Introduction: The bomb as public history and transnational memory

Abstract

Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II in the United States has proved far more contentious than most people expected. Not only was the recent debate over a Smithsonian Institution exhibit on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked by an extraordinary level of disagreement and rancor, but by the end the exhibit itself had been censored from public view. The greatest struggles were over the portrayal of Americans to themselves and over such issues as the rights of various groups to try to influence public opinion and even shut down public debate, Americans' freedom to question government leaders, and the standards by which public forums, such as museum exhibits, should be judged.