Lonnie Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. He is pictured above in September 2017.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
In a memo addressed to staffers despatched Tuesday, the secretary of the Smithsonian, Lonnie G. Bunch III, defended the establishment after the White Home issued a 162-page report that characterizes the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past as a spot which has change into “topic to institutional seize by a radical, activist ideology that’s basically against telling the noble, trustworthy story of the nice nation we all know and love.”
In his e mail, which NPR has obtained, Bunch wrote partly: “Whereas there’ll at all times be room for enchancment, this report shouldn’t be a good characterization of the work and totality of the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past. On the Smithsonian, our work is pushed by scholarship, accuracy and an uncompromising dedication to inform the fullness of America’s story. As public servants and the keepers of this establishment, we’re charged with serving to a nation discover understanding, hope and readability and as a part of that obligation, we’re devoted to excellence, reflection and development.”
He continued: “We stay targeted on what grounds us: a steadfast dedication to scholarship, nonpartisanship, independence, accuracy and integrity. For practically 180 years, the Smithsonian has labored alongside companions throughout authorities — from the White Home to Congress to our governing Board of Regents — guided by our enduring mission to extend and diffuse data. That goal stays: to pursue data with rigor and to serve the American public with readability and care.”
The White Home report was issued on July 4 by the Home Coverage Council below the title “Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Seize on the Smithsonian Establishment’s Nationwide Museum of American Historical past Erases Our Heritage.”
The council faults the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past on a mess of fronts, saying it underemphasized the Founding Fathers and early colonial and Revolutionary historical past; was not sufficiently celebratory of the nation’s 250th anniversary; and that it engaged in “anti-white,” “unlawful alien” and transgender activism.
Within the report, the council additionally particularly criticizes museum director Anthea Hartig, who has led the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past since 2019 and is concurrently the president of the Group of American Historians, calling her “an activist advancing an ideological agenda contradictory to the museum’s founding goal of fostering patriotism.”
The Trump administration has made the Smithsonian museums considered one of its major targets in its efforts to reshape cultural narratives to align with its viewpoints. In August 2025, the White Home requested a “complete inner evaluation” of eight Smithsonian museums, together with the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past, following an government order issued by President Trump in March 2025 wherein he referred to as for the removing of “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s choices.
In keeping with the Smithsonian’s constitution, all of its 21 museums, 14 schooling and analysis facilities, and the Nationwide Zoo are supposed to be run independently of the federal authorities. The Smithsonian is overseen by Bunch and a board of regents, which incorporates Vice President Vance, Supreme Court docket Chief Justice John Roberts and different members appointed by Congress.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Bunch spoke in regards to the Smithsonian’s 250th anniversary particular exhibition on the Smithsonian Fortress, which known as “American Aspirations.”
He informed NBC: “It is actually vital for folks to know that America is far a super as it’s a place, that it is a sequence of aspirations which have actually formed who this nation is. And so for me, what’s so highly effective is to say, ‘Allow us to honor the phrases of Thomas Jefferson and the founders, however allow us to use these to problem us to be higher.'”
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story.
