[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 23, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       HISTORY PROPERLY DISPLAYED

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 23, 1995
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member would like to commend to his 
colleagues the following editorial from the May 16, 1995, Omaha World-
Herald. This editorial properly praises the National Archives for its 
straight-forwward approach to displaying World War II artifacts, 
photos, letters, and recordings. As the editorial notes, the National 
Archives has appropriately chosen to allow visitors to examine the 
display without being subjected to unnecessary and slanted commentary.
              [From the Omaha World-Herald, May 16, 1995]

   Simple Artifacts, Photos, Letters Describe War; No Need for `Spin'

       While the Smithsonian Institution was giving itself a black 
     eye over its proposed Enola Gay display, a different kind of 
     World War II exhibit was being prepared a few blocks away.
       Historians at the National Archives assembled artifacts, 
     photographs, letters and recordings to tell the story of 
     America's involvement in World War II from Pearl Harbor to V-
     J Day. Their display tells the story with power and 
     poignancy--and without the accusatory spin that tainted the 
     Smithsonian's proposed Enola Gay display, with its 
     condemnation of the U.S. use of atomic weapons.
       The Archives display includes General Eisenhower's 
     handwritten draft of the statement with which he planned to 
     blame himself if the Normandy invasion failed. There is a bit 
     of red fabric cut from the American flag that was surrendered 
     to the Japanese on Corregidor. The cloth was preserved by 
     American POWs, carried on the Bataan death march as a sacred 
     symbol of their love for America, passed from one GI to 
     another until the end of the war.
       The Pearl Harbor attack is stunningly seen in a film shot 
     by a Navy photographer who happened to be on deck with his 
     camera when the bombs started to fall. Hitler and his cronies 
     are shown in a photo album kept by Eva Braun. The display 
     includes photos of battle scenes, victory celebrations and 
     everyday life in the 1940s.
       Giving the display a special quality are letters and 
     diaries penned by the great and the ordinary.
       A declassified message from Prime Minister Winston 
     Churchill to President Franklin Roosevelt is signed only with 
     the word ``Prime.'' An American mother writes movingly to a 
     son who will never live to read her words.
       The letters come from both sides of the battle line. A 
     letter by a Japanese officer explains why he felt the war was 
     justified--America, he said, had denied his country access to 
     natural resources. A Japanese soldier writes tenderly of his 
     concern for his young sister as the tide of war turns against 
     Japan. Gen. Erwin Rommel of the Wehrmacht expresses affection 
     for his wife.
       Of the U.S. use of atomic bombs, the text says, ``Argument 
     about their employment has continued almost increasingly ever 
     since 1945, but in the context of the time, they were seen 
     as, and almost certainly were; lifesaving shortcuts to the 
     end of the war.''
       The assessment is reasonable.
       A few days ago, a citizen's committee made public a report 
     about the future of the Smithsonian. The panel said the 
     facility should not become a ``home for congratulation.'' The 
     inclusion of that sneering statement suggests that someone on 
     the panel wanted the Smithsonian to become a court in which 
     the United States and Western civilization in general can 
     regularly be put on trial.
       Good history, of course, isn't cheerleading. But neither 
     does it consist of condemning earlier generations because 
     they didn't live up to the politically correct standards of 
     the present. Some of the best history consists of unadorned 
     facts, presented in their context. That is what the National 
     Archives, to its credit, has produced.
     

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