White House report accuses Smithsonian museum of political activism

A 162-page White House report calls on the National Museum of American History to stop what it calls “extreme political activism” and return to a fuller account of the nation’s founding. Released on July 4 by the White House Domestic Policy Council, the document is part of President Trump’s drive to reframe how federally backed cultural institutions tell the American story.

Titled Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage, the report follows Trump’s March 27 executive order, Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The report says the museum has drifted from “straightforward historical education and scholarship” into “anti-White activism,” “illegal alien activism” and “transgender activism,” and says visitors will not find a major exhibit devoted to the Founding era, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the Continental Congress, the Pilgrims, the Puritans or Washington’s crossing of the Delaware.

The report names Anthea Hartig, who has led the National Museum of American History since 2019 and is its first female director, and accuses her of tying scholarship to activism and social justice. The museum is already under a broader Trump administration review, and the Smithsonian is conducting its own internal review of exhibits and processes.

The Smithsonian said it has served the public with “nonpartisan and independent scholarship” for more than 180 years and remains committed to that mission. Lonnie G. Bunch III, speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press during a special broadcast tied to America’s 250th anniversary, said the institution is “in pursuit of the promise of America.”

The Organization of American Historians rejected the report’s claims and its demands regarding the museum. The American Historical Association said the executive order “egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution” and “completely misconstrues the nature of historical work,” defending the museum’s curators and historians against political pressure.

The National Museum of American History is using America250 to mount one of its largest exhibits in years. In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness opened May 14 and spans three floors and roughly 250,000 to 300,000 square feet, with 250 significant objects tracing the ideals of the Declaration of Independence across the building. Congress authorized construction of the museum in 1955 and set aside $36 million for the project.