In a dramatic escalation of the White House’s pressure campaign against the Smithsonian Institution over what it sees as overly “woke” and insufficiently patriotic programming at some of its museums, the US President Donald Trump has ordered signage be erected outside the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in Washington, DC, warning visitors of the allegedly skewed exhibits therein.
On Friday (24 July), Trump issued an executive order mandating that the US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum work with the director of the National Park Service (NPS) and the assistant to the president for domestic policy to “install temporary signage along the NPS-maintained sidewalks and walkways used by the public to access” NMAH’s building on the National Mall (which is managed by the NPS). The executive order mandates that such signage inform visitors “that the museum exhibits should be renovated consistent with the findings” of a 162-page report prepared by the Domestic Policy Council and released on 4 July outlining various types of exhibits of which the White House disapproves. The executive order also urges the same officials to “install temporary exhibits or signage on NPS-maintained sidewalks, walkways and land used by the public that corrects inaccurate information presented in the museum”.
Spokespeople for the Smithsonian and the NMAH contacted by The Art Newspaper declined to comment on the executive order.
In a “fact sheet” accompanying Trump’s executive order, the White House alleges that the Domestic Policy Council report found that leaders at the Smithsonian and the NMAH “have directed the museum’s mission away from historical education and scholarship of a shared national inheritance to be celebrated, and toward extreme political activism, rooted in Marxism, to divide, dispirit and discourage Americans”. It also claims that “the Smithsonian cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and is therefore not properly stewarding the more than $1bn entrusted to it by the American taxpayer each year”. Those federal appropriations account for around 62% of the Smithsonian’s annual budget.
Trump’s executive order targeting the NMAH came just days after that institution’s director, Anthea Hartig, appeared before the US House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency. In hearings on 21 and 22 July titled “Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Past”, Hartig was questioned by Republican members of Congress like Brandon Gill of Texas, who asked: “Is Mickey Mouse racist?” In her remarks, Hartig addressed the committee members' concerns while defending her museum's curatorial approach and programming.
“Examining the harder chapters of our history is not the same as hostility toward America,” Hartig said. “We can and do honour the Declaration [of Independence], the Revolution, the Constitution and our national symbols, and also tell the truth about the times the country fell short of its own founding ideals. Telling our history fully is not anti-American. It is a form of respect for the American people and a commitment to constantly be in pursuit of ‘a more perfect union’.”
The day before the hearing, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) released an extensive statement of support for the Smithsonian criticising the motives of recent presidential and congressional attacks. “Recent White House reports, investigations and planned hearings approach the Smithsonian through a partisan framework built on predetermined conclusions rather than a neutral, evidence-based examination,” the statement reads in part. “If scholarship at our nation’s leading museum system can become subject to political influence, no museum is beyond reach. The precedent would jeopardise the independence of 22,000 museums of every size and discipline across the country.”
In an email to staff earlier this month, following the release of the Domestic Policy Council’s report, the Smithsonian's secretary Lonnie G. Bunch defended the NMAH. “At the Smithsonian, our work is driven by scholarship, accuracy and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story. As public servants and the keepers of this institution, we are charged with helping a nation find understanding, hope and clarity and, as part of that duty, we are dedicated to excellence, reflection and growth,” he wrote. “We remain focused on what grounds us: a steadfast commitment to scholarship, nonpartisanship, independence, accuracy and integrity.”
What form the signage mandated by Trump’s executive order will take and how conspicuous it will be near the NMAH’s entrances remains to be seen.
