The Smithsonian tnstitution, of which the National Air and Space Museum is a part, is heavily dependent on congressional funding. Fifty years later, the National Air and Space Museum was in the final stages of preparing an exhibition on the Enola Gay's historic mission when eighty-one members of Congress angrily demanded cancellation of the planned display and the resignation or dismissal of the museum's director. World War II was over and a nuclear arms race had begun. No war had ever seen such instant devastation. There it exploded, destroying Hiroshima and eighty thousand of her citizens. For forty three seconds, the world's first atomic bomb plunged through six miles of clear air to its preset detonation altitude. World War II was over a At 8:15 A.M., August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay released her load. At 8:15 A.M., August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay released her load.
