Smithsonian chief rebuts White House attack on history museum updates

Lonnie Bunch told Smithsonian staff the White House’s 162-page report on the National Museum of American History was "not a fair characterization of the work and totality" of the museum.

In his memo, Bunch defended the institution as driven by scholarship, accuracy, nonpartisanship, independence and integrity.

The Domestic Policy Council released the report on July 4 under the title "Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage." Issued after President Donald Trump’s March 27, 2025 executive order, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," the document accused the museum of institutional capture, underemphasizing the Founding Fathers and Revolutionary-era history, failing to be celebratory enough of the nation’s 250th anniversary and promoting "anti-white," "illegal alien" and transgender activism. It also singled out museum director Anthea Hartig, who has led the museum since 2019 and is its first female director.

Bunch described the Smithsonian’s broader mission as a long-running public trust. The institution has worked for nearly 180 years with partners across government, including the White House, Congress and its Board of Regents, to "increase and diffuse knowledge." The Smithsonian oversees 21 museums, galleries and the national zoo. An internal review of its own exhibits and processes was also underway even as the White House broadened its review of Smithsonian museums.

The Organization of American Historians, the largest professional group focused on the teaching, writing and preservation of U.S. history, called the report executive branch overreach and said no president has authority to dictate Smithsonian exhibitions. The American Historical Association called the report a misunderstanding of historical interpretation and a mischaracterization of Smithsonian exhibitions, while the White House argument drew on older institutional language, including Congress’s authorization of $36 million for the museum’s construction in the 1950s and the postwar vision associated with Leon Carmichael and Lyndon B. Johnson for telling the story of American progress and fostering patriotism.