Enola Gay Controversy

This site was designed for use in"History on Trial," an online first-year writing course initially offered Spring 2000 as part of the Clipper Project at Lehigh University. It also serves as the basis for an online seminar in Lehigh's Integrated Business and Engineering Honors Program.

Designed to provide a base for teaching and research on the controversy itself, this website provides a fresh way of approaching the old question of the need for the atom bomb. The site also outlines the controversy over how this historical event should be remembered and represented, including the debate over the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's exhibit--of which the Enola Gay was at the center--created to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII in 1995. Finally, the site enables users to experience the evolution of the Enola Gay controversy -- in some sense to relive it -- by reading through a chronological list of documents divided into five"rounds."