The White House released a sweeping report targeting the Smithsonian Institute’s “political activism,” an effort that aligns with President Trump’s executive order on restoring American history.
According to the report, an “ideological capture has moved the Museum’s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”
“At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, visitors young and old should encounter the story of the United States told with honesty, seriousness, and pride,” the report’s executive summary declares. “In particular, it should help the American people understand where America came from, what makes it distinctive, and why it is worth preserving.”
“The report concludes that the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Museum of American History in particular, under its current leadership and current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic,” it notes. “By the intention and at the direction of current Museum and Smithsonian leadership, [National Museum of American History] NMAH has become subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.”
The report lists five major areas of concern:
- It failed to honor the nation’s Founding Fathers and core values
- It ‘problematized’ the 250th anniversary and “subverted” its meaning
- It removed “American History” and instead focuses on “a more just and compassionate future”
- It abandoned scholarship for “activism”
- It served as a “vehicle for ideological campaigns”
The White House conducted a review of the Smithsonian last year. “This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,” officials wrote to Smithsonian leaders, noting that the review will be a “constructive and collaborative effort” founded upon a “respect for the Smithsonian’s vital mission and its extraordinary contributions.”
Trump’s executive order on American history stated that the “Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” a shift that Trump said has “promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
