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2003. The Smithsonian announcement about the opening of the new National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport that provides a permanent home for the Enola Gay.

"Hold everything! The Enterprise. The Blackbird. The Enola Gay. A vast new Smithsonian facility outside Washington, D.C. opens December 15, with scores of restored aircraft and spacecraft, many on display for the first time," by William Triplett, Smithsonian 34.9 (Dec 2003): 58. "The new Enola Gay exhibit acknowledges the plane's role in the bombing and presents details such as the B-29's having been the first pressurized bomber, but does not mention atomic bomb casualties." [FullText]

2003. Well before the December 2003 opening of the museum, however, the Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy forms "to challenge the Smithsonian's plans to exhibit the Enola Gay solely as a 'magnificent technological achievement.'" In a letter of October 23, 2003, the Committee publishes a statement of principles and circulates a petition to be delivered to the president before the museum opening. Petition signers include Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, E. L. Doctorow, Clifford Geertz, Pete Seeger, Martin Sheen, Oliver Stone, Kurt Vonnegut, Gary Wills, Howard Zinn, and a host of other academic and public figures.

From the Committees Statement of Principles: "We are not, however, opposed to exhibiting the Enola Gay. Much to the contrary, we welcome any exhibition that will spur an honest and balanced discussion of the atomic bombings of 1945 and of current U.S. nuclear policy. Our greatest concern is that the disturbing issues raised by the atomic bombings in 1945 will not be addressed in the planned exhibit and that President Truman's use of atomic weapons will legitimize the Bush administration's current effort to lower the threshold for future use of nuclear weapons. Whatever the National Air and Space Museum's conscious intention, any effort to treat the atomic bombings of 1945 in a celebratory fashion or to display the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb solely as a 'magnificent technological achievement' can only dishonor the museum and the nation and serve the purposes of those who seek to normalize nuclear weapons and facilitate their future use." [https://enola-gay.org/ Archived]

2003. As the opening of the new museum nears, the tension builds as old issues surface.

"Criticism Meets New Exhibit of Plane That Carried A-Bomb," by Elizabeth Olson, New York Times, 11/2/03, 18. "When officials at the Smithsonian Institution unveiled a new home for the World War II bomber the Enola Gay in August, they had hoped to avoid the kind of controversy that had previously plagued efforts to exhibit the airplane that carried the first atomic bomb. Not likely. Now a group of scholars, writers, activists and others have signed a petition criticizing the exhibit for labeling the Enola Gay as 'the largest and most technologically advanced airplane for its time' without mentioning that the Boeing B-29 dropped the bomb on Hiroshima." [FullText]

"Enola Gay Draws More Flak," by Jacqueline Trescott, Washington Post, 11/6/03, C1. "'We want to encourage a balanced discussion of what happened in 1945 and the potential ramifications of what happened in the past for policy today. We don't want a whitewashed exhibition. That kind of display only helps to legitimize the past use of nuclear weapons and, I fear, lends support for lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons now,' Kuznick said." [FullText]

"Enola Gay Exhibit Won't Be Changed," by Jacqueline Trescott, Washington Post, 11/11/03, C1. "The director of the National Air and Space Museum yesterday rejected suggestions that the new display of the Enola Gay, the airplane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, be altered to include information on the number of victims of the attack and a discussion of the politics of nuclear weapons." [FullText]

"Smithsonian Rejects Pleas On Labeling Of Enola Gay," by Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times, 11/12/03, E2. In a statement, the Smithsonian said, 'The National Air and Space Museum tells the story of the development of flight and chronicles the history of the technologies that have made flight possible.' Gen. John R. Dailey, the director of the museum, said, 'To be accurate, fair and balanced, inclusion of casualty figures would require an overview of all casualties associated with the conflict, which would not be practical in this exhibit.'" [FullText]

"Japan Survivors Want Say in Bomb Exhibit," San Diego Ubion-Tribune, 12/2/03, A15. "The Japan Confederation of A-Bomb and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations plans to send a team to Washington Dec. 11 to deliver a petition, the group said on its Web site." [FullText]

12/12/2003. News after the December 12, 2003, dedication and December 15 opening includes coverage of both active physical protests and verbal protests.

"The Ultimate Wingding; Smithsonian's New Aviation Museum At Dulles Gets Off to a Flying Start," by Jacqueline Trescott, Washington Post, 12/12/03, A1. "The Smithsonian Institution yesterday dedicated its newest museum, a cavernous building at Dulles International Airport that is both a homage to American inventiveness and a storehouse for historic aircraft." [FullText]

"Enola Gay Can't Evade Controversy," by Jake Thompson, Omaha World Herald, 12/12/03, 1a. "Now with the Enola Gay fully restored and on display in a new facility that opens to the public Monday, Japanese survivors of the bomb and others are upset. They are staging demonstrations and events through the weekend to protest that the exhibit makes no mention of the human loss. . . . 'To take something that is so potentially educational and turn it into a contextless centerpiece with the suggestion "Isn't this great technology," is appalling,' said John Dower, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology historian who will speak at Saturday's conference." [FullText]

"Bomb Plane Angers Hiroshima Survivors," Sunday Mail (Queensland, Australia), 12/14/03, 62. "Fifty-eight years after being devastated by a US atomic bomb, Hiroshima survivors have pleaded with the United States to honour their pain before the plane that dropped the bomb goes on public display. . . . 'If the Enola Gay is going to be displayed, they should also say what happened beneath the plane on the day the bomb was dropped,' said Sunao Tsuboi, who was about 1.5km from the centre of the blast on August 6, 1945." [FullText]

"A Big Museum Opens, to Jeers as Well as Cheers," by Matthew L. Wald, New York Times, 12/16/03, A32. "Mr. Gerson said setting up the plane for public view 'builds cultural and political forces in this country for use of nuclear weapons again.' Protesters chanted, 'No more war!' In response, some visitors shouted, 'Go home!' and other, less polite demands." [FullText]

"Protesters Disrupt Air Museum Opening," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/16/03, 8A. "A small group of protesters briefly disrupted the official opening of the National Air and Space Museum's new annex at Dulles International Airport on Monday, spilling a red liquid supposed to resemble blood near the Enola Gay exhibit and throwing an object that dented the airplane." [FullText]

"Row As Restored A-bomb Plane Goes on Display," by Alec Russell, Daily Telegraph (London), 12/16/03, 16. "Last Friday representatives of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors' groups handed letters and a petition with 25,000 signatures to the museum urging it to change the label to include a record of the victims. They planned a protest yesterday outside the museum." [FullText]

"The Enola Gay In a Truly Terrifying Light," by Courtland Milloy, Washington Post, 12/17/03, B1. "'I was 13 when I saw this airplane crossing the sky, just before I was blown to the ground with my skin peeling off,' Nishino recalled." [FullText]

"Fury Over Hiroshima Display," The Mercury (Australia), 12/17/03, 18. "Two men were arrested after a bottle of red paint was thrown, denting a panel on the plane. . . . The protest was too much for some other museum visitors, who angrily chanted 'Remember Pearl Harbor.' 'My Dad fought in the war -- go home,' shouted another man." [FullText]

"A Place in the Annals of War," by Mike Harden, Columbus Dispatch, 12/18/03, 1E. "The last hurrah of the man who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, arrived a week ago with none of the acrimony that has sometimes accompanied his notoriety. 'I've had all the attention I need in this life,' retired Brig. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets Jr. said Sunday as he dawdled over pancakes at the Bob Evans on E. Main Street. 'I'd just as soon the phone never ring again.'" [FullText]

"A-bomb Survivor Shoulders Burden of Memory for U.S. Victims in Hiroshima," by Asami Nagai, Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), 12/20/03, 13. "Though he didn't say so, Mori, 66, is entitled to make some comments on this issue since, for more than 20 years, he has been working to find out what had happened to a number of U.S. airmen who were taken captive in the doomed city during the final days of World War II. 'They seem to symbolize the absurdity and cruelty of this bombing and war,' Mori said." [FullText]

2003. Editorials, opinion pieces, and letters to the editor favoring the Smithsonian's approach and/or criticizing the protestors.

"Peace Activists Are Ignoring the Facts," Buffalo News, 11/9/03, H3. Letter: "I read the Oct. 31 News article regarding an upcoming 'peace protest' at the Smithsonian Institution over the display of the World War II bomber, Enola Gay. Kevin Martin, director of Peace Action, said, 'U.S. militarism is deeply entrenched.' I say thank God for that. If not, we could very well be displaying a flag with a rising sun or a swastika, rather than stars and stripes. . . . Martin said he would use violence only in defending his family. What does he think the U.S. military and the crew of the Enola Gay were doing?" [FullText]

"'Fair-Thinking' Enola Gay Editorial Bombed," Columbus Dispatch, 11/23/03, 4C. Letter: "I can say from personal experience that fairness was always on our minds when we made those landings in the Pacific. We tried to keep an even balance of power and not hurt more of them than they did of us. As a common Marine, I never met Gen. Douglas MacArthur but I knew his strategy was not to take advantage of those nice people who created the Death March, owned the greatest naval force in existence, occupied a huge swatch of China (including Manchuria), systematically murdered 350,000 Chinese civilians in one city and raped Korea." [FullText]

"U.S. Owes Japan No Apology at Hiroshima Plane Exhibit," by Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times, 12/5/03, 22. "There is a museum in Tokyo dedicated to Japan's ample history of warfare. But if you visit the plainly named Military Museum, you will find no reference to the grotesque medical experiments the Japanese army conducted in World War II or the sex slaves it kidnapped. The Rape of Nanking, when rampaging Japanese troops raped and murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese, is airbrushed into the 'Nanking Incident' and the facts are said to be uncertain. . . . . This is par for the course. In Japanese textbooks the relentless quest of military domination that so marked that nation's conduct in the 20th century gently morphs into a brave struggle for independence against a hostile world. . . . The Japanese nation earned the Enola Gay's visit. The rest is just present day politics and the posturing of those not in any position to complain." [FullText]

"Remembering the Enola Gay's Necessary Role," Washington Post, 12/22/03, A24. Letter: "The plane's display at the new National Air and Space Museum annex is not a celebration of the event, only a reminder of the desired effect: to end an already overwhelming and devastating war that had left millions dead across the globe and many more orphaned or homeless." [FullText]

"The Enola Gay, on View," New York Times, 12/22/03, A30. Letter: "The discomfiture suffered by those protesting the Enola Gay installation served to invigorate this octogenarian World War II veteran's medicated heart. I imagined the shameful alternative of having to commemorate and mourn the loss of a million more American lives in the invasion of an unyielding, militaristic imperial Japan." [FullText]

"Enola Gay Bombing Saved American Lives," Buffalo News, 12/25/03, B9. Letter: " Let's be proud of the Enola Gay. It signaled the end of Japanese atrocities and saved many American lives." [FullText]

"High-Flying Protest," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/26/03, A26. "Insufficient labeling is a bogus argument. Judging by their statements, those who oppose the Enola Gay have a visceral reaction to its very presence. Unless it were presented as a machine involved in what they regard as a war crime, it seems unlikely they would be happy. Yet as horrendous as the atomic thunderclaps from the sky were over Japan that summer long ago, intellectual honesty would demand more in the way of context if that were the route the museum had decided to go, something beyond a list of casualties and damage. The full context would also include a note that last week's protesters might not like -- the argument, much debated by historians but still persuasive, that the atomic bombs were the catalyst for Japan's surrender, which otherwise would have been achieved only by a direct invasion of the Japanese mainland, at a far greater cost in American and Japanese lives." [FullText]

Letters, Sacramento Bee, 12/27/03, B6. Letter: "There is no question that the war with Japan was shortened considerably because of the bombs and resulted in the saving of thousands of American lives. If I remember correctly, the objective in a war is to win and to have as few casualties as possible on your side. There are no rules in war. Are we to believe that if Japan had the bomb and the means to deliver it before America had it that it would not have used it?" [FullText]

"An End to Bloodshed," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/2/04, A18. Letter: "my brother was drafted into the Army. After serving during the invasion of Guam and Leyte, he was wounded while carrying a stretcher. A bullet went into his shoulder and out his back. . . . The war ended and my brother and all the other victims of Japanese militarism were able to come home, if they were still alive. We have to keep reminding the younger generation why events took place and why we keep putting down tyrants and their followers around the world -- so freedom can breathe free." [FullText]

2003. Editorials, opinion pieces, and letters to the editor somewhat in the middle or offering a compromise.

"Enola Gay draws Flak," Columbus Dispatch, 11/10/03, 10A. "Whether the bombings resulted in fewer deaths than would have been lost in a ground invasion of Japan is an argument that will not go away anytime soon. The Smithsonian is under no obligation to endorse one position or the other. The explanatory placard might say: 'The Enola Gay, piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets Jr., dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 under orders from President Harry S. Truman. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Soon after, Japan surrendered, ending its participation in World War II. Debate continues as to whether the bombings were necessary to end the war and whether nuclear weapons ever should be used again. Some say an invasion of Japan would have resulted in greater loss of Japanese and American lives than the bombings. Others disagree.' Neither side in the argument will ever find the exhibit's explanatory materials satisfactory. So let the exhibit provide the facts and acknowledge the argument. The opponents can take their fight outside." [FullText]

"A lifesaver," Star Tribune (Minneapolis), 11/14/03, 26A. Letter: "By ending the war and saving millions of Japanese civilians, not to mention Americans, the mission of the Enola Gay may well be the single greatest humanitarian event of the 20th century." [FullText]

"Japan, U.S. can't share same ideas about history," Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), 12/19/03, 4. "As relations between Japan and the United States are important, maintaining the bilateral alliance serves the national interests of Japan. However, there is no need for Japan to go along with the U.S. version of history on these controversial issues, including how to consider the historic significance of the Tokyo Trial. As nations and peoples differ from country to country, it is impossible for different countries to have exactly the same perception of history. This is a reasonable way of looking at Japan's relations with the United States, as it is with ties with China and South Korea." [FullText]

"The Irony of the Enola Gay Protesters," Washington Post, 12/24/03, A14. Letter: "I found it ironic that a group of antiwar and anti-nuclear weapons protesters resorted to aggression and violent actions such as throwing paint onto the aircraft to convey their message. Whether I agree with them or not, I hope those who aggressively confronted other attendees with their antiwar opinions will think about why our country maintains a strong defense with weapons such as those they despise. It is precisely to defend against those who use aggression and violence to convey their messages. If their intent is to inform and sway opinions with fact-based arguments, there are more effective tools than assaulting museumgoers." [FullText]

"Enola Gay Reconsidered," Washington Post, 12/27/03, A24. "A subtle statement similar to the one that appears near the nuclear missiles on display at the Air and Space Museum's downtown exhibition hall -- which reflects on the dual uses of many aviation and space technologies -- would not be out of place. Nor would it require much agonizing to add a few extra sentences in order to help younger visitors who might not know the history to put the Enola Gay in perspective. We would suggest something like this: 'The Enola Gay dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb killed 80,000 people, brought a rapid end to World War II -- a conflict which had by then taken millions of civilian and military lives -- and ushered in the nuclear age.'" [FullText]

2003. These writers take a position against the "neutral" way the Smithsonian is displaying the plane.

"Smithsonian Bombs Again," Denver Post, 11/4/03, B6. "In August, the reassembled Enola Gay, named for command pilot Col. Paul Tibbets Jr.'s mother, was put on display near Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. This time, criticism came from scholars, writers and antiwar activists angered that the exhibit focuses on the B-29's technological advances rather than its role in dropping the first atomic weapon ever used in war. That criticism is valid: Of 4,000 B-29s built during World War II, the only reason the Smithsonian has the Enola Gay is that it was the Hiroshima plane. Ignoring that fact is a little like focusing on the Titanic's superior engineering and not mentioning the iceberg." [FullText]

"Questions Raised by Enola Gay," San Francisco Chronicle, 11/16/03, D4. Letter: "Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall pointed out that the use of the bomb was opposed by Gens. Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur and Adm. William Leahy, and that the Japanese had been sending out peace feelers for months. Urging exploration of those peace feelers were several Cabinet officers and one ex-president, Herbert Hoover. Instead, they were ignored, and the Enola Gay did its deadly work." [FullText]

"Context Is Everything," San Francisco Chronicle, 11/9/03, D4. "We agree that the exhibit should include a broader historical context. The Enola Gay is not an object to celebrate. Rather, it is an opportunity for us to reflect on our own history and to consider competing interpretations about how a historic decision was made. It also offers us a chance to consider the dangers of nuclear proliferation and to dedicate ourselves to preventing any future use of such weapons of mass destruction." [FullText]

"In museums, tinkering with history," Christian Science Monitor, 11/18/03, 8. Letter: "The problem here is that the Smithsonian focuses only on the technological 'achievement,' though the bombing also killed 100,000 people, mostly civilians. Critics are not demanding the Enola Gay display be withdrawn, but are asking the Smithsonian to deal with both faces of technology, bright and dark." [FullText]

"140,000 Reasons Not to Celebrate the Enola Gay Exhibit," by Michael Jones, CommonDreams.org, 12/11/03: "Among the numbers you won’t see listed on the description label of the Enola Gay inside the Smithsonian exhibit opening at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport on December 15 is 140,000. That’s how many people the Enola Gay helped kill, when it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945." [http://www.commondreams.org/scriptfiles/views03/1211-05.htm]

"Musings," Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), 12/13/03, 3. "The people of the United States should remember that due to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, initiated by a plane bearing a mother's name (Enola)--now indelibly engraved in history--a number of unknown mothers wailed over the loss of their children. If the Americans can hold their heads high even after looking at the aftermath of the atomic bombings, I don't mind if they insist on talking about 'dignity.' But I wonder how much this dignity is really worth if the entire story is not told." [FullText]

"The Enola Gay, on View," New York Times, 12/22/03, A30. Letter: "Displaying aircraft to 'stimulate interest in technology and science' is laudable. Failing to effectively state the human cost of certain technologies is immoral. Having visited Hiroshima and its memorial to honor the victims of the first atomic bomb, I cannot view the Enola Gay in just a technological light. The majority of Japanese killed in Hiroshima were not militarists but ordinary civilians. Technological advances are critical, but technology without morality is criminal. [FullText]

"Enola Gay, 58 Years Later," Washington Post, 12/27/03, A24. Letter: "When I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I was struck by how forthright both cities' museums were in recognizing Japanese responsibility for provoking World War II and admitting the horrendous war crimes Japan committed against many subject nations. This puts to shame the National Air and Space Museum, which doesn't even mention the basic facts of the Enola Gay bombing: Many thousands of innocent civilians were killed by the explosion and by long-term radiation poisoning." [FullText]

"Let's Face It: The Enola Gay Led Us Down the WMD Path," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/2/04, A18. Letter: "The Enola Gay pioneered the use of nuclear bombs as weapons of terrorism -- terrifying all targeted nations by their indiscriminate, widespread, inevitable killing of civilians, a use today ensconced in the nuclear policies of nuclear nations and in the aspirations of national and terrorist 'have-nots.' At worst, the editorial's umbrage at appeals for a full explanation of the Enola Gay history is disingenuous, especially since that history was censored out of existence in the original Smithsonian Enola Gay Exhibit in 1995, under pressure from apologists for the Hiroshima bombing. That approaches history with 'eyes wide shut.'" [FullText]

"Enola Gay, Just War, and Mass Murder," by Scott McPherson, The Future of Freedom Foundation, 1/12/04: "War is indeed hell, and all attempts should be made to prevent it. When the United States is engaged in a defensive war, however, all lawful means should be used to protect American lives — but it does not allow for an open season on innocent civilians. Even in wartime, governments have a moral responsibility to avoid unnecessary civilian deaths, as prescribed in the laws of war that have guided military conduct for centuries. Enola Gay played a major part in the two darkest days of the U.S. government’s history — a tool of mass murder in an otherwise just war."