As the 50-year anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum will unveil a tribute to the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, this spring. But the exhibit's impact will have changed from original plans. Last week, the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents yielded to critics, and the plane exhibit was drastically reduced to include only parts of the fuselage, a plaque and a video interview with crew members.

Through the appeasement of critics, such a small exhibit will leave visitors with an incomplete understanding of the events surrounding the end to a long war when President Harry S. Truman decided to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. Aspects of the war that reflect negatively on America are already left out of many history textbooks.

The veterans and members of Congress who sought the exhibit's change and the dismissal of the museum's director, must also be willing to present history as it truly happened.

The Smithsonian's decision to succumb to political pressure for the sake of an overwhelming pro-American slant goes against what a museum should offer -- a complete, unbiased record of history.