**keep in mind, the references to History Wars is off of memory… I didn’t have enough free time to go back and cite the book… it is an EXTREMELY interesting read, though!**
As soon as I read the first few paragraphs of Museum Politics, I knew what I was going to write on. Luckily (for you), Chapter 2 went into the specifics of the case that I had in mind. Thankfully, this results in a shorter blog…
During my ‘Intro to the Study of History’ course with Dr. Walker as an undergrad, our main focus for the semester was a mix between history deniers and the public politics in telling History. One of the assigned books (which I still have in my collection) is History Wars by Linenthal and Engelhardt. This book goes into great detail about the various scripts presented to the Smithsonian on how the Enola Gay should be displayed.
A bit or irony in this, is that there was never a doubt in anyone’s mind as to the significance of the aircraft, however the emotions of both sides actually led to the negligence of the Enola Gay. History Wars describes the condition the aircraft was kept in by the time it had reached Andrews AFB; which from what I recall was outside, adjacent to an aircraft hanger, ridden with graffiti, vandalism, and natural decay. So much for a treasured artifact of American History…
One of the scripts that I sided with (one of our assignments was to pick a script, and defend it in class against others who disagreed) was a fairly simple display that allowed the visitor to immerse themselves in the events of August 6, 1945. This display called for the Enola Gay to be in the center of a room, surrounded by artifacts from the blast site (one of which being Shigeru Orimen’s lunch box), with the walls of the exhibit to be life sized 360 degree views of ground zero. This would be a perfect exhibit in my mind; here is the plane, and this is what it did.
To me, this script avoids the two conflicts which were honoring the veterans vs. showing the atrocities of war. One classmate of mine angered me when he stated “this is the Smithsonian, though. Its job is to make the visitors feel patriotic.”…
Um, no.
The Smithsonian is a museum. It’s job is to tell the story of American History, some of which is not entirely glamorous. Anyone who truly believes that American History is pristine and without any blemishes, is beyond naive. Our country was founded, and has been preserved, by human beings. These humans made some questionable decisions and performed many questionable acts, but in the end, the country’s perseverance was the motivating factor. Some actions are not forgiven if the only excuse is for a pursuit of valor, however in war, these atrocities are almost expected.
If diplomacy was possible, war would not be.