Part of the museum's congressional mandate includes 'provid educational material for the historical study of aviation.' The museum used this mandate some years ago to put on an exhibit of aviation in World War I that sought to demystify the myths that had built up around that air war.
The least the museum could do in the case of the Enola Gay is note the devastation it caused and the longstanding, scholarly debate surrounding the decision to use atomic bombs in World War II.ÿĭoing so would hardly make the museum an opponent of veterans or somehow dishonor the United States. Indeed, some of the most vehement critics of the use of atomic bombs were American military leaders from World War II.
