in the past, should now, fifty years after their occurrence, be
aired—perhaps as much as anything for the healing effect that such a debate
might finally have. Discussions with the mayors of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki
have taken place for the loan of items from these two cities’ museums, whose
directors have been most helpful. Japanese historians, humanists and artists
have promised their cooperation in a search for accuracy 9of fact and balance to
the presentation. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation, jointly
administered by the United States and Japan, has volunteered to provide
clarifying data on long-term health issues. Similar support has been obtained
from U.S. veterans’ organizations which aided the Museum in its restoration of
the Enola Gay; from the Executive
Director and staff of the Congressionally mandated 50th Anniversary
of World War II Commemorative Committee; from the staff of the American Embassy
in Japan working for Ambassador Michael Armacost, and from a variety of other
interested organizations.
Fifty years after the atomic bombing of Japan, the National Air and Space
Museum, with its unique collections of historic artifacts relevant to the
events—most of them kept in storage and inaccessible to the general public for
half a century—has an opportunity and, many would maintain, an obligation to
mount an exhibition that will help visitors understand this pivotal moment in
the history of World War II and the twentieth century.