The controversy over how history should represent dropping an atom bomb on Japan came to a head in 1994 when the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum drafted an exhibit entitled 'The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War' around the refurbished Enola Gay to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in 1995. On the other hand, some people have said that it inflicted horrible carnage on the civilian population of a country on the verge of surrender or total defeat anyway and inaugurated a potentially catastrophic nuclear arms race and the Cold War - making it the subject of much debate in our time. On the one hand, it successfully ended a long and bloody World War II and was almost universally applauded at that time for saving many lives in the long run. That event has a curious double meaning in our history. Tibbets, Jr., piloting the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, dropped the first atom bomb on Hiroshima. Do you want to do an exhibit to make veterans feel good, or do you want an exhibition that will lead our visitors to think about the consequences of the atomic bombing of Japan? Frankly, I don't think we can do both.
