![]() ![]() In all, I believe we eventually succeeded in creating plans for a more balanced presentation. They included a new 4,000-square-foot section on the War in the Pacific and extensive revisions to the script throughout. Within a month of my becoming Secretary of the Smithsonian last Fall, plans for the exhibition were substantially revamped. Once the controversy was upon us, our staff made a sincere effort to create a more balanced exhibition. They were not looking for analysis, and, frankly, we did not give enough thought to the intense feelings such an analysis would evoke. In this important anniversary year, veterans and their families were expecting, and rightly so, that the nation would honor and commemorate their valor and sacrifice. ![]() But we need to know which of many goals is paramount, and not to confuse them. Exhibitions have many purposes, equally worthwhile. I have taken this action for one overriding reason: I have concluded that we made a basic error in attempting to couple an historical treatment of the use of atomic weapons with the 50th anniversary commemoration of the end of the war. This morning I shared with the Board of Regents my decision to replace "The Last Act: The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II" (the Enola Gay exhibition) scheduled to open in May at the National Air and Space Museum.
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