Can the Smithsonian be saved? An institution created to catalog and preserve American history has become a primary weapon in the left's war on America and Western civilization.
I think it is important to recognize that there is no one interpretation of American history. There are undisputed facts, to be sure. The interpretation of those facts and the weight given to their importance is what's at issue.
Calling George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison slave owners while failing to highlight — or giving short shrift to — their many undisputed contributions to the creation of the American experiment does a tremendous disservice to our history. Making their slave ownership a major point of emphasis in an exhibit is an ideological decision divorced from the facts. And at this point, it's hard to see how the Smithsonian can be rescued, given that so much of the American history portrayed in its exhibits has been wildly skewed to reflect an ideological point of view rather than contribute to a fact-based narrative.
“Our central finding is not that the Museum has simply added overlooked stories, corrected perceived errors, or broadened its historical scope," says the 162-page report about the Smithsonian Institution issued by the White House’s Domestic Policy Council. President Donald Trump tasked the council with investigating the Smithsonian's practices following his March 27, 2026, Executive Order 14253 ("Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History").
The report continues, "Rather, it is that Museum leadership has explicitly adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens."
The insidious nature of the ideological tilt is explained away by Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian, who claims that the report “is not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History.”
“At the Smithsonian,” he said, “our work is driven by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story.”
The "fullness of America’s story" is the catch. In essence, Bunch is claiming he's telling the "whole" story of America. In fact, his institution is deliberately emphasizing some facts and events at the expense of others. Is it an accident that the interpretation in most exhibits and displays casts America in the worst possible light?
Who, us? Bunch asks. We're just telling a story.
Former PJ Media columnist and current Spectator writer Roger Kimball:
Citing chapter and verse, “Saving America’s Story” provides a litany of horrors. Anti-white activism? Yep. Transsexual activism and other sexual exotica, even in exhibitions meant for children? You bet. Celebration of illegal aliens? But of course. Did you know that Christopher Columbus was a “murderer,” a “slaver,” a “thief?” That “rational thinking” and “hard work” are traits of “White Supremacy Culture”? That America rests on “stolen land?” That Benjamin Franklin is of interest chiefly because slaves helped build his fortune? Thanksgiving, one exhibit proclaims, should be regarded as a “National Day of Mourning.” The Pilgrims who helped settle the country were oppressors.
Above all, the museum has sought to wean the public from its “America first mentality.” Instead of celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, the museum wants to “problematize” it. The museum’s leadership has explicitly stated that its goal is to transform history into “a prime tool of social justice” and to tie all its exhibitions to “the core issues of our time,” namely “race and identity,” “gender and sexuality,” “environmental change,” “immigration and migrations,” “economic inequality,” et very much cetera.
I'm not arguing that there isn't a place in our history for showing the oppression of blacks, women, immigrants, and other minorities. It's part of what makes America an exceptional country: We constantly strive to overcome our shortcomings. It shouldn't be hidden or downplayed in any way.
Neither should it be placed front and center in our national museum as an example of "true" America. That's such a myopic vision of the most consequential nation in the history of humanity, whose people have contributed so enormously to the betterment of the human condition.
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