White House report accuses Smithsonian leadership of radical ideology
By Aleena Fayaz, CNN
(CNN) — The White House in a new report accused leaders of the Smithsonian Institution of adopting a divisive, far-left ideological framework that erases American heritage, marking the latest move by the Trump administration to reshape US cultural and historical institutions.
In the report, published Saturday on the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, the White House Domestic Policy Council says the Smithsonian has moved its mission “away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”
During President Donald Trump’s second administration, the world’s largest museum institution and a key voice in shaping the narrative of America’s history has been under pressure to remove “woke” ideology, even though it operates as a unique public-private trust and does not consider itself an executive agency.
“For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so,” a Smithsonian spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.
CNN has reached out to the White House to ask what the administration plans to do with the report.
The 162-page document follows a March 2025 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which sought to combat what the White House calls “historical revisions” that cast the country’s history in a negative light. The order set off changes to cultural institutions across the country including national parks and monuments. As a result, Trump’s aides have been tasked with rooting out what it considers anti-American propaganda at the institution.
The White House report alleges the leadership at the National Museum of American History, in particular, has been captured by a “radical, activist ideology” that is in opposition of the nation’s “noble, honest story.” The report hinges on several key findings, including a lack of attention paid to America’s founders, educational materials on gender fluidity and a crusade against “whiteness.”
The White House ordered a comprehensive internal review of exhibits and materials at the Smithsonian Institution last August, placing a large emphasis on ensuring “alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism.”
Lonnie Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian, told CNN in a May interview that the institution has maintained its autonomy even as it has “given everything that’s been asked” by the White House for its review.
After largely staying out of the public eye, Bunch recently helped curate an exhibition — a display to mark America’s 250th birthday. The White House report, however, criticizes the museum’s leadership for “intentionally withholding and subverting” the nation’s central story. The report says that the museum intentionally veers away from an “America First” viewpoint in history.
Bunch, a historian and the first Black American to serve as head of the Smithsonian, said in May that the administration did not play any part in his thinking or selections for the “American Aspirations” exhibitition at the Smithsonian castle that celebrated the nation’s 250th birthday.
“My goal is that history is driven by scholarship, not partisanship,” he said. “The Smithsonian always does its own scholarship. It’s always driven by that. We have always worked with different administrations, but it’s always about what our scholarship tells us.”
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