The White House released a scathing 162-page report over the weekend, accusing the Smithsonian — in particular the National Museum of American History — of failing to properly celebrate the nation’s heritage, engaging in anti-white bias and omitting the story of the country’s founding from its exhibits and documents.
“As this report shows, confirmed in the words of Museum leadership, this ideological capture has moved the Museum’s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country,” reads the report, titled “Saving America’s Story.”
The White House took issue specifically with past comments made by Anthea Hartig, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s director since 2019. The report denounced Hartig’s focus on connecting “research and scholarship to activism and advocacy” and her view of history as a “prime tool of social justice.”
A spokesperson for the Smithsonian told NOTUS that “for more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so.”
Trending
The White House argues in the report that the Museum misrepresented several key events in U.S. history, including the nation’s founding. Important figures in the American Revolution, including Benjamin Franklin, are introduced to patrons through their “connection to slavery while their decisive roles in building the Republic and their anti-slavery efforts are minimized or ignored,” according to the report.
“One of the most significant findings in this report concerns what is missing. It notes that a visitor to the Museum today will find no major exhibit dedicated to America’s Founding era, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, other Founding Fathers, the Continental Congress, the Pilgrims, the Puritans, or major moments of the American Revolution, such as Washington’s crossing of the Delaware,” the report alleged.
The White House Domestic Policy Council, led by Vince Haley — who has orchestrated some of the administration’s review and subsequent funding threats for the Smithsonian — authored the report.
President Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 directing his administration to “remove improper ideology” from all Smithsonian properties. The president accused the museum system of being “under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”
In August 2025, Haley signed on to a letter addressed to Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian, notifying the institution of the administration’s plans to conduct a “comprehensive internal review” ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,” Haley and other White House officials said in the letter.
Haley and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, followed up on their review with a letter to Bunch in December. The White House threatened to halt federal funding to the Smithsonian Institution if the museums did not submit the documents requested through the internal review.
Author
