*Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is standing up for his institution against the White House. He addressed staffers in a memo after the Trump administration published a 162-page report blasting the National Museum of American History.
“While there will always be room for improvement, this report is not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History,” Bunch wrote in the email, which NPR obtained.
He added: “We remain focused on what grounds us: a steadfast commitment to scholarship, nonpartisanship, independence, accuracy and integrity.”
The dispute caps a long campaign by Trump to reshape the Smithsonian. A March 2025 executive order from the president targeted what he called “improper ideology” at the institution. Months later, the White House demanded an internal review covering eight of its museums.
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The new report arrived July 4 from the Domestic Policy Council under the title “Saving America’s Story.” It accuses the American history museum of embracing “a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.”
Complaints in the document range widely. The council says visitors see too little about the nation’s founders and the Revolutionary period. It claims the museum shortchanged America’s 250th anniversary. It also alleges activism on race, immigration and gender, along with attempts to “indoctrinate” the teachers and students who use its resources.
The council labels Anthea Hartig, the museum’s director, as “an activist advancing an ideological agenda contradictory to the museum’s founding purpose of fostering patriotism.”
Bunch defended the museum’s vision on Meet the Press. “It’s really important for people to understand that America is much an ideal as it is a place, that it’s a series of aspirations that have really shaped who this country is,” he said.
“And so for me, what is so powerful is to say, ‘Let us honor the words of Thomas Jefferson and the founders, but let us use those to challenge us to be better,'” Bunch added.
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