On the other hand, their critique is very effective concerning those historians who have argued that Japan was obviously ready to surrender without the nuclear attacks, or that they were conducted primarily to intimidate the Soviets. Truman might have had difficulty halting the inexorable momentum leading to the use of the atomic bomb. The authors, for instance, refuse to accept the possibilities that racism or vengeance affected any American attitudes about the end of the war against Japan, that service interests played a role in the course of the Pacific War, or that President Harry S. This exchange reveals much about the biases and blinders on both sides. O’Reilly and Rooney also attempt to counter the primary arguments of the exhibit’s defenders, an array of museum staff and loosely grouped “revisionist” historians. It would have been more instructive to delve into the nuances of the many alterations the program underwent, but looking at the original language does reveal clearly why veterans would have been upset with it. The book primarily focuses on dissecting the original script for the exhibit, an easy target that even most defenders of the Smithsonian agree was severely flawed. O’Reilly and Rooney have provided a sometimes eloquent and always passionate exposition of the position of the critics, mostly WWII veterans who believed the planned displays misrepresented the end of the war.
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The often acrimonious dispute that erupted between the exhibit’s critics and defenders eventually led to its cancellation, but the burning issues of that debate continue to smolder.
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William Rooney and Charles O’Reilly are a former advertising executive and university professor, respectively, but they were also leaders of the World War II veterans group that challenged the interpretive exhibition of the Boeing B-29 planned by the Smithsonian Institution for the 50th anniversary of the end ofWorld War II in 1995. This book is as much a piece of history as a work of history. The Enola Gay and the Smithsonian Institution (Book Review) | HistoryNet Close