Trump admin orders Smithsonian museums to be reviewed for ‘Americanism’

White House says the reappraisal is successful enactment with Trump’s enforcement bid connected ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History’.

The White House has ordered an extended reappraisal of the Smithsonian museums and exhibitions successful beforehand of adjacent year’s 250th day of the United States, with the extremity of aligning the institution’s contented with President Donald Trump’s mentation of US history.

In a missive sent connected Tuesday to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, the White House laid retired successful item the steps it expects the organisation to instrumentality truthful that depository contented tin beryllium reviewed for a absorption connected “Americanism”.

The national authorities volition reappraisal public-facing depository content, specified arsenic societal media, accumulation substance and acquisition materials, to “assess tone, humanities framing, and alignment with American ideals”, the missive said.

“This inaugural aims to guarantee alignment with the President’s directive to observe American exceptionalism, region divisive oregon partisan narratives, and reconstruct assurance successful our shared taste institutions,” the missive added.

In a connection responding to the letter, the Smithsonian said it remained committed to “scholarly excellence, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presumption of history”.

“We are reviewing the missive with this committedness successful caput and volition proceed to collaborate constructively with the White House, Congress, and our governing Board of Regents,” it said.

The White House said that the reappraisal is successful enactment with the Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Executive Order, which Trump signed successful March.

At the time, the Congressional Black Caucus, made up of Black members of the US Congress, described the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict the Smithsonian Institution arsenic “whitewashing our nation’s history”.

“Donald Trump’s thought that the National Museum of African American History and Culture is blameworthy of distorting our nation’s past oregon coating our ‘founding principles’ successful a ‘negative light’ is patently ridiculous,” the caucus said successful a statement.

Visitors browse exhibits astatine the National Museum of African American History and Culture successful Washington, DC, connected April 29, 2025 [Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA]

“Let’s beryllium clear, Black past is American history. Any rhetoric that opposes this conception is not lone factually incorrect but blatantly racist,” the caucus said.

“It is the Trump Administration that bans books, words, and phrases that bash not acceptable their narrative. It is the Trump Administration that wants to erase and retell our history,” the caucus added.

The White House said the reappraisal would initially absorption connected the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The museums nether reappraisal are each located successful Washington, DC, wherever the president this week ordered the deployment of the US National Guard to tackle a purported transgression question that metropolis officials successful the superior person refuted.

The museums each connection escaped admittance and pull millions of visitors each year, with the National Museum of American History unsocial signaling 2 cardinal in-person visits successful 2024.

The Smithsonian has repeatedly denied allegations that it has changed oregon removed grounds details successful effect to unit from the Trump administration. Recently, the instauration removed references to Trump’s 2 impeachments from an grounds connected the US presidency. The Smithsonian Institution said that a placard was removed for reasons related to consistency and due to the fact that it “blocked the presumption of the objects wrong its case”.

“We were not asked by immoderate Administration oregon different authorities officials to region contented from the exhibit,” the Institution said.

The Smithsonian Institution, which runs 21 museums and the National Zoo, said astatine the clip that the impeachment conception of the depository would beryllium updated successful the coming weeks to “reflect each impeachment proceedings successful our nation’s history”.

Trump was impeached successful January 2021, for “incitement of insurrection”, aft a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol connected January 6, 2021.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies