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In a sweeping new executive order issued Thursday evening, former President Donald Trump announced a controversial plan to reshape the narrative presented in the Smithsonian Institution’s museums, pledging to eliminate what he called “divisive narratives” and restore monuments and memorials removed in recent years.
The order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” directs Vice President JD Vance to oversee a purge of exhibits and content deemed “improper,” including at the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, research centers, and even the National Zoo. According to a White House fact sheet, the effort aims to eradicate “anti-American ideology” and restore a more “patriotic” interpretation of the nation’s past.
Trump’s directive accuses the Smithsonian — the official custodian of America’s story — of promoting a version of history that is “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” The order singles out exhibits that question traditional Western values and criticizes the National Museum of African American History and Culture for previously publishing material that linked “hard work,” “individualism,” and the “nuclear family” with “White culture.”
Those phrases, which appeared in an infographic on the museum’s website five years ago in a section addressing the way race is often talked about as part of a broader discussion on race and culture, were removed in 2020 following public backlash.
Historians and museum professionals responded with alarm, calling the order an unprecedented and dangerous overreach into independent cultural institutions.
“It seems to suggest that if we allow anyone to hear the whole story of challenges that Americans have overcome, our nation will shatter,” said Chandra Manning, a history professor at Georgetown University. “The American people are not so fragile as all that.”
“This order demands an ideological purity test and restores neither truth nor sanity,” added Adam Rothman, also of Georgetown. “It disrespects the thousands of sincere and dedicated people who work every day to preserve and share the truth of America’s past.”
The order also controversially prohibits transgender women from being included in the upcoming American Women’s History Museum, which remains in the planning and fundraising stages and may take over a decade to complete.
The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents — which includes Chief Justice John Roberts, six members of Congress, and now Vice President Vance — typically governs the institution. While Trump’s order tasks Vance with enforcing these policies, his actual power may be limited to pushing for budgetary restrictions, such as withholding federal funding for exhibits that allegedly “degrade shared American values.”
Federal money accounts for 62% of the Smithsonian’s operating budget, with the rest funded through private donations and grants.
The order also calls for the restoration of monuments, memorials, and statues removed since January 1, 2020, when protests following George Floyd’s death sparked a reevaluation of Confederate icons and other controversial historical figures in public spaces.
One notable inclusion: a federal pledge to help fund the restoration of Independence Hall in Philadelphia ahead of America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
Still, critics argue the order undermines the Smithsonian’s long-standing mission — and its bipartisan legacy as a public-private partnership created by Congress in 1846.
“Americans want to know about the fellow human beings, with all their strengths and all their complications, who shaped the past,” said Manning. “They are not interested in empty cheerleading.”
With the Smithsonian declining to comment, it remains unclear how the institution will respond to the directive or what resistance, legal or otherwise, it may face. But the battle over how America tells its story — and who gets to decide what is told — is clearly far from over.
