Trump executive order seeks to 'restore' American history through Smithsonian overhaul

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing Vice President JD Vance to eliminate "divisive race-centered ideology" from Smithsonian museums, educational and research centers, and the National Zoo.

Titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," the order states, "Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive." It goes on to say: "Museums in our Nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn -- not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history."

The order calls for Vance, along with Vince Haley, the assistant to the president for domestic policy and Lindsey Halligan, the special assistant to the president and senior associate staff secretary, to work with Congress to prohibit the Smithsonian from receiving appropriations for exhibitions and programs that, "degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy." It also requests that future appropriations "celebrate the achievements of women in the American Women's History Museum and do not recognize men as women in any respect in the Museum."

NPR reached out to the Smithsonian for comment but hasn't heard back.

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The executive order further calls for the appointment of citizen members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents committed to advancing the policy of the order.

This is the latest in a series of executive orders issued by the president since he took office in January aimed at rolling back Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts previously promoted by federal agencies — among them the National Endowment for the Arts' Challenge America program. It primarily supported small non-profits reaching "historically underserved communities that have limited access to the arts relative to geography, ethnicity, economics, and/or disability."

This latest executive order blames the Biden Administration for advancing a "corrosive ideology" that, it states, sought to revise historical truth. "Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth," the order states. "Under this historical revision, our Nation's unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed."

The order includes additional provisions seeking to reinstate public monuments, memorials and statues that were "removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology," as well as improve the infrastructure of Independence National Historical Park in time for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.

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