President Donald Trump’s ongoing wave of second term executive orders has already called for sweeping changes in the U.S., and this week it targeted the Smithsonian – the world’s largest museum, education and research complex.
“Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” said Trump’s Thursday executive order.
The Smithsonian has been operating for nearly 180 years. In August 1846, the U.S. Senate passed an act organizing the Smithsonian Institution and that was signed into law by President James K. Polk. Its purpose was an “increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
Trump argued that the Smithsonian is currently promoting “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive,” citing an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum called “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture.” Per the museum’s website, the exhibition includes a “dialogue and reflection on notions of power and identity.”
Trump’s order also claims that the National Museum of African American History and Culture (part of the Smithsonian system) has proclaimed that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are aspects of “White culture.” However, CNN’s Anderson Cooper clarified that those quotes come from a section called ‘Talking About Race’ as it appeared in 2020. At the time, people complained and they were removed that same year.
“If you’ve ever been to this museum – it is powerful and moving,” said Cooper. “And, at times, it’s disturbing as well. It’s upsetting and it’s unsettling. But, so is our history. Our shared history. Acknowledging that, exploring, it, bringing some light to the harshest parts of our history – that isn’t degrading American values or dividing Americans based on race. It doesn’t make us weaker. It’s what actually gives this country its strength. Weak countries rewrite their histories, erase their brutal pasts. And they repeat that brutality.”
In addition to criticizing the way the Smithsonian handles race issues, Trump also mentioned a “forthcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum plans on celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women’s sports.” He previously issued an executive order declaring that the U.S. only recognizes two genders.
“We will restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness – igniting the imagination of young minds, honoring the richness of American history and innovation, and instilling pride in the hearts of all Americans,” said Trump.
Vice President JD Vance will have an important role in this plan, the order said.
NPR explained in an article this week that the Smithsonian is not a federal agency, but instead a public-private partnership governed by a Board of Regents.
That board includes the vice president, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, three senators, three representatives and nine citizens.
Trump said that Vance will work with the board and other stakeholders to “effectuate the policies” of the executive order. That work will include removing what it deems “improper ideology,” including prohibiting spending on “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
Additionally, the order calls on the secretary of the interior to “determine whether, since January 1, 2020, public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction have been removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.”
NPR noted that statues around the nation were defaced as part of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Also, there has been a movement at national sites to remove certain statues or art, specifically those with ties to our incontrovertible history with slavery of Black people.
For example, Audacy reported in 2022 that legislation to remove a bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney from the Old Supreme Court Chamber passed. Taney served as chief justice for nearly three decades until his death in 1864 and is known for supporting slavery as well as his infamous decision in the Dred Scott v. Sanford opinion, which states that “enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts.”