 Critics of the planned exhibit , especially those of the American Legion and the Air Force Association , charged that the exhibit focused too much attention on the Japanese casualties inflicted by the nuclear bomb , rather than on the motivations for the bombing or the discussion of the bomb 's role in ending the conflict with Japan . The exhibit brought to national attention many long @-@ standing academic and political issues related to retrospective views of the bombings . As a result , after various failed attempts to revise the exhibit in order to meet the satisfaction of competing interest groups , the exhibit was canceled on 30 January 1995 . Martin O. <unk> , Director of the National Air and Space Museum , was compelled to resign over the controversy . 
