The Interior Department is planning to install roughly a dozen signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History that will denounce certain exhibits, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a letter to two senators.
Each sign will cost about $7,000 and their contents are still being finalized, Burgum wrote to Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) earlier this month. The correspondence came in response to an Aug. 6 inquiry about the implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the Cabinet official to install temporary displays outside the building.
The previously undisclosed letter was first reported Tuesday evening by The Atlantic.
The executive order is part of Trump’s larger efforts to reshape the Smithsonian Institution as he pushes back against what he calls “a revisionist movement.” He has accused the National Museum of American History of prioritizing “woke” and unpatriotic displays and sought to exert greater control over the Smithsonian by levying financial pressure, despite the fact that he has no direct oversight of the independent agency.
Trending
“The purpose of these signs is straightforward: Americans should enter the NMAH with relevant information about the curators’ interpretation of history and their stated goal of changing the viewpoints of visitors to the museum,” Burgum said in his letter.
Merkley called the signs “another step” in the Trump administration’s plans to undermine the Smithsonian’s integrity. Murkowski and Merkley are the leaders of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the Smithsonian’s funding.
Sign up for The Washington Sun Metro newsletter for essential coverage of the D.C. region.
“I’ll fight like hell to protect the Smithsonian’s independence so that the Institution can continue to tell all of America’s story for generations to come,” Merkley said in a statement Wednesday.
In his letter, Burgum listed several examples of programming he found to “advance ideologies that distract from a coherent and accurate presentation of America’s story,” including displays that reference undocumented immigrants and transgender people.
Burgum argued that such material could offend military families and federal law enforcement by legitimizing “illegal immigration and open borders.” Parents of young children, Burgum added, should also be “equipped to protect the well-being of their children” by knowing that some exhibits present “ideological viewpoints inconsistent with biology.”
“We believe the public should enter the museum fully equipped with the information needed to evaluate whether to invest their time viewing these exhibits and programming,” Burgum wrote. “These signs will do just that.”
Lonnie Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has steadily defended the agency’s independence amid criticism from the Trump administration. The institution’s top leader, who has spent his career promoting a more nuanced version of American history that features both its successes and failures, announced earlier in September that he would step down at the end of the year. Bunch told The New York Times the move was not in response to White House pressure.
Murkowski told The Washington Sun on Wednesday that she was a “big fan” of Bunch’s leadership at the Smithsonian, which she said has already undergone a “very critical review of the displays and the descriptions” following a mandate from Trump.
“I think it’s unfortunate that you have some in the administration who now feel that they would put additional signs on the exterior,” Murkowski said. “I’ve asked, ‘Where do you get the money out of your budget to do all of this?’ I haven’t gotten a straight answer back on that.”
Igor Bobic contributed to this report.
Author
Contributor
