Smithsonian exhibits should be “accurate, patriotic, and enlightening – ensuring they remain places of learning, wonder and national pride for generations to come”, the White House demanded.

The Wall Street Journal reports on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s White House is keeping an eye on the Smithsonian Museum to ensure that its exhibits on display for the United States’ 250th anniversary “align with” the president’s personal “interpretation of American history”.

According to the Journal, the administration this week  sent a letter to the Smithsonian announcing it was seeking what the paper describes as a “far-reaching review” of its “museum exhibitions, materials and operations” that will include everything from “public-facing exhibition text and online content to internal curatorial processes, exhibition planning, the use of collections and artist grants”.

The goal of the review is to ensure the materials comply with an executive order Trump signed earlier this year that called for “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”.

The letter, obtained by the Journal, was signed by White House senior associate Lindsey Halligan, and it instructed the museum that its exhibits should be “accurate, patriotic, and enlightening – ensuring they remain places of learning, wonder, and national pride for generations to come”.

In his original executive order, Trump  accused the Smithsonian of having “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centred ideology” that promotes “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive”, and he demanded a stop to the promotion of this “improper ideology”.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Smithsonian  removed references to Trump’s two impeachments from its exhibit on the history of presidential impeachments in the US. The museum returned references to Trump’s impeachments last week but removed mentions of the president making “repeated ‘false statements’ challenging the 2020 election results” that led to “imminent lawless action at the Capitol” by his supporters on 6 January 2021.

Instead, the label on Trump’s second impeachment now reads as follows: “On January 13, 2021,  Donald Trump became the first president to be impeached twice. The charge was incitement of insurrection based on his challenge of the 2020 election results and on his speech on January 6. Because Trump’s term ended on January 20, he became the first former president tried by the Senate. He was acquitted on February 13, 2021.”

Republished from Common Dreams, 12 August 2025

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