The report follows President Donald Trump’s March 27 “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order. And like so many Trump administration reports and statements, it can be seen as a classic example of projection, whereby the administration accuses others of doing exactly what it is doing. The report states, for example, that “museum leadership has explicitly adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens.” That is not an accurate assessment of the Smithsonian, but it is a pretty good description of the new report.
The Domestic Policy Council also mischaracterizes and misrepresents the words of the museum’s director, Anthea Hartig, who has consistently worked to educate and inform visitors through innovative exhibits and inspirational programs. Indeed, the report itself quotes Hartig’s 2026 welcome to the museum’s special semiquincentennial exhibit.
Trump’s Domestic Policy Council also directly contradicts itself at times. “NMAH’s only special programming to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness, fails to celebrate America’s Founders and the American Founding,” the report claims. But the following sentence admits that the exhibition “highlights 250 objects from the museum’s collections, including remarkable artifacts like the desk Thomas Jefferson used to draft the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s uniform, a ship of the early U.S. Navy, and, of course, the Star-Spangled Banner, the 1813 flag that inspired the National Anthem.”
In passing, the report acknowledges that the goal of the museum should be to “document and share the achievements and failures of the Nation,” “tell the truth, including of the Nation’s mistakes and injustices,” and “tell the whole story of a nation, including the good and the bad.” In practice, however, it condemns work that mentions national shortcomings as anti-American. To take just one example, the report describes Native American land acknowledgments, no matter their wording, as signs of “an anti-white agenda” and “an anti-American ideology that claims our country rests on stolen land.”
The report’s authors seem to believe that there is only one correct way to do history, only one correct interpretation of history, only one version of history that merits recognition, beliefs that are fundamentally at odds with the practice of history, which encourages dialogue, discussion, and debate. Indeed, the report is deeply critical of narratives of American history that emphasize democracy and diversity, interpretations that highlight the significance of political activism and social movements, and projects that present inspirational and instructional stories about how and why the United States has evolved.
I visited the National Museum of American History several months ago, taking in several exhibits, including “American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith,” “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War,” “The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag That Inspired the National Anthem,” “Gunboat Philadelphia,” “The First Ladies,” “Entertainment Nation,” “How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories,” and “Corazón y Vida: Lowriding Culture.”
My advice to Americans: go see the Smithsonian for yourselves.
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