By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump directed federal officials on Friday to install signs outside the Smithsonian’s flagship National Museum of American History to reflect his administration’s criticism of how the institution portrays the United States.
Trump’s executive order cited a White House Domestic Policy Council report accusing the museum of “thinly veiled anti-Americanism” and “extreme political activism.” He said he directed officials to install temporary signs on sidewalks maintained by the National Park Service to correct “inaccurate information presented in the Museum.”
While the Park Service falls under the secretary of the interior’s authority, the 180-year-old Smithsonian is an independent institution. Trump has for months denounced the Smithsonian in what critics say is part of a larger campaign to present U.S. history from a conservative point of view.
In his order, Trump said the “current leadership of both the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum cannot be trusted to tell America’s story with honesty and gratitude.”
WARNING ABOUT EXHIBITS
The White House Domestic Policy Council report had recommended the museum post a notice at its entrance reading: “Warning: the exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don’t want you to love your country.”
National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig and Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch have both said the White House report unfairly characterized the museum’s work.
Hartig testified before a House of Representatives oversight subcommittee this week, saying the museum is most powerful when patriotism is “not instructed but inspired.”
The Organization of American Historians, the country’s largest group of U.S. history scholars, rejected claims made in the 162-page White House report released on July 4.
The Smithsonian said it had no comment on Friday’s executive order.
Trump’s other declarations and executive orders have led to the dismantling of slavery exhibits, the restoration of Confederate statues, and reviews into the work of museums.
Trump says he aims to remove “anti-American ideology.” Civil rights advocates say Trump’s actions are reversing decades of social progress and undermining the acknowledgment of critical phases of U.S. history.
The Smithsonian is a vast museum and research complex and a premier exhibition space for U.S. history and culture, with 21 museums and galleries and the National Zoo.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Donna Bryson, Nia Williams, Rod Nickel)
Comments