The Enola Gay And The Smithsonian Institution

Author : Charles T. O’Reilly,William A. Rooney
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2015-01-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9780786484003

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The Enola Gay and the Smithsonian Institution by Charles T. O’Reilly,William A. Rooney Pdf

On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, which ushered on the end of World War II. For the 50th anniversary of this major event in world history, the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution produced an exhibit. A controversy erupted, however, over the exhibit's historical authenticity. Veterans, for example, complained that the museum displayed a misrepresented version of history. After concisely covering the background of the Enola Gay and its mission, this study focuses on the controversy surrounding the museum exhibit. Issues covered include casualty figures, ethical questions, and political correctness, among others. The viewpoints of such groups as museum personnel, exhibit organizers, veterans, and historians are covered. Appendices offer information on content analysis of the National Air and Space Museum exhibit script, non-museum materials that were intended to complement the exhibit script, and the importance of full disclosure in research.

Author : Martin Harwit
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 501 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781468479058

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An Exhibit Denied by Martin Harwit Pdf

At 8:15 A.M., August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay released her load. For forty three seconds, the world's first atomic bomb plunged through six miles of clear air to its preset detonation altitude. There it exploded, destroying Hiroshima and eighty thousand of her citizens. No war had ever seen such instant devastation. Within nine days Japan surrendered. World War II was over and a nuclear arms race had begun. Fifty years later, the National Air and Space Museum was in the final stages of preparing an exhibition on the Enola Gay's historic mission when eighty-one members of Congress angrily demanded cancellation of the planned display and the resignation or dismissal of the museum's director. The Smithsonian tnstitution, of which the National Air and Space Museum is a part, is heavily dependent on congressional funding. The Institution's chief executive, Smithsonian Secretary I. Michael Heyman, in office only four months at the time, scrapped the exhibit as requested, and promised to personally oversee a new display devoid of any historic context. In the wake of that decision I resigned as the museum's director and left the Smithsonian.

Author : Tom Engelhardt,Edward T. Linethal
Publisher : Holt Paperbacks
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 1996-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781429936774

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History Wars by Tom Engelhardt,Edward T. Linethal Pdf

From the "taming of the West" to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the portrayal of the past has become a battleground at the heart of American politics. What kind of history Americans should read, see, or fund is no longer merely a matter of professional interest to teachers, historians, and museum curators. Everywhere now, history is increasingly being held hostage, but to what end and why? In History Wars, eight prominent historians consider the angry swirl of emotions that now surrounds public memory. Included are trenchant essays by Paul Boyer, John W. Dower, Tom Engelhardt, Richard H. Kohn, Edward Linenthal, Micahel S. Sherry, Marilyn B. Young, and Mike Wallace.

Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Rules and Administration
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Atomic bomb
ISBN : PURD:32754065391769

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The Smithsonian Institution Management Guidelines for the Future by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Rules and Administration Pdf

Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.

Author : Robert C. Post
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2013-10-15
Category : Art
ISBN : 9781421411002

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Who Owns America's Past? by Robert C. Post Pdf

"From an insider's perspective, Robert C. Post ... offers insight into the politics of display and the interpretation of history. Never before has a book about the Smithsonian detailed the recent and dramatic shift from collection-driven shows, with artifacts meant to speak for themselves, to concept-driven exhibitions, in which objects aim to tell a story, displayed like illustrations in a book"--Dust jacket flap.

Author : Jan Rydel,Stefan Troebst
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2022-09-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110769791

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Instrumentalizing the Past by Jan Rydel,Stefan Troebst Pdf

In today's world, we can point to many international disputes and interstate conflicts fueled by past events. Historical resentments or memories of past suffering or fame are often used to justify political, economic and even territorial demands. Inter-state disputes and historical conflicts should be understood as evidence of political and social tensions related to active, serious differences in the assessment of the common past. The book explains the role of such conflicts in international relations and suggests ways of classifying them. It presents examples of the internationally relevant instrumentalisation of history from different regions of the world and outlines ways of overcoming them.

Author : J. Samuel Walker
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781442994720

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Prompt and Utter Destruction by J. Samuel Walker Pdf

Author : Robert C. Post
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2013-10-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781421411019

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Who Owns America's Past? by Robert C. Post Pdf

When preserving our history, what do we choose to value, why, and who decides? Honorable Mention for the National Council on Public History Book Award of the National Council on Public History In 1994, when the National Air and Space Museum announced plans to display the Enola Gay, the B-29 sent to destroy Hiroshima with an atomic bomb, the ensuing political uproar caught the museum's parent Smithsonian Institution entirely unprepared. As the largest such complex in the world, the Smithsonian cares for millions of objects and has displayed everything from George Washington's sword to moon rocks to Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Why did this particular object arouse such controversy? From an insider’s perspective, Robert C. Post’s Who Owns America’s Past? offers insight into the politics of display and the interpretation of history. Never before has a book about the Smithsonian detailed the recent and dramatic shift from collection-driven shows, with artifacts meant to speak for themselves, to concept-driven exhibitions, in which objects aim to tell a story, displayed like illustrations in a book. Even more recently, the trend is to show artifacts along with props, sound effects, and interactive elements in order to create an immersive environment. Rather than looking at history, visitors are invited to experience it. Who Owns America’s Past? examines the different ways that the Smithsonian’s exhibitions have been conceived and designed—whether to educate visitors, celebrate an important historical moment, or satisfy donor demands or partisan agendas. Combining information from hitherto-untapped archival sources, extensive interviews, a thorough review of the secondary literature, and considerable personal experience, Post gives the reader a behind-the-scenes view of disputes among curators, academics, and stakeholders that were sometimes private and at other times burst into headline news.

Author : Roger Chapman
Publisher : M.E. Sharpe
Page : 768 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780765622501

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Culture Wars by Roger Chapman Pdf

A collection of letters from a cross-section of Japanese citizens to a leading Japanese newspaper, relating their experiences and thoughts of the Pacific War.

Author : Robert James Maddox
Publisher : University of Missouri Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : History
ISBN : 9780826265876

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Hiroshima in History by Robert James Maddox Pdf

When President Harry Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons against Japan, he did so to end a bloody war that would have been bloodier still had the planned invasion of Japan proved necessary. Revisionists claim that Truman's real interest was a power play with the Soviet Union and that the Japanese would have surrendered even earlier had the retention of their imperial system been assured. Truman wanted the war to continue, they insist, in order to show off America's powerful new weapon. This anthology exposes revisionist fallacies about Truman's motives, the cost of an invasion, and the question of Japan's surrender. Essays by prominent military and diplomatic historians reveal the hollowness of revisionist claims, exposing the degree to which these agenda-driven scholars have manipulated the historical record to support their contentions. They show that, although some Japanese businessmen and minor officials indicated a willingness to negotiate peace, no one in a governmental decision-making capacity even suggested surrender. And although casualty estimates for an invasion vary considerably, the more authoritative approximations point to the very bloodbath that Truman sought to avoid. Volume editor Robert Maddox first examines the writings of revisionist Gar Alperovitz to expose the unscholarly methods Alperovitz employed to support his claims, then distinguished Japanese historian Sadao Asada reveals how difficult it was for his country's peace faction to prevail even after the bombs had been dropped. Other contributors point to continuing Japanese military buildups, analyze the revisionists' low casualty estimates for an invasion, reveal manipulations of the Strategic Bombing Survey of 1946, and show how even the exhibit commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum hewed to the revisionist line. And a close reading of Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's acclaimed Racing the Enemy exposes many grave discrepancies between that recent revisionist text and its sources. The use of atomic bombs against Japan remains one of the most controversial issues in American history. Gathered in a single volume for the first time, these insightful readings take a major step toward settling that controversy by showing how insubstantial Hiroshima revisionism really is--and that sometimes history cannot proceed without decisive action, however regrettable.

Author : Sharon Macdonald
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2010-10-05
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781136878787

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The Politics of Display by Sharon Macdonald Pdf

The assumption that museum exhibitions, particularly those concerned with science and technology, are somehow neutral and impartial is today being challenged both in the public arena and in the academy. The Politics of Display brings together studies of contemporary and historical exhibitions and contends that exhibitions are never, and never have been, above politics. Rather, technologies of display and ideas about 'science' and 'objectivity' are mobilized to tell stories of progress, citizenship, racial and national difference. The display of the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima is a well-known case in point. The Politics of Display charts the changing relationship between displays and their audience and analyzes the consequent shift in styles of representation towards interactive, multimedia and reflexive modes of display. The Politics of Display brings together an array of international scholars in the disciplines of sociology, anthropology and history. Examples are taken from exhibitions of science, technology and industry, anthropology, geology, natural history and medicine, and locations include the United States of America, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Spain. This book is an excellent contribution to debates about the politics of public culture. It will be of interest to students of sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, museum studies and science studies.

Author : Michael Kort
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : History
ISBN : 0231130163

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The Columbia Guide to Hiroshima and the Bomb by Michael Kort Pdf

"These primary source documents comprise the largest part of this volume. They are organized into seven categories: American civilian documents, American military documents, MAGIC diplomatic summaries, Japanese government and military documents and diary entries, Japanese surrender documents, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report and Interrogations of Japanese Officials, and Statements of Japanese Officials on World War II compiled by the Military Intelligence Section of the United States Army."--BOOK JACKET.

Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Rules and Administration
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Atomic bomb
ISBN : STANFORD:36105111202896

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The Smithsonian Institution Management Guidelines for the Future by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Rules and Administration Pdf

Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.

Author : Richard Kurin
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 784 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2013-10-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781101638774

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The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects by Richard Kurin Pdf

The Smithsonian Institution is America's largest, most important, and most beloved repository for the objects that define our common heritage. Now Under Secretary for Art, History, and Culture Richard Kurin, aided by a team of top Smithsonian curators and scholars, has assembled a literary exhibition of 101 objects from across the Smithsonian's museums that together offer a marvelous new perspective on the history of the United States. Ranging from the earliest years of the pre-Columbian continent to the digital age, and from the American Revolution to Vietnam, each entry pairs the fascinating history surrounding each object with the story of its creation or discovery and the place it has come to occupy in our national memory. Kurin sheds remarkable new light on objects we think we know well, from Lincoln's hat to Dorothy's ruby slippers and Julia Child's kitchen, including the often astonishing tales of how each made its way into the collections of the Smithsonian. Other objects will be eye-opening new discoveries for many, but no less evocative of the most poignant and important moments of the American experience. Some objects, such as Harriet Tubman's hymnal, Sitting Bull's ledger, Cesar Chavez's union jacket, and the Enola Gay bomber, tell difficult stories from the nation's history, and inspire controversies when exhibited at the Smithsonian. Others, from George Washington's sword to the space shuttle Discovery, celebrate the richness and vitality of the American spirit. In Kurin's hands, each object comes to vivid life, providing a tactile connection to American history. Beautifully designed and illustrated with color photographs throughout, The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects is a rich and fascinating journey through America's collective memory, and a beautiful object in its own right.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 646 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Aeronautics
ISBN : UGA:32108041072284

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Air Force Magazine by Anonim Pdf