{"id":6146,"date":"2026-09-12T11:19:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T11:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=6146"},"modified":"2026-09-12T11:19:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T11:19:38","slug":"the-controversy-over-the-smithsonian-national-museum-of-american-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=6146","title":{"rendered":"The controversy over the Smithsonian National Museum of American History"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Most people know President Trump tends to overreact to situations he doesn\u2019t like. But the exhibits and programming at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History are even worse than he described\u2014and the scholars behind them more radical than you realized.<\/p>

Read more A historical perspective on September 11 and the \u2018War on Terror\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s a reason why the Smithsonian is again in the news. On September 8, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III announced that he will retire at the end of the year. He has been described with such acclaim that it is difficult to accept that Trump\u2019s criticisms of his leadership might be justified:<\/p>\n

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Bunch, 73, has earned a reputation as a historian unafraid of confronting some of the darkest periods in U.S. history and an adept political operator who maintained strong bipartisan support during his tenure. Bunch served the Smithsonian Institution for 38 years and oversaw some of the Smithsonian\u2019s most ambitious projects, including the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he founded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Further gilding Bunch\u2019s lily, the Organization of American Historians announced that it was appalled by President Trump\u2019s criticisms:<\/p>\n

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The Organization of American Historians, the nation\u2019s largest group of scholars of U.S. history, issued a scathing statement condemning the report as \u2018part of an ongoing and multipronged assault by the Trump administration against accurate and evidence-based history in American public life.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The historians also disagreed with the report\u2019s assessment about the state of the Smithsonian vis-\u00e0-vis American history and culture, with Anthea Hartig, the director of the National Museum of American History, taking the lead:<\/p>\n

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The Organization of American Historians dismissed the July report as part of an attempt to return to a superficial vision of America that never existed, noting that the museum complex houses foundational artifacts like the Star-Spangled Banner, Abraham Lincoln\u2019s top hat, and exhibits celebrating American industrial might. Anthea Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History, defended the institution during a July congressional hearing, testifying before a House subcommittee that the museum does not take sides in political debates and operates under strict standards of scholarship and nonpartisanship.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Their objections are specious.<\/p>\n

To determine whether you, the reader, think I\u2019m overreacting to the statements of the Smithsonian\u2019s defenders, I thought it might be helpful to include some of , as documented in the White House report. That is, you can see how they refer to American history, and you can judge their objectivity regarding the administration\u2019s concerns:<\/p>

Read more Virtue Matters<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

As Director Hartig explained in a June 2024 presentation, all her attention was focused on flying the Smithsonian Pride Alliance\u2019s \u2018intersexual pride flag during June\u2019 in 2023 and 2024: \u2018One of the other key policy changes that\u2019s just happened this month internally has been\u2014I\u2019m the liaison to the Pride Alliance here\u2014and for the first time in the history of the Smithsonian, we flew the pride flag last year and this year, and so that\u2019s a small thing in a way: to fly their intersexual pride flag during June.\u2019<\/p>\n

[snip]<\/p>\n

In fact, NMAH\u2019s Calendar of Exhibitions and Events for the summer of 2025 reveals that America\u2019s national history museum did not devote any special programming to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th, 2025, despite the museum being open that day. Even the article NMAH published describing the NMAH-related programming that would be taking place during July 2025 failed to even refer to \u2018Independence Day\u2019 or \u2018July 4.\u2019 No one reading that article would even know the holiday exists, let alone that the following year\u20142026\u2014is the 250th anniversary of the drafting and adoption of the Declaration of Independence for which we celebrate it.<\/p>\n

[snip]<\/p>\n

NMAH leadership has openly stated that it seeks to focus on America\u2019s flaws this year. In 2020, Director Hartig asserted that the museum profession has \u2018to figure out\u2019 how \u2018we\u2019re going to problematize\u2019 the \u2018250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.\u2019 In 2023, Hartig wrote that \u2018given that we are lurching towards the semiquincentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, let\u2019s focus on the gaps surrounding that document.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

These are only a fraction of the statements that were documented in the White House report. I think that anyone who is looking for a balance in the exhibits in the museum would agree that promoting Pride Day was a leftist effort; excluding Independence Day was an insult to our Founders who risked their lives against Great Britain; and intentionally focusing on America\u2019s flaws to denigrate our country is a political betrayal of our country.<\/p>\n

These efforts by Bunch and his cohorts are an attack on our country. They are intended to rewrite history through a hateful, Marxist lens, so that our Founders are strongly implied to be \u201cwhite supremacists\u201d (a phrase that the museum uses to denigrate America\u2019s founding ideals) with few redeeming qualities.<\/p>\n

I suspect President Trump will ensure the next leaders of the Smithsonian and its museums try to provide some objectivity, even as they celebrate our country, the most successful democratic republic in the world.<\/p>

Read more Martians Got the Memo. Baby Martians Did Not.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Image created using AI.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most people know President Trump tends to overreact to situations he doesn\u2019t like. But the exhibits and programming at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History are even worse than he described\u2014and the scholars behind them more radical than you realized. 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