On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing Vice President JD Vance to remove what is described as “divisive race-centered ideology” from Smithsonian museums, as well as its educational and research centers and the National Zoo. The order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” claims that the Smithsonian Institution, once a symbol of American excellence, has fallen under the influence of narratives that depict American and Western values as harmful. These narratives are characterized as distorting shared history and pushing ideological indoctrination rather than serving as educational tools.
The directive seeks cooperation from Vice President Vance, along with Vince Haley, assistant to the president for domestic policy, and Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, in working with Congress. Their task is to halt Smithsonian funding for exhibits or programs deemed contrary to shared American values or inconsistent with federal law. Further, it asks for appropriation policies that highlight the achievements of women in the upcoming American Women’s History Museum while excluding recognition of men as women in the museum context.
Efforts to get a response from the Smithsonian by NPR have not yet yielded a reply.
Additionally, the executive order proposes introducing citizen members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents aligned with the order’s objectives. This order is part of a broader series of executive orders under the Trump administration aiming to reverse Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including those of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Challenge America program, for instance, was designed to support small nonprofits aiding historically underserved communities.
Furthermore, the order criticizes efforts attributed to the Biden Administration to reshape historical narratives, accusing them of replacing objective facts with ideology-driven distortions. It asserts that these revised narratives wrongly portray America’s history of liberty and individual rights as inherently flawed. The order also outlines plans to restore public monuments and memorials that have been altered to support these disputed narratives and improve the infrastructure of Independence National Historical Park ahead of its 250th anniversary celebrations for the Declaration of Independence in 2026.
