Speak Up for the Smithsonian Exhibits and Programs

On July 4, 2026, the White House Domestic Policy Council issued a report attacking the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH). This attempt by the right to censor the Smithsonian museums’ in-person and online exhibits and programs is connected with their attempts to censor schools, libraries, the media, and national park sites. On July 21, NMAH director Anthea Hartig and historian David Blight testified to Congress. In Blight’s remarks (in full below), he said that the president “has declared war on free minds and free education. Historians are not voices of the state. We are keepers of memory . . . The report is rooted explicitly in the Cold War of the 1950s . . . If we are not careful, we will end up with what Toni Morrison called ‘sanctioned ignorance.'” Philip Kennicott wrote a column titled, “The only bias uncovered in the White House’s Smithsonian report is its own: A White House report alleges radical bias at the National Museum of American History. But the assembled evidence reveals a large and vibrant institution carrying out its mission.” He notes, And so, with the perverse logic of authoritarianism, this document is an accidental guide not just to how to do history right, but to many of the salient moments of struggle and ugliness that define the American narrative. The best analogy is, unfortunately, a key episode in the Nazi effort to rewrite German history and culture, the 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, which was shockingly comprehensive and prescient in its inclusion of many of the greatest artists of the day. In their effort to mock modern art, Nazi ideologues constructed a fairly thorough and reliable compendium of the best art, displaying works by Matisse, Chagall, Kandinsky, Beckmann and Kokoschka. The White House report is similarly thorough and misguided. In the Democrats’ rebuttal to the White House report, they write, As the American Historical Association and 36 allied scholarly organizations explained in response to Executive Order 14253, the premise of the White House effort “egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution” and “completely misconstrues the nature of historical work,” whose goal is “neither criticism nor celebration; it is to understand — to increase our knowledge of — the past in ways that can help Americans to shape the future. Those who seek unchecked power elevate the convenient facts and erase the inconvenient ones. The Report does precisely this. We must all speak up. Let your congressional representatives know that they need to defend the Smithsonian. Share stories about what you (and your students) have learned from the Smithsonian on every platform you have available. Twitter Google plus LinkedIn