And this is what we aim to offer our visitors. But a comprehensive and thoughtful discussion can help us learn from history. We have found no way to exhibit the Enola Gay and satisfy everyone. Martin Harwit, Director of the National Air and Space Museum, said at the time: This is our responsibility, as a national museum in a democracy predicated on an informed citizenry. Most importantly, its curators designed the exhibition so as to examine the motives, practices and after-effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
The emblematic components of this B-29 bomber put on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC (1) were meant to anchor a particular type of historical exhibition. In 1995, a national, then global furore was whipped up by ideological, cultural and aesthetic conflict over displaying parts and pieces of the then not fully restored Enola Gay.
