Gosh, I Wonder Which Bits of American History the Trump Administration Will Edit Out of Smithsonian Exhibits

By Dave Levitan | August 13, 2025 | 2:04pm

Photo by Myscrnnm/Wikimedia Commons

Trump Administration Russell Vought

Gosh, I Wonder Which Bits of American History the Trump Administration Will Edit Out of Smithsonian Exhibits

The Trump administration, such keen scholars and observers of history and culture, thinks the Smithsonian has some issues. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Trump is launching a “a comprehensive internal review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions” in order to, among other things, better “celebrate American exceptionalism.” What sorts of stuff might disappear from our collective history? Who can say!

In a letter signed by two assistants to the president and — of course — OMB Director Russell Vought, the administration very politely informed Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III that the review will be “a constructive and collaborative effort.” They insist that rewriting exhibits across, at first, eight museums — the National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Museum of the American Indian, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden — will involve “embrac[ing] a revitalized curatorial vision rooted in the strength, breadth, and achievements of the American story.”

Most Popular

This stems back to a March executive order on “restoring truth and sanity to American history,” clearly an important goal for the administration fresh off earmarking $10 million to restore a Confederate monument that essentially celebrated slavery. It is pegged, largely, to the Trump regime’s early planning for next year’s 250th anniversary celebrations, which are clearly intended as a Pyongyang-style whitewashing of all America’s sins. What better place to start than the nation’s primary public displayer of said sins? If the Tulsa Race Massacre isn’t on a wall in the museum — or, according to the letter describing the review, in exhibition text, on websites, educational materials, and digital and social media content — was there really a Tulsa Race Massacre?

Just a guess, of course, no way of knowing what sort of content Vought and company are asking the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian’s first African-American Secretary to review and revise. Trump, for what it’s worth, is not directly in charge of the Smithsonian; there is a Board of Regents, overseen by Congress, though most of its funding comes from Congressional appropriation and other federal money. He will surely heed this restriction on his power to the letter, as usual.

One historian and expert on the Smithsonian called the review “a full assault on the autonomy of all the different branches of the institution.” He shouldn’t worry so much though, because the architect of Project 2025 wrote to Bunch that the goal is simply to display the “unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story.”

The Smithsonian has said it is reviewing the letter, adding that its “work is grounded in a deep commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research and the accurate, factual presentation of history.” That should be fine, then, because Vought and his ilk are promising to focus on the not-at-all chilling sounding concept of “Americanism [emphasis theirs]—the people, principles, and progress that define our nation.”

This will all turn out fine, no doubt, regardless of which specific examples of America’s 400-year-history of racism, sexism, brutality, criminality, or anything else end up shoved into a Smithsonian closet or two. Surely there are no examples we might turn to of regimes rewriting their history in search of a sanitized, acceptable version worthy of celebration.