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“President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has ordered his attorneys to conduct a review of Smithsonian museums, calling their portrayal of U.S. history too negative… Trump wrote on Truth Social: ‘The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.’…
“The Smithsonian received a letter signed by White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought last week instructing officials at eight of its museums to turn over information about exhibits and plans to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary within 30 days. It instructed the officials to implement ‘content corrections’ where necessary, including replacing ‘divisive’ language.” NBC News
The left opposes the review, arguing that Trump is attempting to whitewash history.
“The Smithsonian Institute celebrates a wide variety of accomplishments by a range of historical figures from different backgrounds. For example, the Tuskegee Airmen are immortalized alongside Neil Armstrong’s first walk on the moon at the National Air and Space Museum. But Trump can’t seem to see past the variety of skin tones shown in the backward-looking lens of a history museum, and wants to tell a different, ‘brighter’ story.”
Edith Olmsted, New Republic
“Trump’s new administration is openly scrubbing historical government websites of Black and Brown people, removing references to American heroes like Medgar Evers, the Navajo Code Talkers, and the trailblazing female veterans, while also promising to restore the names of Confederates to military bases…
“For white nationalists, the United States is a nation created and founded by white people, and American history necessarily spurns the contributions of all other groups. The sins of slavery, segregation, and violence are excused as minor blemishes made along a path toward greatness. It was the accomplishments of America’s great white men, we are led to believe, that brought us the prosperity for which we should all be so thankful…
“Perhaps the greatest consequence of Trump’s second term will be the retardation of America’s ability to have a true national reckoning on race. The United States has not deeply explored its own racial history with an eye toward a constructive public process of reconciliation. Historians argue that such a reckoning, if done well, would hold the promise to help us break free from the cancerous orbit of race that has poisoned life in America since its founding.”
William Sturkey, New Republic
“This country was founded on the genocide of the native population and the kidnapping, torture and enslavement of another population. Yes, we need to talk about the horrors of slavery… White America enslaved Black Americans for eight generations, and Black Americans are still paying the price… We cannot get better if we fail to acknowledge and atone for what we got wrong.”
Mary Trump, Substack
“In its desire to remake the Smithsonian into a ‘symbol of inspiration,’ dedicated to ‘instilling pride in the hearts of all Americans,’ the White House is trying to impose a government-mandated whitewashing of art and history. Nothing painful will be depicted, described or taught; no human suffering will be acknowledged; no heroes will be reduced in their grandeur by moral failings. It would no doubt impress the Soviet commissars who imposed socialist realism on generations of artists.”
David Firestone, New York Times
The right supports the review, arguing that the Smithsonian has been corrupted by far-left ideologues.
The right supports the review, arguing that the Smithsonian has been corrupted by far-left ideologues.
“For decades, perhaps half a century, progressives have held hegemonic control over our cultural and historical institutions. Their rule went all but unchallenged. In their version of events, America is always at fault for the oppression of Americans and pretty much everything else that's wrong in the world. One display about Cuban immigration blames U.S. intervention in Latin America and entirely leaves out the name Fidel Castro…
“Only 37% of Democrats [think] there is anything to celebrate as the United States turns 250 years old next year. This is because the elites in the academy and our cultural institutions have instilled this version of events in the ‘well educated.’… Essentially, somewhere along the line, the decision was made that patriotism does not belong in the museum. It is a bizarre stance that flies in the face of the very history of museums, and there is no reason for the Trump administration to let this fester any longer.”
David Marcus, Fox News
“[In 2016] Verdant Labs conducted a study based on campaign contribution data from the Federal Election Commission. It is contained in an interactive graph which breaks down the political affiliation of these professionals: Museum Directors: 89 Democrats for every 11 Republicans. Museum Curators: 94 Democrats for every 6 Republicans… Historians: 88 Democrats for every 12 Republicans…
“The numbers are not this lopsided because only progressives are smart or interested in the visual arts, literature, music, philosophy, theater, or any of the other components that roughly go under the heading of ‘culture’… As Elizabeth Merritt wrote in a blog for the American Alliance of Museums days after Trump was elected in 2016, ‘we don’t necessarily create a very friendly work environment for people who don’t share a liberal, Democratic world view.’ This is how ideological capture is achieved.”
Mike Gonzalez, Washington Examiner
“In 2020, the National Museum of African American History and Culture proclaimed, in an online portal meant to provide guidelines for discussing race, that hard work, individualism, and the nuclear family were among the ‘aspects and assumptions of whiteness.’ This sort of nonsense is pervasive at the Smithsonian…
“While reviewing the Smithsonian’s content for distortions, the administration should be careful to avoid a kind of reverse political correctness that scrubs any account of the nation’s sins. Moral stains like slavery and segregation are integral to American history, and their painful realities should be presented in full. But the museums should, obviously, also showcase the tremendous sacrifices that millions of Americans made to defeat such injustices.”
The Editors, National Review
