Enola Gay and the Court of History.

• Author: Leeper, Karla
• Position: Book Review

Enola Gay and the Court of History. By Robert P. Newman. New York: Peter Lang, 2004; pp. ix-201. $24.95 paper.

Robert Newman's latest work analyzes the controversy surrounding the National Air and Space Museum's (NASM) planned exhibit of the Enola Gay in 1995. This exhibit was commissioned by the Smithsonian to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the famous plane's flight which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The Smithsonian's planning committee, led by Martin Harwit, was quickly enveloped in a firestorm of political and historical controversy that finally ended in cancellation of the exhibit. The Enola Gay may be the object that concretizes the conflicting emotions many have about the development of American military power after World War II: Veterans groups wanted to celebrate the role of American military superiority in ending the war in the Pacific, while many were concerned that the exhibit not seem too callous toward the tremendous devastation inflicted on Hiroshima by the atomic bomb.

Newman's book is composed of two discrete parts. The first five chapters lay out the most influential assessments of Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan and the impact of that strategy on the Japanese government's decision to surrender. Each assessment is clearly presented, meticulously documented, and thoroughly critiqued. Newman's final conclusion is that Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan can be justified easily by an examination of the complete historical record. According to his research, the critics of Truman's decision have no basis in fact for their claims. The NASM made the mistake of relying on the critics' unsubstantiated conclusions in constructing the script for the exhibit. This approach ran headlong into opposition from veteran's groups and historians of the Second World War. That conflict is the subject of the last third of the book.

Chapter One sets out the rationale for dropping the atomic bomb that was offered by the Truman administration. The author argues that Truman was operating under three imperatives in 1945: 1) the war needed to end soon because the public and military personnel were weary of war and the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa demonstrated that casualties would mount rapidly; 2) Roosevelt's demand for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese needed to be met; and 3) the United Nations needed to be created quickly to make future war less likely. "Truman sent Enola Gay and Bock's Car out to end the war, save American lives, and achieve a surrender that would enable the Allies to eradicate Japanese militarism" (p. 27).

Following the conclusion of World War II, an official investigative commission, appointed by the President of the United States and staffed by civilians, took a look at America's strategic bombing of Japan. The conclusion of this United States Strategic Bombing...