{"id":39139,"date":"2025-04-02T13:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=39139"},"modified":"2025-04-06T16:49:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T16:49:49","slug":"with-its-executive-order-targeting-the-smithsonian-the-trump-administration-opens-up-a-new-front-in-the-history-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/with-its-executive-order-targeting-the-smithsonian-the-trump-administration-opens-up-a-new-front-in-the-history-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"With its executive order targeting the Smithsonian, the Trump administration opens up a new front in the history wars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jennifer Tucker<\/a>, Wesleyan University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I teach history in Connecticut<\/a>, but I grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas, where my interest in the subject was sparked by visits to local museums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fondly remember trips to the Fellow-Reeves Museum<\/a> in Wichita, Kansas, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum<\/a> in Oklahoma City. A 1908 photograph of my great-grandparents picking cotton has been used as a poster by the Oklahoma Historical Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This love of learning history continued into my years as a graduate student of history, when I would spend hours at the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Air and Space Museum learning about the history of human flight and ballooning. As a professor, I\u2019ve integrated the institution\u2019s exhibits into my history courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration, however, is not happy with the way the Smithsonian Institution and other U.S. museums are portraying history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 27, 2025, the president issued an executive order, \u201cRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History<\/a>,\u201d which asserted, \u201cOver the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation\u2019s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. Under this historical revision, our Nation\u2019s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump singled out a few museums, including the Smithsonian, dedicating a whole section of the order on \u201csaving\u201d the institution from \u201cdivisive, race-centered ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, history is contested. There will always be a variety of views about what should be included<\/a> and excluded from America\u2019s story. For example, in my own research, I found that Prohibition-era school boards in the 1920s argued over whether it was appropriate for history textbooks to include pictures of soldiers drinking to illustrate the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most recent debates center on how much attention should be given to the history of the nation\u2019s accomplishments over its darker chapters. The Smithsonian, as a national institution that receives most of its funds from the federal government<\/a>, has sometimes found itself in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s historical repository<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846 thanks to its namesake, British chemist James Smithson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smithson willed his estate to his nephew and stated that if his nephew died without an heir, the money \u2013 roughly US$15 million in today\u2019s dollars<\/a> \u2013 would be donated to the U.S. to found \u201can establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of a national institution dedicated to history, science and learning was contentious from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Painted
An 1816 portrait of British chemist James Smithson. Heritage Art\/Heritage Images via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In her book \u201cThe Stranger and the Statesman<\/a>,\u201d historian Nina Burleigh shows how Smithson\u2019s bequest was nearly lost due to battles between competing interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southern plantation owners and western frontiersmen, including President Andrew Jackson, saw the establishment of a national museum as an unnecessary assertion of federal power. They also challenged the very idea of accepting a gift from a non-American and thought that it was beneath the dignity of the government to confer immortality on someone simply because of a large donation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, a group led by congressman and former president John Quincy Adams ensured Smithson\u2019s vision was realized. Adams felt that the country was failing to live up to its early promise. He thought a national museum was an important way to burnish the ideals of the young republic and educate the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today the Smithsonian runs 14 education and research centers, the National Zoo and 21 museums, including the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African American History and Culture<\/a>, which was created with bipartisan support during President George W. Bush\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the introduction to his book \u201cSmithsonian\u2019s History of America in 101 Objects<\/a>,\u201d cultural anthropologist Richard Kurin talks about how the institution has also supported hundreds of small and large institutions outside of the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, the Smithsonian sent over 2 million artifacts<\/a> on loan to museums in 52 U.S. states and territories and 33 foreign countries. It also partners with over 200 affiliate museums. YouGov has periodically tracked Americans\u2019 approval of the Smithsonian<\/a>, which has held steady at roughly 68% approval and 2% disapproval since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smithsonian in the crosshairs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Precursors to the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to reshape the Smithsonian took place in the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1991, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which was then known as the National Museum of American Art, created an exhibition titled \u201cThe West as America, Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier, 1820-1920.\u201d Conservatives complained<\/a> that the museum portrayed western expansion as a tale of conquest and destruction, rather than one of progress and nation-building. The Wall Street Journal editorialized<\/a> that the exhibit represented \u201can entirely hostile ideological assault on the nation\u2019s founding and history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition proved popular: Attendance to the National Museum of American Art was 60% higher<\/a> than it had been during the same period the year prior. But the debate raised questions about whether public museums were able to express ideas that are critical of the U.S. without risk of censorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994, controversy again erupted, this time at the National Air and Space Museum over a forthcoming exhibition centered on the Enola Gay<\/a>, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima 50 years prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should the exhibition explore the loss of Japanese lives? Or emphasize the U.S. war victory?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veterans groups insisted that the atomic bomb ended the war and saved 1 million American lives, and demanded the removal<\/a> of photographs of the destruction and a melted Japanese school lunch box from the exhibit. Meanwhile, other activists protested the exhibition<\/a> by arguing that a symbol of human destruction shouldn\u2019t be commemorated at an institution that\u2019s supposed to celebrate human achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People
Protesters demonstrate against the opening of the Enola Gay exhibit outside the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Air and Space Museum in 1995. Joyce Naltchayan\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Republicans won the House in 1994 and threatened cuts to the Smithsonian\u2019s budget over the Enola Gay exhibition, compelling curators to walk a tightrope<\/a>. In the end, the fuselage of the Enola Gay was displayed in the Smithsonian\u2019s National Air and Space Museum. But the exhibit would not tell the full story of the plane\u2019s role in the war from a myriad of perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump enters the fray<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, The New York Times launched the 1619 project<\/a>, which aimed to reframe the country\u2019s history by placing slavery and its consequences at its very center. The first Trump administration quickly responded by forming its 1776 commission. In January 2021, it produced a report critiquing the 1619 project<\/a>, claiming that an emphasis on the country\u2019s history of racism and slavery was counterproductive to promoting \u201cpatriotic education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same year, Trump pledged<\/a> to build \u201ca vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live,\u201d with 250 statues to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Joe Biden rescinded the order<\/a> in 2021. Trump reissued it<\/a> after retaking the White House, and pointed to figures he\u2019d like to see included, such as Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Betsy Ross, Sitting Bull, Bob Hope, Thurgood Marshall and Whitney Houston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think there is anything wrong with honoring Americans, though I think a focus on celebrities and major figures clouds the fascinating histories of ordinary Americans<\/a>. I also find it troubling that there seems to be such a concerted effort to so forcefully shape the teaching and understanding of history via threats and bullying. Yale historian Jason Stanley has written about<\/a> how aspiring authoritarian governments seek to control historical narratives and discourage an exploration of the complexities of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical scholarship requires an openness to debate and a willingness to embrace new findings and perspectives. It also involves the humility to accept that no one \u2013 least of all the government \u2013 has a monopoly on the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his executive order, Trump noted that \u201cMuseums in our Nation\u2019s capital should be places where individuals go to learn.\u201d I share that view. Doing so, however, means not dismantling history, but instead complicating the story \u2013 in all its messy glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conversation U.S. receives funding from the Smithsonian Institution.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Tucker<\/a>, Professor of History, Wesleyan University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University I teach history in Connecticut, but I grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas, where my interest in the subject was sparked by visits to local museums. I fondly remember trips to the Fellow-Reeves Museum in Wichita, Kansas, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. A 1908 photograph […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":39140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,37,826,292,46,42,295,296,4,38,9],"tags":[16213,7299,479,9996,5801,8538,5818,885,891,886,860,3050,1538,14960,16214,16212,1602,1797],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39179,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39139\/revisions\/39179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}