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1988. Adams and Harwit, alert to veteran interest evidenced by the Enola Gay Restoration Association, begin planning to exhibit the refurbished Enola Gay and, in doing so, they articulate their philosophy of the Smithsonian's role in presenting history. Adams: "we are in the business of confronting and learning from history, not suppressing it." Harwit: "It seems to me germane for a national museum that deals with space flight to bring out the kind of information an intelligent voter should have in order to decide how to vote on issues." The article below by Kazin is quoted by Adams and gives a sense of contemporary unease about the dropping of the bomb, climaxing with reference to Herman Kahn of "Doomsday Machine" notoriety.

"Awaiting the Crack of Doom," by Alfred Kazin, New York Times Book Review, May 1, 1988: 1, 40-41. (A review of Spencer R. Weart, Nuclear Fear: A History of Images, Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1988) Reading excerpts from Herman Kahn's On Thermonuclear War and Thinking the Unthinkable would be appropriate here. [FullText]

"Smithsonian Horizons," by Robert McCormick Adams, Smithsonian, July 1988, 12 [PDF]

"Saga of the Enola Gay," American Legion Magazine, August 1988, 18-20, 48. Highlights the Enola Gay Restoration Association headed by Donald Rehl and Frank Stewart, members of Tibbets' group; quotes from Tibbets point to opposition to displaying the Enola Gay. [FullText]

"The Enola Gay," by Martin Harwit, Air & Space, August/September 1988, 4. [PDF]

"At Air and Space, Ideas on the Wing," by Elizabeth Kastor, Washington Post, 10/11/88, D1. Interview of Harwit. [FullText]

1989. The NASM begins a sixteen-month series of talk, panels, exhibits on "Strategic Bombing in World War II," which, according to Harwit, was to make necessary contacts for an Enola Gay exhibit. "The practice of strategic bombing [aimed at civilian populations] has raised many questions," Harwit said. The Nicks' letter represents the trouble looming: examining strategic bombing "is simply a transparent excuse to moralize about nuclear warfare. . . . The Enola Gay deserves to be displayed as a simple artifact of history and as a memorial and tribute to the men who flew it."

"The Legacy of Strategic Bombing," by David Savold, Air & Space, October/November 1989, 26-28. [PDF]

"Treasures of the Air and Space Museum," by Tom Huntington, Air & Space, October/November 1990. The article that triggers Nicks (contains many illustrations of the "treasures"). [PDF]

"Keep Moralizing out of Museums," by Ben Nicks, Air & Space, December 1990/January 1991, 8. [PDF]

1990. Interview with Adams five years into his tenure: My job is to "change this institution from the sort of tight little island in Washington which was mainly thinking about its own internal housekeeping" to one concerned with "the grand issues of our time."

"A Feisty Chief Shakes Up the Smithsonian," by William H. Honan, New York Times, 02/11/90, 2.1. [FullText]

1990. These four editorials in 1990, 1991, and 1992 indicate general things on Harwit's mind pertinent to the Enola Gay exhibit:

"Are We Running out of Wars?" Air & Space, April/May 1990, 4: "the interdependence of war and technology should be viewed with alarm." [PDF]

"Truth in Labeling," Air & Space, April/May 1991, 4: "a concern for telling stories straight and pulling no punches." [PDF]

"Smart Versus Nuclear Bombs,"Air & Space, June/July 1991, 4: "our goal should be "to lower the nuclear threat that has hung over the world now for nearly half a century." [PDF]

"Are We Doing Our Job?" Air & Space, April/May 1992, 4: "our future engineers should be taught not just engineering but also the broader social impact and historical development of modern technologies." [PDF]

1990. This exhibit review points to changes in the museum: "A review of current exhibits at NASM suggests that these criticisms [celebration of technology with little regard to historical context] remain valid but that significant changes have occurred behind the scenes that are intended to broaden the educational content. . . . Harwit differs from his predecessor most notably in his concern for showing the public how technological progress affects culture and society. . . . [NASM's] intention to come to terms with the societal significance of technologies is commendable, but it remains to be seen how successful this initiative will be."

"From Heroes to Hiroshima: The National Air and Space Museum Adjusts Its Point of View," by Samuel A. Batzli, Technology and Culture 31.4 (1990): 830-37. [FullText]

1990. Smithsonian budget problems in the midst of redefinition:

"A Mess in the Nation's Attic," by Miriam Horn, U. S. News & World Report, 08/13/90, 57. [FullText]

"Smithsonian's Budget Reduced by $2.2 Million," Washington Times, 02/09/94, C17. [FullText]

5/1991. Controversial Smithsonian Museum of American Art exhibit, "The West as America: Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier," opens: "The controversy has to do with politics -- historical politics. . . .'The main purpose of the exhibition . . . is to demonstrate the knowing or unconscious complicity of the artists in it with what the organizers judge to be an immoral national policy, namely, the westward expansion of the United States."

"Wild, Wild West: The Smithsonian Circles the Wagons over Its Latest Exhibit," by Michael Killian, Chicago Tribune, 05/26/91: section 13, page 16. [FullText]

11/1991. Controversial NASM exhibit on World War I, "Legend, Memory and the Great War in the Air," opens.

see reviews: "Plane Truths During WW I," by Hank Burchard, Washington Post, 11/22/91, N65: "A shocking show is turning heads and stomachs . . . ." [FullText]

see reviews: "Grounded In Reality," by Michael Killian, Chicago Tribune, 11/26/91, 1, 7: "much of the exhibit is devoted to the grim artifacts of the folly that so often governed aerial warfare" in World War I [FullText]

see reviews:"The Red Baron and Plane Truths," Washington Post, 12/09/91, A20 Two letters: "There are no winners or losers, good guys or bad guys." [FullText]

From the exhibit catalog (Seattle: U of Washington P, 1992), see the following preface and chapter 1: Harwit's "Preface": 7: "the principal task of an historical exhibition is to help a museum visitor understand the impact of key events on everyday life -- how past experience has shaped today's world."

From the exhibit catalog (Seattle: U of Washington P, 1992), chapter 1: Dominick A. Pisano, "Constructing the Memory of Aerial Combat in World War I": 11-17

see article by a Smithsonian curator: "Risky Business: Some Thoughts on Controversial Exhibitions," by Tom D. Crouch, Museum International, 49.3 (1997): 8-13. [FullText]

9/29/1992. The Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History forms a group to target sexual and cultural inequity.

"At the Smithsonian, the 'Dirty Dozen' Attacks the Exhibits," by Asra Q. Nomani, Wall Street Journal, 09/29/92, A1. [FullText]

10/12/1992. Mention of the Columbus quincentennial exhibit includes the memorable phrase pertinent to the controversies in this period that the Smithsonian is "in danger of becoming the Woodstock Nostalgia Society."

"Even Columbus," Wall Street Journal, 10/12/92, A10. [FullText]

10/15/1992. A review of Smithsonian exhibits under Adams' tenure finds that he is "transforming 'America's attic' into a showcase for the victimological left." In Adams' conception, museums are forums for "confrontation, experimentation and debate."

"Guilt Tripping at the Smithsonian," by Matthew Hoffman, Washington Times, Oct. 15, 1992, G1, 4. [FullText]

"Picking Up the Guilt Trip Tab," by Matthew Hoffman, Washington Times, Oct. 16, 1992, F1. [FullText]